Has recently become an obsession of mine, I am not very good but I enjoy the improvement sandbox in front of me, in that there is a very clear path forward to getting better. It is a fascinating case for introspection/Metacognition, as I have gotten better at the game I notice my internal Representation Geometry adapting to be efficient. I can now replay games I played yesterday in my head, with long sequences of up to 15 moves! Nothing crazy compared to some of the grandmasters, but it does make the unusually common skill of blindfolded chess make a little more sense.
I think the thing I appreciate most about chess is accountability. There is no wishy-washiness when it comes to a game, if you lost, it is because you made a mistake that can be pinned down to exact moves. Just enough variation in possibility that there is always a correct answer, without too much that it becomes impossible to see ( I think of Go here ).
Also of note is that is it a great candidate for a Self Configuration objective: evaluations can take place on a move-by-move basis, and in combination with Eye Tracking we can get a rich sense of how I evaluate moves. Success metric is also very clear, so Probing Nurture with Content Consumption techniques regarding steering what I consume can be evaluated, along with Neuropharmacology approaches and trials from Self Reported Data signals of when what was taken. Exploring this a little bit under Self Configuration For Chess
For learning, beyond GothamChess of course, I have found AdviceCabinet to be excellent. Specifically this one video has been really good, several ideas it talks about, but the main one being counting defenders/indentifying targets as means of “solving the maze from both ends” to work backward from potential endgame scenarios, one can narrow their “calculation search” tree and make good guesses. It is also just a great emphasis for me on counting attackers/defenders religiously.
Another pitfall I find myself falling into is impulsively taking a piece that is free, but taking it with the wrong piece choice, and overall just moving quite impulsively. I also am the victim of hindsight fallacy, and lack proper internal updating after seeing the correct move as it just seem obvious to me.