Questions people ask me
Are you really self taught?
Self taught in the sense I've never had a chess coach? Yes, though technically no. I had a coach that I worked with occasionally as a 10-year-old though I had less than 25 hours of lessons with him in total. He was a fine coach but it was at a time when my rating was below 1300 and I was not interested in chess. Since 1300 I have improved just with books, courses, and a lot of iterative introspection as to what I'm doing wrong.
How hard was it to make GM in your late 20s?
Insanely hard. From 25 to 28 I deliberately cut back on lessons and put aside every other goal to pursue it and even then it took 3 years of devoted effort. I sacrificed everything else to do it -- a potential career in finance, my friends and family in NYC whom I would leave to be able to afford a cheaper life, to name just a few. I lived in a literal shack in Peru for 3 months to study chess 8 hours a day. I'm happy I did it because I achieved something most 25-year-old IM's never accomplish. If I was back where I was, would I do it again? Yes, because even if I failed I would have been able to make an ok living as an IM. I would never have been happy with a job in finance so I didn't miss out on anything.
How many countries have you been to?
In total I've been to 31 countries. They are Canada, USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Barbados, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Greece, Sweden, England, France, Bosnia, Denmark, Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Hungary, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkey, Tanzania, Egypt, India, China, Nepal. I've also spent a day in Switzerland, Slovenia, Germany and Austria (I stepped off a train for 5 seconds in Vienna), but that doesn't count XD. I haven't had a chance to explore much of Africa, Australia or Asia and so the plan is to go focus more on those countries in the coming years.
Will you ever play professional chess again?
I'll play a tournament here and there but Grandmaster was my final goal in chess. I spent my entire 20s pursuing it and now that it's over I mostly want to make several courses describing my experiences and insights. I still like chess but there are several other areas of life I always wanted to invest myself in that I have deliberately ignored in the pursuit of GM, namely film, music production and languages. I love chess and will always love chess, but classical tournament chess is an unbelievably strenuous grind which leaves little room for other pursuits.
What is your favorite city?
Budapest is the best city I've ever been to. It has fantastic architecture, great restaurants and an efficient metro system. I spent 2 months there in Spring of 2022 while pursuing my third GM norm and it was a great experience.
Why do you like Brazilian Portuguese so much?
Because literally everything about it is beautiful. It's very similar to Spanish but every unique difference works to make it sound better. It has lots of interesting sounds including nasal 'm's which are near impossible for foreigners to mimic. The word for I is 'eu' which on it's own is a special sound that can only be vocalized from the corner of your mouth. The grammar is similar to other romance languages and is relatively straightforward, with little variations from English sentence structures.
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Arizona but grew up in NYC. I went to high school at the esteemed Bronx High School of Science, and went to college at McGill University. Now I live in Brazil.
Do you like fitness?
I like fitness and I love calisthenics. I think working out is a universally good thing for people and since picking it up several years ago I have experienced improvements in mood, self-confidence, discipline and body fat. I would like to get shredded to the point where I can do front levers and handstand push ups with ease.
What are your favorite movies?
If I had to pick 5 they would be: Inception, 1917, Lost Highway, Knight of cups, and Caddyshack.
What music do you like to listen to?
For the past 15 years I have developed a real fondness for electronic music. My favorite genres are 80s synthwave, drum and bass, and trance. My favorite producers are Com Truise, Netsky, Brooks Brothers and Arty.
When is the book review video coming out?
When my youtube channel hits 10k subs.
Will you stream on twitch in English?
I streamed on twitch on and off for 4 years. I made roughly a dollar an hour. So no, I will not be returning to twitch. The streams are not saved to the platform making them useless for building a brand or gaining a following over the long term. I am officially on chess.com's streamer program but that is to do the occasional stream in portuguese. I enjoy speaking in portuguese so such work feels like much less of a timesink than streaming in english (for a dollar an hour).