Tools of the Trade

Having transitioned to providing online coaching (rather than face to face, which I prefer), here are my current tools.

• A good collection of coaching books (Yusopov coaching series, 365 Chess Master Lessons by Soltis)
• Lichess (You can share analysis boards and study collaboratively) 
• Zoom video software (despite the fact it is currently being slammed in technology circles)
• XSplit Gamecaster (for streaming lessons to multiple students)

At this stage it seems to work well for one on one sessions, and has the added benefit of getting me to prepare instructive positions in advance.

Who owns what?

Protecting intellectual property in chess has always been a tricky issue. Copyright of games has consistently been a legal dead end, and preventing live broadcasts of events by third parties hasn't been a raging success either.
Even the domain of chess coaching is not immune to problem in this area, as this story shows. (NB This is a New York Post article, so be warned) A chess coach in New York is accused if stealing clients from the business he worked for, after resigning and setting up his own business. The parent business did get him to sign some sort of non-compete contract, but it seems not to have had its intended effect. So off to court they all go, with $100,000 is damages being claimed.
For those familiar with the Australian chess scene in the 1990's may remember that this sort of thing was actually quite common. A number of chess coaching businesses seemed to get their starts after the lead coach left their previous employer, leading to some bad blood in the coaching community. There were even 'third generation' businesses, where a break away coach then had their coaches set up competing businesses. This seemed to go on until a kind of market saturation occurred, where the number of businesses and the number of client reached a level. There was even claims that coaching materials were 'borrowed' and rewritten, but I don't believe it went as far as court action.
I think these days everything is a little calmer on the coaching scene, although I suspect their is still competition between coaching organisations. Of course healthy competition is normally a good thing (market forces and all that), so if their is, I hope its all on the up and up.

Chess teaching resources

Chess coaching can be a hit and miss affair, as most coaches are chess players first and teachers second. So organising a teaching curriculum is not always the highest priority, with coaches usually picking a favourite book or two, or teaching from experience. While this technique often works with children who have already mastered the basics of chess (don't drop pieces, can mate with K+RvK, spot mates in 1 and 2), for children yet to reach that level it is sometimes less effective.
As a result I've always been on the lookout for well structured coaching material. A very battered copy of "Comprehensive Chess Course" has been my main resource for the last 25 years, but finding copies can be a bit difficult. A number of coaching companies have developed their own material, but this is usually 'commercial in confidence' and can't be handed around freely. But chess.com is doing us all a favour by providing free teaching materials, which they are happy to share. You can see the details here, and download a preview. The curriculum is connected with their chesskids.com site, which also provides plenty of material for players and coaches. And if you visit the information page, there is even a direct link to an earlier version of the teaching material, if you want to get an idea about what it covers.

One and a half moves

If you are just starting out in chess, or trying to teach other people how to play well, then simply looking one and a half moves ahead might be all you need to focus on. This is the system recommended by Charles Hertan in his book "Power Chess for Kids", and like a lot of good ideas, its strength is in its simplicity.
The subtitle of the book is "Learn how to think ahead and become one of the best players in your school", and clearly shows the market he is after.
I am often surprised at the number of new players who seem to focus on complicated opening theory, or 5 move combinations, when simply finding the one mover's is enough. In Hertan's book he even makes it simpler than that, by suggesting you focus on finding the third move in a capturing sequence  (which he calls 'takes, takes, bang!'). And based on my own experience, this is not only a step up from 'I move, ... ,then I move again', but would result in vastly improved results from your average school chess player.

More coaching goodies

I've mentioned the FIDE Trainers Commission Surveys before, but I thought I'd give them another plug. Put together by various chess trainers, they are distributed by the FIDE Trainers Commission, and are designed to assist chess coaches. They are usually about 4 to 10 pages long and can be downloaded as PDF's. The best part is that they are completely free to download and use.
So if you are looking for some coaching material to use, or want to learn abot more yourself, you can get them from here.

Missing your mates

I've been stressing the importance of not missing checkmates in 1 to a couple of coaching groups I've been working with this week. The point I am (obviously) trying to make, is that once the game is over, your chances of losing fall dramatically. Of course I then saw a couple of games where the mate in 1 was overlooked!  In one instance the opponent went on to win, while in the other, a draw was agreed when both players ran short of time.
The diagram shows the second game. In this position Black thought for a while and then played 10 ... Ne7. White then committed the cardinal sin of playing the first move that came into his head and replied 11.Nxe7, missing 11.Nd6#

Think with your head, not with your eyes

"Think with your head, not with your hands" is a piece of advice I often give my students, especially when they are staring out. To this I may have to also add, "Think with your head, not with your eyes"
As part of some basic training exercises I gave them a number of positions where they had to spot the 'free' piece. It was a piece that could be captured for 'free' as normally there were no other pieces protecting it. Most of the positions were pretty easy (deliberately so), but I did throw the odd tricky position in. The diagram is an example of one of the tricky ones, and it caught most of my students out.
They all wanted to grab the queen on h5, missing that bishop on e2 was pinned. The correct answer was just as much a surprise to them as well, as they missed that the knight on c6 was also pinned! But what was the real surprise to me was when I included it the set of questions for the following week, most of them chose the wrong answer a second time.
What I think this means is that as a group they have moved to the level when they can 'see' moves, but are yet to progress to 'understanding' moves. Hopefully this will change over the next few months.

A fantastic coaching opportunity

For chessplayers in and around Canberra, the ACT Chess Association is organising a coaching session with well known trainer IM Andras Toth. It is aimed at adult players (and higher rated juniors) and will be held on  Sunday 9th September. The details are:

The workshop will be run by IM Andras Toth and will cover a number of topics followed by a lunch break and a simul.

This is a great opportunity to listen to one of the top Canberra players explain various aspects of chess and participate in a simul.

Andras will focus on aspects of chess beauty and will include the following topics in the workshop:

• Analysing some really nice lesser known games;
• Some of the nicest moves ever made in chess history;
• Chess curiosities, stalemates and records;
• Chess mathematics and studies exploiting the geometry of the chess board;
• Deeper analysis of some specific studies and problems;

The lecture will start at 9:30 am sharp at Campbell High School and lunch will be taken at around 12:00 pm.

The simul will commence at approx 1:00 pm.

The total cost is $15 per person which can be paid on the day in cash.

The workshop is open to all senior players and junior players with a rating over 1200.

Numbers are LIMITED to 20.

If you are interested in taking part, contact Glenn Ingham at glenn.ingham@mac.com

FIDE Trainers Survey

Regular contributor to this blog, Milan Ninchich, alerted me to a collection of training material that is available from the FIDE Trainers website. It consists of a number of articles (or surveys) written by various FIDE trainers, and is free to download and use. The articles for 2012 are available separately, while articles from previous years are collected in the Yearbooks from previous years.
The direct link to the articles is http://trainers.fide.com/surveys.html  and while mainly geared towards coaching stronger players, it may also prove valuable to coaches working with players of any level.

Whose pieces stayed at home?

When coaching at the local school's chess club, I try and keep things simple and understandable. As most of the kids aren't deep calculators, trying to explain that one side or the other one because of a deep combination doesn't always work.
Instead I often treat demonstration games as little 'morality plays', where the loser did something 'bad' (in chess terms) and that is why they lost. For example the following game from the current US Championship shows Black being punished for (a) pawn hunting with the queen, (b) leaving the king in the centre, and (c) falling behind in development. But if I used this as an example game I would simply pose the question 'Which side moved the least number of pieces?'. Of course this is an over simplification (and I could find plenty of counter examples where the less developed side eventually won), but it at least drives home the message that trying to win with one or two pieces only helps your opponent.

Christiansen,Larry M (2586) - Seirawan,Yasser (2636) [B12]
ch-USA GpB Saint Louis USA (2), 16.04.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 Qb6 7.Nc3 Qxb2 8.Qb1 Qxc2 9.Qb5+ Nd7 10.Rc1 a6 11.Qxb7 Rb8 12.Qxa6 Qb2 13.Bb5 c4 14.0-0 Qa3 (D)
15.Ba4 Be7 16.Nb5 Qb2 17.Bd2 Be4 18.Bc3 Qe2 19.Rfe1 Bxf3 20.Rxe2 Bxe2 21.Nd6+ Bxd6 22.Qxd6 Rb7 23.Bc6 1-0

The dilemma of coaching

I've started working with a new coaching group this year and once again I face the dilemma about what approach I should take. It is a fairly young group (9 - 10 year old), but they all have some tournament experience.

The choice (as I see it), is either to go with the flashy tactics, the brilliant attacks, the spectacular mates, or to try and develop a more rounded understanding of the game. The former is more appealing, as it is something that younger players seem to understand better (winning a piece makes more sense than controlling d5), and it is more likely to hold their interest. But in choosing this option I'm afraid they might miss out on developing a more general understanding of the game (as I did when I was younger).

Or am I worryingly unnecessarily, and it is just a matter of making the information interesting and challenging, no matter what the subject is?

From coaching to competition

The FIDE Trainers website (trainers.fide.com) has a number of documents, including a definition of the classification system used. Interestingly part of the 'mission' for each of the levels (from Developmental Instructor upwards), contains a requirement to bring students to a competitive level. Implied in this definition (at least to my reading) is an obligation to move students into competitive chess. Of course this makes perfect sense, as their seems to be little point to teaching chess otherwise. Unless of course that chess isn't being taught as an end to itself, but as part of a broader educational discipline.

So I guess one could ask the question. Are you a 'real' coach if your students don't play competitively?

Post Olympiad Prep

During the recent Olympiad I was having a discussion with someone connected with another team about how I was going in the tournament. I gave the usual litany of excuses (lack of openings, no pre-tournament preparation etc), and he chuckled. "Of course" he said. "After the olympiad the players from my country always say how they are going to spend the next two years working on their openings, improve their endgame technique, and play a lot more serious chess. This plan lasts about two days after they get home, and then their real lives take over"
I recognised the truth of this statement, as it pretty much matches my own experience. But it doesn't mean that there is nothing to be done at all. For the moment I am still sticking to a plan of grabbing a couple of classics (eg "My System") and at least playing through the games in the book. For example the following game is about (a) control of the open file and (b) entry points on the 7th rank.

Van Vliet,L - Znosko Borovsky,E [D00]
Ostend, 1907

1.d4 d5 2.e3 c5 3.c3 e6 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.f4 Nf6 6.Nd2 Qc7 7.Ngf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nb4 9.Bb1 Bd7 10.a3 Rc8 11.0-0 Bb5 12.Re1 Nc2 13.Bxc2 Qxc2 14.Qxc2 Rxc2 15.h3 (D)
15. ... Bd6 16.Nb1 Ne4 17.Nfd2 Bd3 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Nd2 Kd7 20.Nxe4 dxe4 21.Rb1 Rhc8 22.b4 R8c3 23.Kf1 Kc6 24.Bb2 Rb3 25.Re2 Rxe2 26.Kxe2 Kb5 27.Kd2 Ka4 28.Ke2 a5 29.Kf2 axb4 30.axb4 Kxb4 31.Ke2 Kb5 32.Kd2 Ba3 33.Kc2 Rxb2+ 34.Rxb2+ Bxb2 35.Kxb2 Kc4 36.g4 Kd3 37.g5 Kxe3 0-1

Doing too good a job

Today GM David Smerdon gave a 3 hour coaching session for improving adult and junior players in Canberra. It was a very successful event, and concluded with David playing a 24 board simul against the participants.
One of the topics he covered was "How to draw with a higher rated opponent". He showed a game he played against Vasilly Ivanchuk in a Dutch league match a couple of years ago, where he held Chucky to a draw. In giving todays players tips on how to achieve this, he may have done too good a job, as he found the subsequent simul a real challenge. As today was about training he did give his opponents a head start by allowing them to choose an opening they wanted to practise (within reason of course). After approximately 2 and a half hours play the students acquitted themselves quite well, with 3 players getting draws (as per the lesson) and 4 players going even better by beating David!
So while the overall result may not have been as good as he hoped, there is no denying that as a teacher he did a brilliant job.

Think with a Grandmaster

The coaching seminar/Olympiad fund raiser with GM David Smerdon is all set to go. Here are the details of the day

THINKING WITH A GRANDMASTER

SUNDAY, AUG. 22^ND, 12-5PM

CAMPBELL HIGH SCHOOL, Trealor Cres, Campbell, ACT

As previously announced, GM David Smerdon will run a coaching day for developing players this coming Sunday.

CONTACT JIN YUAN,, TO ENROL

jin.yuan@rocketmail.com

DETAILS:

· CONTENT: There will be two major activities, with short breaks during the first. These are:

o In depth coaching around selected games. David will take the group through several selected games. Working in small groups and with frequent “find the move” type quizzes, you will ‘think with him’, exploring strategic and tactical issues including topics such as:

§ Preparing for tournaments and /or for a given opponent

§ Selecting an opening

§ Understanding the positions that emerge

§ Maintaining pressure—or dealing with the opponent’s pressure

§ Transition into the middle game

§ Making better decisions

§ Choosing when and how to go into an ending—and win it (or hold the draw)

o A simultaneous exhibition. David will discuss with you opportunities to play the opening line of your choice (within reason!) in the simul so you both get the best from the game. If you record you game, we will try to arrange to get you a printed copy annotated by Fritz. (TBC.)

COST: $25 flat fee for all comers. The proceeds will support David in his Olympiad trip.

TIME: 12-5.

WHO MAY ENTER: As indicated previously, preference will be given to players from early teens and up, rating 1000-1700. However, others will be accepted if this does not fill the pool of places.

Some grown up coaching

"Juniors get it to easy" is a claim often heard 'round these parts. "They get coaching and discounts and special prizes, and adults don't" is the usual follow up. And while parts of this statement may be true, there has been nothing stopping adults from organising their own 'special' chess activities, except the desire to have some one else do it for them.
Well the ACT Chess Association is organising some coaching for adults (and strong teenage players). On Sunday 22nd of August, GM David Smerdon will be running a coaching seminar at the ACT Junior Chess League Chess Centre aka Campbell High. It is open to players in the 1000-1700 rating group (teenagers and up) although players outside this range may be accepted if space permits. The activities include a simul by David against the participants, with the proceeds from the day going to help fund David's trip to the 2010 Olympiad.
If you are interested in taking part contact Jin Yuan at jin.yuan@rocketmail.com

Launching Pieces

One of the difficulties in teaching openings to new (junior) players is that they don't see the point of opening principles. Taking the time to move each piece once only isn't as much fun as playing for the 4 move checkmate, or going on the rampage with the queen. Even if they are shown how horribly wrong such an opening strategy can go, the vast majority of their games are played at such a level that 'bad' openings are just as effective as 'good' openings.
So I've decided to take a slightly different tack. Rather than stress the positional features of 'good' openings, I've simply shown how some openings can lead to a quick checkmate. No, not Scholars mate, but quick knockouts where almost all the pieces join in. One game I use as an example is the Marshal v Burn, 1900. Also known as "The Pipe Game", Marshall develops his pieces and then overwhelms Burn with a kingside smash. And unlike some other common example games (eg Morphy's Opera Box Game), when White sacrifices, he does so with a clear return in sight.

Marshall,Frank James - Burn,Amos [D55]
Paris IT Paris (14), 12.06.1900

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.h4 g6 11.h5 Re8 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.Qc2 Bg7 (D)
14.Bxg6 fxg6 15.Qxg6 Nd7 16.Ng5 Qf6 17.Rh8+ 1-0

An attack starting from nothing

Chess coaching is often full of contradictions. While it is important for beginners to learn the virtues of solid, mistake free chess, this isn't the stuff that makes chess exciting. So after 35 minutes of 'put your pieces on safe squares, keep material even or in your favour', you wheel out the Morphy 'Opera Box' game to show them something interesting, and all they take away from the lesson is that you should sacrifice all your pieces to win.
Another good piece of advice is "develop your pieces before you attack". But if you are going to teach that lesson, then make sure you don't show the following game at any stage. It was played in the 1916 match between Janowski and Marshall (two obsessively attacking players for sure), but after 12 moves Black has only one developed piece, and he sacrifices that on move 13. Then with no pieces off the back rank, he proceeds to launch the mating attack. Not a great advertisement for the aforementioned advice.
Nonetheless it does serve as an example that chess is not just about one thing or another. In this case the other factors in play were White's lack of King safety (12.Qg4 was the culprit here) and Black's use of the open f and c files.

Janowski,Dawid Markelowicz - Marshall,Frank James [D00]
New York m3 New York (7), 1916

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.c3 e6 5.Nd2 Bd6 6.Bg3 f5 7.Ngf3 Nf6 8.Ne5 0-0 9.f4 Bxe5 10.fxe5 Ne4 11.Nxe4 fxe4 12.Qg4 cxd4 13.exd4 Nxd4 14.cxd4 (D) 14. ... Qa5+ 15.Kd1 Bd7 16.Qe2 Ba4+ 17.Kc1 Rac8+ 18.Kb1 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 Bb5 20.Qd1 Bd3+ 21.Qxd3 exd3 22.a4 Rc2 23.Bf4 Qb4 24.Bc1 Rxg2 25.Ra3 d2 0-1

A coaching game

Here is a game I use quite a lot in the various groups I coach. It is by Joseph Blackburne from the 19th Century and embodies all the useful things that you want new players to master. Quick development and control of the centre followed by a mating attack! I've left in the comments I use, which point out the good and bad ideas in the opening. (NB There is normally some shading between the extremes of good and bad, but for the point of the exercise I have left it black and white)

Blackburne,J - Gundry,W [B15]
1862

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 Challenging control of the centre (Good) 3.d4 Playing e4 and d4 in the opening (Good) 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Moving the same minor piece twice in the opening (Bad) 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 Ending up with double pawns. (Bad) 6.Nf3 Bd6 7.Bd3 Bg4 8.0-0 Getting the king to safety and developing the rook. (Good) 8...Qc7 9.Re1+ Putting a rook on an open file (Good) 9...Kf8 No longer able to castle (Bad) 10.h3 Bxf3 Moving the same minor piece twice in the opening. (Bad) 11.Qxf3 Nd7 12.c3 Re8 13.Bd2 Connecting rooks (Good) 13...Rxe1+ 14.Rxe1 Kg8?(D) At this point the opening stage would be over and we move into the middle game. 15.Re8+ Nf8 16.Qf5! Qb6 17.Qd7 [ 17.Bf4 was missed by Blackburne here. 17...Bxf4 ( 17...Qc7 18.Rxf8+ Kxf8 19.Bxd6+ Qxd6 20.Qc8+ Ke7 21.Qxh8 wins a piece.) 18.Qxf4 and Qd6 is a huge threat. 18...g6 a) 18...g5 19.Qxf6 h6 20.Bc4 Rh7 (a) 20...Qc7 21.Qg6#) 21.Qg6+ Rg7 22.Bxf7+ Kh8 23.Rxf8+ Rg8 24.Rxg8#; b) 18...c5 19.Qb8 g6 20.Rxf8+ Kg7 21.Rxh8; 19.Qh6] 17...Qc7 18.Qf5 Qb6 Hoping for a draw by repetition. 19.Bc4 Qc7 20.Bh6 c5 21.Qg4 g6 22.Qf4! as capturing the queen leads to mate on f8. 1-0

Can coaching harm your chess?

One evening during the Olympiad, I was having dinner with various people connected with the Bermuda team. The guests included GM Nick DeFirmian (Bermuda Captain), Nick Faulks (Bermuda Board 1), Nigel Freeman (FIDE Treasurer) and Graham Hillyard (former editor at Batsford). At some point the discussion got around to coaching, and the effect it can have on your chess.
To be absolutely clear, this discussion was about being a chess coach, not receiving coaching. The theory being proposed (by whom I cannot remember) was that when you explain chess to a student you aim for 'perfection' in any position, ignoring the fact that finding chess moves is often a very practical task. Therefore when you spend too much time coaching (and not as much time playing) you try and find 'perfect' moves in your own position, rather than very good ones. And as such a task is often impossible in the time you have available to you, your chess suffers due to both indecision, and possibly time trouble.
Now I don't know whether this is entirely true, as I have learned a great deal simply by preparing lessons for my students (pawn play being an example), but I have certainly seen players results and style change after they have become chess coaches. Previously I would have attributed this to a simple lack of practice (ie teaching others rather than playing yourself) , but it may be more complex than that.
As an example here is a position from my Round 5 game against Bill Hook of the British Virgin Islands. If you were a chess coach, and one of your students played this game, would you regard the idea of meeting 13.c4 with 13. ... bxc4 14.Bxc4 Bxf3 as playable, or would you suggest something else, including not getting into this position in the first place?