It's All One Long Session: My 2025 in Review
Ending the year with revelry, reflections, and a birthday
The end of each year is doubly reflective for me, since December 31 is my birthday. I never really liked my birthday when I was younger, but I now love the two-day celebration that starts with revelry and ends with reflection.
So in three parts, here is my 2025 wrap-up on content, poker and my upcoming book.
Substack and Videos
Starting in the Spring, I wrote a lot more on Substack, posting over 50 articles.
My top five most read pieces were:
Danya Naroditsky (1995-2025): I wrote about the devastating loss of a Grandmaster who was as kind as he was talented. The outpouring of obituaries was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in chess. Danya was so loved, and will be missed forever. The memorial fund in his honor has raised over one million dollars: https://givebutter.com/naroditsky
ChatGPT is Weirdly Bad at Chess: The first of my pieces in a series on my battles with LLMs and what they suggest beyond the chessboard. While this first one was the most popular, inspired by Nate Silver’s similar piece on poker, the follow-ups: Mate in None, and LLMs, Long Moves, and a Livestream with Nate Solon were even sharper.
Defense Wins Chess Games: Go Birds! And thanks to all my paid subs! You are now eligible for a “Don’t Fall Cup” bookmark or sticker!
In Between Lies: Lessons From the Latest Scandal: Cheating is Bad, but we may as well learn from it.
Checkmate to Gender Essentialism: And the chess pieces themselves would agree.
I also started a chess video series with my son, How to Beat Your Mom at Chess. I post on substack first along with bonus content and game cutaways. We cross-post to YouTube, where we also upload related shorts to spread the word to the huge YT chess fan base.
Finally, I recorded a 20-episode season of my podcast the GRID, spanning from March to October of 2025 1.
Poker
I had a great year on the felt, winning the London Women’s Summer Festival at Hippodrome Live, and finishing third in the North American Poker Tour’s Main Event in Las Vegas. I wrote about my big picture tips and takeaways from each event. In London, I found the power in visualizing success and failure.
In Vegas, I devised a system to avoid checking my phone, giving me better focus and presence at the table.
It was largely coincidental that each success followed my mindset shifts. Paying more attention cannot conjure a king on the river to beat pocket nines. But the cosmic timing still changed my perspective. It also inspired me to pay it forward by offering combined mental and strategy coaching. I find that many players neglect their mental game, even though it is so intertwined with strategy. If you’re interested in working with me, find my coaching application here.
I had a lot of good luck this year, but I have also had plenty of bad luck in previous years. “Treat both imposters the same” advises Rudyard Kipling in a famous line that has been adopted by coaches everywhere—my dad always told my brother and me this as kids. Don’t feel entitled to success, nor undeserving of it.
As we say in poker, it’s all one long session: that is also the point of this scene from my remake2 of Goldilocks.
Thinking Sideways and 2026
In January 2025, Thinking Sideways: How To Think Like a Chessplayer and Win at Life needed a lot of work. The opening wasn’t right at all, and there was no endgame to speak of. In the spring it still needed a lot of work. And then, things really started to click. By the summer, I was spending almost every spare hour on it, as I knew that I’d ultimately run out of time. The final product feels like a better version of me. Thanks to my brilliant editor Anna Baty for making this possible.
You’d think I’d be pretty hyped. Not exactly. I just shifted from one worry to another. At first I worried that I’d miss the deadline, or that I’d make it, but with a book I wasn’t proud of. Then, after making it against the odds, I worry that no one will read it. In many ways, this is a metaphor for so many difficult tasks: worrying that you’re not good enough—and then worrying that you are indeed good enough, but no one will notice. Which is worse? Alas, that’s the wrong question, the real one is:
Will you keep going when you realize that what you thought was the finish line was only the halfway point?
Thanks so much for all your pre-orders and reviews.3 If holiday shopping has your budget squeezed, consider requesting it from a local library. And most of all, I hope you read it and give it an honest review.
A lot of people ask me what I’m doing in 2026. Well, for one thing, Thinking Sideways. Yes, I mean that literally in that I’ll be launching and promoting my book. But I also mean it metaphorically. I don’t plan too far ahead. But I do know I will work on staying present. And I’ll take you along for the ride.
Wish you all the best in 2026. I can’t wait to watch you win.
In early 2026, I’ll have news on my next season or content series.
It also mirrors the original tale of Goldilocks of an older woman ransacking a bears’ home. Only later did she become the young girl in today’s children books.
For the next two days, Barnes and Noble members can get THINKING SIDEWAYS 25% off using the discount code PREORDER25.
