Can a background as a professional jazz musician help you improve at chess? Matt Rathkey says “yes.”.
Matt is this week's guest on The Adult Improver Series. Like many players, he fell back in love with chess during the COVID pandemic and soon found himself playing regularly, watching top-level broadcasts, and solving puzzles. Along the way, he drew upon lessons from years of studying music, particularly the role of pattern recognition, deliberate practice, and improvisation. After years of dedication, Matt has raised his Chess.com blitz rating from roughly 1200 to over 1900.
Matt also has a fascinating day job. He is a learning designer on Duolingo's chess team, helping build what has quickly become one of the largest entry points into chess in the world. Launched last year, Duolingo Chess now has more than 7 million daily active users, most of whom are new to the game.
Matt shares his improvement advice, discusses the parallels between jazz and chess, and reflects on what he has learned about the science of skill acquisition.
This was a fun conversation, and it is encouraging to see so many new players discovering chess through Duolingo.
00:00 Introduction
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02:00 Matt Rathkey joins
04:10 The Return to Chess: A Pandemic Story
07:04 Rediscovering Chess: The Queen's Gambit Effect
10:08 Setting Goals: The Journey to 1500
Matt’s USCF rating page:
https://ratings.uschess.org/player/13412385
13:09 Learning Through Observation: Active Engagement
16:04 The Importance of Tactics in Chess
18:48 Understanding Openings: Beyond Memorization
21:41 Chess Culture and Personal Growth
24:42 The Future of Chess: Duolingo's Chess Course
34:56 Overcoming Chess Intimidation
36:48 Duolingo Chess: Making Chess Accessible
39:44 Engaging with Oscar: The Duolingo Chess Bot
42:53 Learning Pathways in Duolingo Chess
46:41 Designing Effective Chess Lessons
51:08 Personalized Learning in Chess
53:14 The Intersection of Music and Chess
01:02:06 Advice for Chess Improvement
01:08:24 The Journey of Continuous Improvement
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