Enjoy Yourself And Don't Stress Over Rating: "Ultimately, That's Going To Help The Most"

IM Yaacov Norowitz's love of chess is very apparent, and this passion for the game is one of the main things he passes on to his students. Yaacov is also a Chessable author, where his third course, The Yaac Attack - Fajarowicz Gambit for Black, is available now. He also runs a training site, the Yaacattack Academy, as he aims to teach chess to students of all ages.

And now, Yaacov is the Chess.com Coach of the Month for April 2026! For the occasion, Yaacov shared his thoughts and experiences on a wide range of topics, including his unique approach to chess positions based on a concept called color harmony, the mentors who taught him his love of the game, and much more.

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

My dad taught me when I was nine. He had a box of chess books and one day decided to teach me. First, he taught me the rules. I fell in love. Soon after, he taught me notation. We never did play. But he'd watch me all the time playing online and often spot strong moves that I missed! He was always very supportive but never interfered, and there was no pressure.

What is your first vivid memory from chess?

I remember vividly and fondly my grandma "Babee Chaiky" taking me to my first tournaments at the Manhattan Chess Club on Restaurant Row in NYC. She would always come armed with my favorite chess snacks—bananas in one hand, and Pepperidge Farm cookies in the other! Another funny image is me playing while eating a huge pastrami sandwich at the board. I upset a much higher-rated opponent. However, my opponent was not overly thrilled about my "Deli Variation", so we kept it to bananas and cookies after that.

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

I had a really lucky chess upbringing, one could say even miraculous. After my dad taught me the rules, I joined the chess club at my school, the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, NJ. The coach was Dr. Richard Lewis, a strong expert-level player. (And my dentist!) It was a casual club, and all my friends went. One day, my dad told me that "Doc" saw I had talent and offered to teach me for free. He asked me if I was interested, and I couldn't say yes faster.

Our first lesson was about playing against a backwards pawn on an open file. It shocked me how there was so much behind one pawn, and I fell in love all over again! Doc's love of chess was infectious, and chess really became a form of self-expression for me over the years, to find and express myself creatively. Most importantly, Doc taught me the importance of being a gracious winner and a gracious loser. Doc also taught me the Stonewall. Over the years, I have beaten many top players with this opening in blitz including GMs Garry Kasparov, Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen, and Hikaru Nakamura. The Stonewall encapsulates the philosophy toward chess my coach gave me, and what I attempt to pass down to my own students. There is a rigid structure to it, but inside the structure, there is actually endless opportunity for joy, creativity, and personal touch!

There is a rigid structure to [the Stonewall], but inside the structure, there is actually endless opportunity for joy, creativity, and personal touch!

Back to my coaching, after two years, my level was close enough to Doc's that we paused lessons. A few months later, Doc arranged with his friend and patient, world-class GM Roman Dzindzichashvilli, to coach me, in exchange for dental work! I'd go every Wednesday to the office and learn the creative thinking style of the great Roman. Roman taught me the Caro-Kann, which is often considered quiet and drawish, but this was no such Caro! He taught me sharp lines such as the Bronstein-Larsen, purposely doubling the pawns with extremely creative themes. This helped build my feeling and understanding of creative play, and I still use and teach variants of these lines in my Chessable course on the Caro-Kann. Later, in my 20s, Doc coordinated for me to resume training with Roman again! Eventually, this helped me qualify for the 2013 U.S. Championship. Of course, none of this would have been possible without Doc (and my grandma!).

Then there was Mikhail Kruglyak. Not quite a coach, but a lifelong friend who inspired me to hunt for norms and titles in international tournaments! We went to the Bahamas and Iceland together (many times!) and it brought out the best in me. Chess tournaments were always fun and a joyous experience. To this day, he is an integral part of the Yaacattack Chess Academy, and we strive to make chess fun for our students the same way it was for us.

What is your favorite or best game you ever played?

The game below is one of my favorites. I was tempted to show a nice Caro-Kann queen sacrifice I had years back versus the great Kasparov, or a two-knight mate versus a Spanish IM that won me a "best move" brilliancy prize, but decided on this game because I find it to be an excellent example of my "dacha" approach. It was a blitz game against the French super GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In it we have an early imbalance of our knight versus his light-squared bishop. To achieve harmony, we make up for our missing bishop by putting pawns on light squares—mini light-squared bishops!—and using the pieces on dark squares. Having an extra knight vs his light bishop means that we are behind on the light squares, but ahead in dark square potential, as a knight can go to dark squares but a light bishop can never. To put it concretely, a Bishop is worth $1,000 on its respective color and $0 on the other, while a knight is worth $500 light and $500 dark. Let's dive in!

How would you describe your approach to chess coaching?

Over the years, I've developed a unique approach to chess understanding. I often call it the "dacha" (summer home) system. The basis of this system was inspired by my longtime friend and co-originator IM Marc Esserman. GM Tigran Petrosian once famously said, "Because of the Dutch, I built my dacha". The usual explanation of what he meant was that he won so many games and prize money from opponents who played the (suspect) Dutch Defense that he could buy a beautiful cottage. But we believe he also meant it in a literal way: Petrosian was building a beautiful summer home on the board! The approach is based on light and dark square harmony, "mini bishops" (pawn chains), the "color money" of the knights and bishops, and how to use this color money as a GPS to form plans and spot tactics from afar. It's how I think in my own games (see my game against MVL) and it makes for a very deep and enjoyable learning experience!

What's been really fun has been creating a series of videos at the Yaacattack Chess Academy of every world champion, discussing how they used these color harmony ideas in their own games. From the most patient players like Petrosian, to the aggressive players like GM Mikhail Tal and Paul Morphy, it's cool to see how they all put their personal color touch in their moves, and I've enjoyed teaching this style for over 25 years. I've been fortunate to battle players like Hikaru Nakamura with it thousands of times (across multiple platforms and formats).

Testing the color ideas against him was a true treat and helped me build the approach to deeper levels. Among my most interesting students was a young IM Levy Rozman! I taught him the color themes, and I found it cool to see years later him teaching the exact ideas to celebrities and NBA players—I suppose I am their "grandcoach"! I met another very interesting student around the same time period, playing long hours late into the night at the Chess Forum in the West Village, NYC. He was dressed in an undershirt, but was actually a Sheikh in Dubai and an ambassador for the UAE. I remember chuckling when he once left a message that he needed to reschedule the lesson due to lunch with the President Obama. During one of our lessons at the Ritz Carlton, I naively ordered a beer... looking back, quite an "interesting" choice.

Teaching people at all ages and in all walks of life is a true treat.

Teaching people at all ages and in all walks of life is a true treat.

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

As a coach, my ultimate focus and commitment is to make sure the student enjoys the lessons and comes out happier after each lesson than he/she was before! My coach, Doc, instilled in me the importance of passion over rating points, wins, or results, and I try to teach the same to my students. I've really enjoyed trying to understand each student's personality and psyche and helping teach with these things in mind. For example, is the student a perfectionist or not? Is the student more timid or overly optimistic? It's about fusing the color harmony ideas with psychology—chess therapy!

There was an incident that comes to mind that made me very happy and even a bit emotional! A few years back I was teaching a highly rated Canadian girl who was very talented but struggled with being timid, which I highly suspect was related to her upbringing. She was scheduled to play in the World Open in Philadelphia. I gave her homework, to play the most aggressive move at all times, unless it clearly lost by force. Technically, bad advice, but I felt it would allow her to just be "herself" without fear of being wrong/ blundering. You can already guess the outcome: it was the best tournament of her life and the games were unrecognizable from her usual style. This was the 2nd time in my life I cried about chess. (The other time, ironically, was also at the World Open when I was 13.)

I also recall when one long-time adult student told me our sessions were their favorite hour of the week, and it helped them relax from their work. That really made me happy, and it's what I strive for. A different time, a young student told me after our first lesson, it was the happiest day of his life! I was flattered but really felt appreciative of the position I am in to make a difference.

The student's responsibility is to enjoy the ride! And to practice the color harmony themes. I like to give daily dacha tactics to keep them sharp. And I want my students to be courageous, forget rating points, and dip into the love of the game!

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

Don't stress over rating, enjoy yourself, read whichever books you enjoy the most. Ultimately, that's also going to help the most. Also, realize that chess can make lifelong connections and friendships, and you will have the opportunity to meet really special people from all different walks of life. I believe that chess gave me harmony in life, which, in turn, in some way inspired me to delve deeper into the harmony ideas in chess itself.

What is your favorite teaching game that users might not have seen?

Janowski vs. Capablanca 1916. It illustrates many beautiful ideas, such as how to use the bishop pair and how to use the pawns for color harmony. It also has a paradoxical move with the light bishop purposely going backwards.

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

This position is from the 1800s by the legendary German master Adolf Anderssen. It is a fantastic example of fusing extreme tactics with color harmony. Black has an unopposed light bishop and as such we should put "faith" in our light square potential here—every light square is rightfully ours. Armed with this knowledge, I like to see just how optimistic the student will be and how far he/she is willing to trust this light magic!

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

Online is much more convenient and is usually as effective, if not more! I love jumping in games against top IMs and GMs and discussing live with the student and explaining my thinking process. My coach, Roman, did this back in the day, and it was so helpful, so I continue to do the same myself.

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

Chessable is fabulous for opening learning, and my training site Yaacattack.com has helped many an aspiring player delve into the blend of tactics and positional play! For me personally, being able to battle vs top GMs daily is just phenomenal and is both entertaining and instructive for learning. When I have a beautiful game or tactic using color ideas, I get super excited to put it into the "dacha tactics" and show students! Recently, I got swindled by a beautiful stalemate idea by GM Kayden Troff. The thought of showing it to students immediately cheered me up!

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

There's plenty of books which have a great reputation, many rightfully deserved. I do believe many of the old school books do not get the proper attention. One of my favorite, under-appreciated chess books is the Positional Chess Handbook by FM Israel Gelfer. It's a no-nonsense, pure chess book, mapped in chapters of positional themes with examples from top-level games. What's really cool is how it is suitable for literally every level. I have fond memories of reading it as a young child in my summer camp in the Catskills with a plastic chess set on the bunk floor! Another favorite is Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev. A blend of my favorite player Jose Raul Capablanca's smooth style along with the joy infused by the legendary author. I've read it 10 times and counting!