Chessentials Newsletter?
If you try googling for blogging tips, you will stumble on a dozen of articles emphasizing the importance of running and maintaining a weekly email list.
I have also implemented the subscription option from the beginning of Chessentials. However, ever since creating my mailing list, I have been struggling to figure out this entire “email marketing” part. It all came down to several “random, spammy” emails during the last year.
It has been really my soft spot and I desperately wanted to do something about it. But it wasn’t immediately easy and obvious. I have been thinking about what to do for a while. In the process, I realized there are three criteria a good newsletter should fulfill:
– Regularity!
– Usefulness!
– Self-promotion within reasonable bounds, without being too spammy!
This is how the idea of Chessentials Newsletter was shaped. I have decided to send regular emails in which I will talk about all sorts of chess-related things I did during the previous week. Whether it is my own chess writing, good chess books I read, a great chess game I have seen or funny chess video I have watched, I will include it in the email and share with the readers.
My hope is that some of you might find it interesting and useful!
How exactly does it look like?
Instead of describing it in theory, perhaps it is best I show you how it looks like in practice. Below you will find the very first Chessentials Newsletter, sent on 02.06.2019.
CHESSENTIALS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER #1
- What did I write?
I somehow didn’t manage to write a “serious” article for the blog. I did write a couple of shorter posts dedicated to famous chess players who celebrated their birthday anniversaries during the previous week. This one about Richard Reti got some attention. Did you know that Reti played blitz against Schlechter when he was just 13? As for non-blog related writing, I was satisfied with my Quora answer analyzing whether Ding Liren is a ‘true’ 2800 player.
- What did I read?
I completed the book Genius In The Background by Tibor Karoly and Nick Aplin, dedicated to not-so-famous chess players who helped famous chess players to reach the very top. Some of the chapters are dedicated to Elmar Magerramov and Alexander Shakarov – Kasparov’s trainers in the youth. There is also one about Petko Atanasov – Topalov’s junior trainer.
- What did I study?
I recently got addicted to Chessable. I purchased the course: “French Toast: How Harikrishna fries 1… e6” by top GM Pentala Harikrishna and started going through the variations. With the limited time available to study, I find Chessable’s concept quite handy.
- What chess videos did I watch?
I didn’t get to watch as many videos. But I do check Chessbrah’s Highlights compilation regularly. They are
- Which tournament did I follow?
Mainly the Mitropa Cup, where both Croatian male and the female national team are playing. The females, in particular, are doing quite well. At the moment of writing (after 7 rounds) they have chances to fight for the first place. I also peaked at the Women’s Candidates Tournament. Just today, in round 3, there were 4 decisive games (out of 4 games played). I don’t know about others, but I do like to follow female events – they are often quite bloodthirsty!
- Which chess game delighted me?
A correspondence game between Alexander Shakarov and Nikolai Monin from 1983. I stumbled upon it in the afore-mentioned book Genius in the Background, but have been unable to find it in either an online or offline database. Still, it is a beautiful attacking game. There is at least one position worth noting:
Here, instead of the obvious retreat of the bishop, Shakarov played 21 Rah1!! and went on to win!
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