Category: For coaches
About Coaches
How can you tell a good coach from an average, below-average or even downright poor one? You might think it's no big deal. A coach simply ‚explains‘, demonstrates, analyses. However, if you care about improving your performance (whether your own or your child's) and are therefore looking for a quality coach, without having experience and not wanting to throw money away, it's certainly good to know how such a quality coach works... Continue reading
Wijk aan Zee 2019: A Triad of Endgame Horrors, a Delightful Combination, a Genuine Study and Carlsen's Triumph
No, Caïssa's beauty has not faded! The goddess merely rolls her eyes in disbelief... and more and more often. Personally, I have long since given up any illusions about the standard of play among today's players as such, and especially the super-elite with ratings over 2700, when I compare their performances, for example, with those from 40 to 60 years ago. The recently concluded super-tournament in the Netherlands provides sceptics of the same persuasion – that is, history was better – with absolutely ideal and explosive material... Let's first take a look at the true triad of horrors in the endgames created by the super-grandmasters in Wijk... but that's not all... Continue reading
Saint Louis 2018 – Questions about Nakamura's Fortress
In the lesson ‚Let’s Analyse‘, we will take a closer look at the mysterious endgame from the last round of the Saint Louis super-tournament, Carlsen vs. Nakamura. What was the cause of the American's hopeless play in the rook ending (RE)? Was it faith in a fortress that he need not have tried to build on the board at all? In endgames, Carlsen has no equal today (he saw the winning fortress-breaking scheme 25-30 moves ahead!), but the patent for its destruction is held by... the Polish grandmaster Gajewski! The machine (the computer) of course ‚does not fail‘ in fortresses and gets lost... Why does the world champion arrive at tournaments well-rested, while the competition frantically travels from place to place?
In the lesson, we will also look at techniques for playing out REs with pawns in a 4 vs. 3 ratio, explain the concept of the Achilles' heel of pawn structures, and there will also be a 'nutritious' calculation test! Continue reading
Children love them, adults (at worst) tolerate them
What are we talking about? Well, about chess quizzes, problems, and humorous puzzles. Younger children love them all the more when – if a king gets involved in the task and, of course, the solution is about checkmate, while older ones enjoy pondering other types, including sometimes even the more difficult retrograde analyses. And adults? I think most of them also enjoy a good puzzle... Continue reading
For Coaches – Yet Another Way to Diagnose Pupils' Talent
Dear colleagues, do you ever wonder how else you might check whether your pupil will ‚amount to something‘? We offer an original and fresh way to try to get to the truth. Let's find out whether our pupil ‚knows how‘ to think deeply about problems and tackle tough nuts. The logical puzzle presented here is waiting for anyone who fancies thinking differently and more deeply than they have to every single day... Continue reading
Madam Dynamics and Statics in Eternal Struggle!
That, too, is a way to understand chess! It is said that in chess there are only three basic components, which are either in conflict or „prefer“ to join forces against a third power (any resemblance to Orwell's 1984 or certain current situations on the battlefield is, of course, purely coincidental...). These are Material, Time and Quality of position. The cards are dealt as follows: Material = Madam Statics, Time = Madam Dynamics; Quality of position is somewhat treacherous and tends to be the privilege of one or the other lady. Which of these two powerful madams do you prefer? This is also answered by a test primarily intended for coaches to assess the knowledge of their more advanced pupils... And you wouldn't be on the right page if we didn't include a few „cultural questions“ in the test as well... Continue reading
Obituary of a Coaching Genius
We bring a tribute to one of the world's best coaches and teachers, the writer and my coaching guru Mark Dvoretsky, who passed away unexpectedly on 26.9.2016. On our website, this tribute is also intended as study material for readers, but we have also included Dvoretsky's game examples. After all, contrary to popular opinion, Dvoretsky was not always just an excellent coach! From the wealth of literature, we have focused on the author's favourite topic – prophylaxis and its most successful exponents, Petrosian and Karpov. Deep, almost unsurpassable reflections on a chess player's improvement can be found at the end of the tribute; Dvoretsky seemed ahead of his time, as if he predicted the coming of a new messiah who would try to dethrone... opening theory and thus change the face not only of top-level chess, Magnus Carlsen. Let's read what he wrote in 2007... Continue reading
For Coaches (2) – Openings, Endgames, Humorous
This month, I have prepared for you a number of interesting positions and materials for September. In the attachment, you can download materials from the Opening, Endgame and Humorous sections. There is also special advice on how to work with the materials in the For Coaches section. Continue reading
Lights and Shadows (Chess for Schools – School of Chess) – Complete Course
Here, esteemed reader-coaches can download for free a series of popular articles that were published between 2002-2005, first on the pages of the then magazine Mat-64 (under the editorship of Mr Štefan Gross), later also on ŠachInfo (under the title Chess for Schools – chess school) under the leadership of Mr Ing. Břetislav Modr. Although this work primarily dealt with the selection of suitable (and of course also unsuitable) openings for [...] Continue reading
For Coaches – Introduction
We present a section dedicated mainly to coaches of aspiring chess players. Here we would like to publish mainly materials that may be useful to you in your work with your pupils. We mean both individual training (in person or via Skype) and group sessions – in clubs, at training camps, chess camps, or even so-called webinars and the like. Continue reading
Chess quote
Chess is the touchstone of intellect.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chess quote
Chess, like music and love, has the power to make a person happy.
Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch