Free Resources

Hi, it’s Aiden.

In the time I’ve been building Don’t Move, I’ve accumulated a back catalog of content and tools that went out for free to my email subscribers.

Below, I’ve collected some of the best free content I’ve released in the hopes it will help you on your journey.

I recommend you go through the Conceptualizing Chess Series as a first step, unless you are already familiar with the Don’t Move approach to conceptualization training. Things will make WAY more sense with the valuable context available there.

If you have any questions about anything below, reach out. I’d love to hear from you.

Here’s to the journey,

Aiden

P.S. – Two of the best free resources I have are the Don’t Move Blindfold Trainer and the Don’t Move Blog. They’re not below because they’re in the site’s menu and I figure you’ve already found them!

Mini Courses

What Should We See When We Visualize?

What do you see in your head when you visualize? What should you see? That’s the best part, it doesn’t matter. I’ll show you why in this two part mini series.

Part One: The Goals of Visualization
Part Two: Visualization Models

Free Visualization Exercises

Below are three audio game exercises.

When you’re ready, hit play, close your eyes. As you hear each move, try to answer the following questions:

What did the last move do?
Did the last move attack or defend anything?
Did the last move open up any sightlines for other pieces?
What are the threats in the position?

Pause as often as you need to. Start from the beginning when you lose track. Don’t force your brain to conceptualize any particular way – trust your brain to work it out.

These are difficult on purpose. The challenge is what forces our brains to adapt. Your goal is not to get to the end, but to keep trying to get to the end.

If you’re loving the exercises, I have over 400 of them from 13 different exercise types in the main Don’t Move Training System.

That’s the place if you want to go deeper.

Guest Articles

Here are a selection of articles I’ve written for some of my favorite Chess blogs and publications.

Supercharge Your Chess Visualization (Next Level Chess)

Most of us see the board as if through a fog. We don’t need to accept that. Push back the fog and rapidly improve your game.

Read the post at Next Level Chess.

How to Improve Your Chess Visualization (Chessentials)

Like Poker, Chess is a game of hidden information. Unlike Poker, in Chess we can train ourselves to take in more and more information. Strong visualization skills give you more information than your opponent; that’s a powerful advantage.

Read the post at Chessentials.

Podcast Appearances

Humans of Purpose (Nov, ’22)

I had the honor of appearing on the wonderful Humans of Purpose podcast. In this informal, freeform conversation, Mike and I discuss ADHD, Chess, learning methods, stoicism, lockdowns, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more. If you want to get more of a sense of who I am outside the Chess world, this is the place to do that.