The following article is an excerpt from a large article titled Best Chess Podcasts: The Ultimate Guide To Chess Podcasts in 2022. Despite the “Review” in the title, it is primarily a subjective look at the landscape of chess podcasting and, as such, isn’t “objective” by any means. In this post/series of posts, I will share my impressions about different chess podcasts.

About the podcast

The Chess Experience Podcast is another podcast that came to life as a consequence of the Great Chess Boom. It is hosted by Daniel Lona, an avid chess player, and enthusiast who returned to chess after getting inspired by the Queen’s Gambit after 27-year-long hiatus.

The first few episodes were launched in February 2022 and ever since the podcast has been going on on a weekly basis. The main emphasis of the podcast is chess improvement. Throughout the episodes, Daniel and his guests try to help adult improvers make their journey more efficient and find the right balance between spending time on something useful and spending time on something fun.

My impressions of the podcast

Just like with the Late Knight Podcast ¹ my feelings related to the Chess Experience Podcast are very mixed and I have a certain love-hate relationship with it.

Let’s start with the good stuff. Daniel is definitely radiating enthusiasm and passion for the game. According to his admission, after returning to chess he spent 4 hours a day studying and playing chess. You simply can’t spend that much time on an activity if you are not in love – or borderline obsessed  – with it. This enthusiasm is apparent not only in his tweets but also in the way he interacts with his guests. Sometimes you can hear his excitement already when he is announcing the episode and this positive energy definitely makes the episodes enjoyable to listen to.

Furthermore, nobody can deny that Daniel is a very hard-working and capable individual who is taking podcasting very seriously. In contrast to some other podcasts mentioned on this list (including The Late Knight Podcast), his podcast has a very professional-looking website, he is always announcing guests well in advance and providing the listeners the opportunity to ask questions and is also running regular giveaways after the episode is released.

Last but not least, what personally attracted me to the podcast were the guests featured in different episodes. Despite not being immersed in the chess world for too long and is relatively new on the chess podcasting scene, almost from the get-go Daniel has managed to assemble a very respectable guest list consisting of some very well-known chess personalities. In the very first few episodes, he managed to get well-known coaches and Chessable authors like Yuriy Krykun and Andras Toth and it was also quite interesting to hear the legendary Dan Heisman in a podcast episode.

I personally got hooked around episode 12, featuring James Altucher, and I also very much enjoyed the episode with the legendary WGM Jen Shahade. As a matter of fact, another fact I like about Daniel’s guest list is the prevalence of female guests. By his own admission, he tries to keep the ratio between male and female guests at least 50-50 and I think it is a very admirable goal ²

Therefore, this combination of Daniel’s enthusiasm and passion for the game and a lineup of extremely interesting guests makes The Chess Experience a podcast that is worth putting on your radar.

Why don’t I listen to it more regularly?

So, why have I exactly written I have mixed feelings and a love-hate relationship with The Chess Experience?

Glad you asked. There are several reasons why I don’t really listen to The Chess Experience more often:

• First of all, given podcast is primarily aimed at adult improvers – which usually refers to someone on a lower rating level than mine – I don’t think I am its primary target audience. Especially since I am more interested in chess culture, chess history, or chess personalities rather than chess improvement tips.
• Secondly, I do sometimes feel that Daniel’s lack of longevity in the chess world and relatively short experience as a chess host podcaster sometimes leads to episodes being a bit one-dimensional. Sometimes I do feel that the questions are a bit too unnuanced and generic compared to the questions asked in some other chess podcasts.
  I have the feeling several episodes stick to the same „Round of generic questions + round of chess improvement advice + round of Daniel admiring the guest and telling them they are sure to achieve their goals“ formula, which sometimes makes the listening experience repetitive.
• Thirdly, there are moments when I really find myself highly disagreeing with the general vibe of the podcast, which does incorporate a very positive philosophy and at times, borderline self-helpish, messaging. This was especially pronounced in the episode featuring FM James Canty III, where the „Gotta Stay Positive“ message was very pronounced. Given that I regard the „Always Stay Positive“ attitude as not only a hoax but also very harmful and that I fully agree with the blogger Mark Manson that The Secret is one of the worst books ever written, it should not come as a surprise that this particular episode was the only ever episode of a chess podcast I actually stopped listening midway through. And even though this episode was extreme and this kind of messaging is usually negligible enough to be ignored and even though a more balanced attitude toward chess improvement – in the style of Chess Feels Podcast – is occasionally promoted, ³ I still find myself bothered by this aspect of the podcast, so I thought I should mention it here.

• Last – and most importantly – the thing that bothers me the most about The Chess Experience Podcast is its business aspect. From the very beginning, it was obvious that Daniel launched the podcast with the idea of making money out of it. This is not that surprising given Daniel’s entrepreneurial spirit and the fact he ventured into similar endeavors in the past. At some point, he even hosted a podcast with a heavy emphasis on earning money titled The 7 Figure Fitness Business whose official description, among other things, stated:
  

  „My message won’t resonate unless you strive to deliver world-class service, help as many folks as possible, and earn an outstanding income as your reward.“

  The fact that The Chess Experience is a business is also very apparent from the very title of the home website of the podcast – AdultChessAcademy.com and from a very marketing-oriented copywriting-sounding prose found everywhere on the website. Besides, Daniel himself doesn’t hide it given that he states he „… launched this business/podcast in early 2022.“ on the home page – and he also confirmed it in our private conversation after I reached out to him to ask him a few questions about the podcast/business.

  Now, I know most of you might be wondering – what is wrong with an entrepreneurial spirit, launching a business, and trying to earn some money? Isn’t it fair to get compensated for your enormous work as a content creator? Don’t many other podcasts do the same or strive to do the same?

  Those are indeed some legitimate questions! I definitely don’t want to say no business should exist and that no one should try to make money in the chess world. ⁴ But I do believe there are businesses and there are businesses and that there are different ways one can go about making money.

  In the context of chess podcasts,⁵ it does matter to me under which pretext the podcast launched, how exactly the monetization works, what kind of product/service the host of the podcast offers, and what kind of messaging surrounds that product/service.

  In my book, The Chess Experience doesn’t score particularly well in either of these categories. First of all – as mentioned above, it is hard to avoid the feeling that the primary motivation for the launch of The Chess Experience was to eventually turn it into a business. This is in sharp contrast with a podcast such as The Perpetual Chess Podcast ⁶ that was ⁷ founded primarily because the host wanted to discuss chess with someone. Only later, after organic growth, did it become more business-oriented – or at least this business side wasn’t so pronounced from the very start.

  In other words, whereas for some other podcasts enthusiasm and passion came first and business only later, in the case of The Chess Experience at best they came hand in hand – and at worst business came first and passion and enthusiasm later. That is not to say that Daniel’s enthusiasm is fake by any means, but I do often get the feeling he is over-emphasizing it on social media to the point of it not coming off as fully authentic. Maybe it is just my innate cynicism, but I find it hard to believe that someone can constantly be so excited by the game, so inspired by all the chess personalities in the world and so positive toward everybody else in the chess world.

  Secondly, I also really dislike how the monetization of The Chess Experience is arranged. Just a couple of days ago, on September 20th, Daniel announced the launch of his online membership program titled Chess Improver Monthly.

  I highly dislike that this membership program incorporates filming separately filmed content with EXISTING guests of the podcast and placing it behind the paywall. Such a way of monetizing a podcast that intentionally makes the part of the recorded material unavailable to a broad audience is in sharp contrast with the general messaging about growing the game and helping adult improvers improve.
  I don’t know how standard this business model is in the podcasting world, but I very much prefer the model of Perpetual Chess Podcast which is primarily based on audience support via Patreon. It is true that even Ben Johnson’s model includes additional, exclusive audio content in the form of old Coffee and Chess shows with Fred Wilson ⁸, but Ben’s own interviews with the guests were always available in their entirety.

  As for the other aspects of Chess Improver Monthly – I am probably not the most suitable person to judge their allure given that I am not really the target audience. But superficially, I find it a bit hard to understand how exactly are they different or advantageous compared to other similar products – and even free resources – available out there.

  In my mind, there is a difference between starting a business because you have an idea for a product that might solve certain problems and starting a business because you recognize that there is a market for A product. Chess Improver Monthly does reinforce my feeling that Daniel has decided that the chess niche is a market for a product without previously knowing what that product might actually be.

  But then again, quite a few people have already joined the program and have found its perks beneficial, so what do I really know?

In any case, The Chess Experience podcast is definitely a good and professional podcast with a wide and interesting list of guests. If you are an adult improver interested in the topic of improvement and are not as anti-business/socialist as the author of these lines, you should definitely check it out!

I will personally continue listening to it as long as the things I dislike about its business aspect don’t become too problematic for me to handle.

Notable episodes of the podcast

• As mentioned above, I started listening to The Chess Experience podcast around episode 12, featuring James Altucher. Given that I have read a number of his books and written an article titled 16 things I learned from James Altucher in the past, every appearance of his on a chess podcast is of extreme interest to me, so this one was basically a no-brainer for me.
• Episode nr. 14 with Jen Shahade was also very interesting and inspiring. Even though I have had the opportunity to hear Jen in several other podcast appearances, in this one she shared a lot of interesting and inspiring titbits about chess and improvement that are definitely worth hearing.
• Episode nr. 19 with the legendary Indonesian IM Irene Sukandar. Even though Irene is a very well-known personality in the chess world, I haven’t heard a long-form interview of her before. It was extremely interesting to hear her perspective on the status of chess in Indonesia. And also her perspective of the majorly publicized Dewa Kipas incident.
• Episode nr. 28 with the legendary Bruce Pandolfini. Prior to this interview, I have mostly known him by his name and by some of his legendary accomplishments but had never bothered to learn more beyond that. Listening to this episode was a nice attempt to rectify this hole in my chess knowledge.

1. Or even more so
2. Which also makes me feel less bad for not listening to Ladies Knight as of yet
3. as in one of the recent episodes where Daniel mentioned that you should ask yourself „Why“ you want to improve before asking „How“ to improve
4. as otherwise, I would complain about this aspect in my review of other podcasts, as well
5. and not only chess podcasts
6. or even Chess Feels Podcast or 64: A Chess Podcast
7. were
8. That are no longer available since Ben and Fred had a limited-time deal