Gold Medalist Coach On Special Traits Of Great Players

GM Ivan Sokolov's accomplishments as a player include reaching the 2700 "super grandmaster" club and a peak world ranking in the top 15. With all that, his coaching accomplishments may be even more impressive. His students have included GMs Alireza Firouzja and Parham Maghsoodloo, Ivan Saric, Jorden van Foreest and Salem AR Saleh. He is also a standout team coach, captaining the gold medal-winning 2022 Olympiad squad from Uzbekistan and more recently guiding his teams to first and fifth place in the 2025 European Team Championships.

For all his achievements, Ivan is the Chess.com Coach of the Month for November 2025. You can find several of his insights into coaching below, including what attributes separate the very best young players that he has worked with, like Firouzja or GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, from other grandmasters and strong players.

At what age were you introduced to chess, and who introduced you?

When I was six years old, my father Cenko introduced me. He was a reasonably strong club player—in today's terms, perhaps 2000 FIDE.

Which coaches were helpful to you in your chess career, and what was the most useful knowledge they imparted to you?

Legendary attacker GM Dragoljub Velimirovic was the most helpful. In a very short time, a year or so, he drastically improved my overall chess knowledge, my attacking skills, and my feel for the initiative and 'dynamic minor sacrifices'.

What are your favorite or best games you ever played?

My most memorable wins came against GMs Viswanathan Anand in 1996, Garry Kasparov in 1999, Judit Polgar 2003, and Vladimir Kramnik in 2004.

How would you describe your approach to chess coaching?

It's difficult to give a short answer. I work with my students to arm them with knowledge that will improve their practical play—their decision-making process in a tournament fight.

What do you consider your responsibility as a coach and which responsibilities fall on your student?

My responsibility is to unselfishly share the knowledge and experience I've gained during my 25+ years being a top GM. The student's responsibility is to enhance and improve my contributions further, and adjust them to his or her own style and own way. I do not aim to make my student a "new me".

What is a piece of advice that you give your students that you think more chess players could benefit from?

There are many useful pieces of advice I can give, but here's one in particular that will definitely help a large group. It's about the current era of engines and benefits of AI—which we should certainly use—where all those lines and evaluation numbers keep popping up when preparing and analyzing. 

Save those lines! Then switch off the engine. Think independently, and objectively evaluate whether you understand the position, and whether you are likely to perform the way your silicon friend indicates.

What is the puzzle you give students that tells you the most about how they think?

Depends on the level. However, I do not think that becoming a "puzzle solving monster" automatically makes you a better player. In the real game, nobody taps you on your shoulder and says, "Find a move." You also come to a position based on the run of play—nobody just dumps pieces in front of you and tells you to solve.

Do you prefer to teach online or offline? What do you think is different about teaching online?

I think it has to be a combination. Face-to-face, you learn to understand the person better, but online is easier to logistically arrange.

What do you consider the most valuable training tool that the internet provides?

The ability to follow the top events real time, input those games in your own database, analyze them while they're being played in real time... this makes the whole "hard work" process more entertaining.

Which under-appreciated chess book should every chess player read?

I will mention the greats whose games I learned the most from: Alekhine, Botvinnik, Kasparov, Fischer, Spassky, Karpov

You have coached all sorts of top young players. Are there any specific traits you notice in those youngsters who reach that 2750+ level?

During my work with world top players, I have met them at different development stages in their careers. Firouzja and Maghsoodloo were just beginning their careers, with Firouzja not yet rated 2500. Others like Van Forrest or Saleh were freshly-minted grandmasters, while my gold medalist Uzbek squad were all "developed players." And while I have never worked with the current world champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju, I have been able to interact with him.

I can share two traits/abilities that I think all of them have.

First, resiliency. When they land in a bad position, they have the mental resilience, a "refuse to die" attitude to push yourself to find the energy to resist. This ability to find this extra resource to postpone the resignation saves many games. Additionally, the play it smart, giving their opponent every possibility to choose the wrong road.

Second, smart AI use. Preparing for a game, many players make the mistake of "working for the engine" by simply hitting the space bar and following the first line. Smart guys make engine work for them! They might evaluate the fourth engine line (probably not objectively best) if it gives the opponent difficult practical choices to make. The final result, provided perfect play, is likely to be all zeros from the engine instead of a small advantage—but the road getting to that position will have many more pitfalls for the opponent.