English Chess Forum

After preparing extensively for last weekend's Blackpool Congress (Standard section) I was appalled with my play and final score of 1.5.

As such I have more or less decided to seek the services of a patient coach to try help raise me from a poor minor player to maybe the next stage up. I doubt I could ask for much more given my current ability.

I feel I am quite a decent coach with my juniors who are just starting out but some of the older ones are now getting to the stage where they need someone stronger and it would be nice to be able to be that person for a little while longer.

Can anyone here point me in the direction of anyone who might be interested and/or some relevant coaches' websites?

Regards,

Andy

*looks at location of Colwyn Bay*

Nigel Davies might be a possibility.

Yes, I'm just looking at tigerchess.com now. Although with Skype and email, location doesn't really matter.

Andrew,
It can often be the case that you can learn just as much, or more, from a player who is a bit better than yourself, rather than a top player. I have just looked up Colwyn Bay on the ECF grading database and there are three players graded over 160 who have an A code (i.e. are regular players). I don't know these individuals, but one of these might be able to help you in a very cost effective way.

Just spoken to the missus about this and she said the same thing. The club here does have plenty of stronger players - especially in relation to myself. We used to go and then fell into the routine of getting to 7 o'clock on a Tuesday (club night) and both of us saying that we felt too tired to go. Also, little 'un had swimming on Tuesdays which meant she needed to have a shower and hair wash for the next day and this restricted our time further. Now though, she doesn't.

So, we have vowed to rejoin the club and endeavor to get off our arses and get down there every Tuesday.

Some other thoughts

Input your game to a personal database and compare what you played to "theory" and what other people have played
Check your game against a chess engine to note tactical and for that matter positional disasters.
Put some games on your blog with light notes eg I thought I was winning but then he found ... The comments, if you attract them, might point out the missed forced win a couple of moves earlier.

I might recommend Logical Chess Move by Move not for the analysis but the thought process, also Alekhine's Best Game collection. This will give you a style of chess fifty or sixty years out of date, but it might be enough to terrorise under 100 events. You could get to thirty years out of date by absorbing Fischer's 60 Memorable Games. Well worth doing if only for the comments "so I chopped it off". Contemporary stuff, all the Kasparov books plus the New In Chess magazine. If you have the time, download TWIC every week and play through a few games.

I offer cheap tuition, since I'm not obsessed with money and I just enjoy chess and teaching it. You can contact me at: [email protected].
I am 185 ECF slowplay and 191 ECF rapidplay. I have had experience with teaching many different levels via video lectures and also a demonstration board at school. Perhaps you could ask my student, Kishan Pattni, if you would like a brief review of if it would be worth it.

Playing regularly at a chess club would be a good way to improve. If you can get involved in the Chester & District League as well that would be a bonus. Colwyn Bay don't have a division 3 team but perhaps there is enough manpower to create one for next season?

Hi Andrew.

One bad tournament does not a bad player make.
I know nothing about you but reading between the lines
it could be something as simple as lack of OTB play.
(given up going to the club).

If your confidence has taken whack then don't feel as a teacher
you are lacking.

These kids that you think are beyond you prove that you are
doing something right. Without you they would not have got better.

Instead of running the games through a computer why not toss them
to your class to look for improvemnts.
Out of the mouths of babes etc.

Good Luck.

If you can afford it a coach, as well as playing more club chess, might be a quicker way to procede. Fritz and Rybka are very helpful but they don't always tell the full story. I do like Geoff's idea of getting your pupils to look for improvements.

See http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en& ... 5aee9ef7b5

Thanks for all suggestions.

I think as Osho (he of the 98 Rolls-Royces) says somewhere, there is no teacher and there is no path; there is but self-development.

Roger de Coverly wrote:Input your game to a personal database

good advice - also you might consider annotating your games too - preferably as soon as possible after you play them, so you can capture what kind of thoughts you were making and why you played certain moves.

Use an engine to see if there were any really obvious moves you missed (typically tactical ones where the evalutation of the engine moves and your move differ by say a score of 2 or more) and try to figure out why you missed those moves. Was there a reason you didn't play that particular move. Sometimes I dismiss a good good move outright because I was fearful of an opponent's threat that with proper analysis turns out to be not a threat at all.

But if you can capture the thoughts of those moments it can help yourself and also any coach who might go through your games.

PeterLalic wrote:I offer cheap tuition, since I'm not obsessed with money and I just enjoy chess and teaching it. You can contact me at: [email protected].
I am 185 ECF slowplay and 191 ECF rapidplay. I have had experience with teaching many different levels via video lectures and also a demonstration board at school. Perhaps you could ask my student, Kishan Pattni, if you would like a brief review of if it would be worth it.

Did Kishan win last years British Rapidplay minor section? I believe I was one of his victims.

I agree with other posters Andrew, one bad tourney doesn't mean much - I went to Blackpool with hopes of winning the next section up (115 and under) and ended up on a pretty disappointing 3 - too many draws and 1 loss. I expect playing in that roasting hot basement room didn't help!