How To Focus On "What Actually Matters" In Chess

NM Bryan Tillis is one of Chessable's longest tenured and most prolific authors, with courses on several openings and other topics, and his latest course about 1.e4 openings is out now. Bryan has been the lead coach at Palm Beach Chess since 2014, led several scholastic teams to tournament victories, and written Chessable courses since 2018, so his coaching and teaching abilities are well established.

Chess.com is happy to honor Bryan as our Coach of the Month for May 2026. Bryan shared a lot of information for the occasion, including how he became a chess master despite a late introduction to the game, his advice about how to screen out the distractions and mental blocks to chess improvement, and his three keys to help students turn chess from a game into much more.

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

I was introduced to chess when I was around six or seven years old by my older brother. At the time, it was just something we played casually, and I didn’t really start taking the game seriously until almost ten years later. My first tournament was in February 2003 in Montgomery, Alabama. Compared to many players today, I got a pretty late start as a teenager, and I didn’t have any formal coaching.

What is your first vivid memory from chess?

My first vivid chess memory goes back to the spring break of my eighth-grade year, when I really caught the chess bug. My mother had come across a listing for the Dothan Chess Club in the local newspaper and encouraged me to check it out. It was a club for adult players, and to put it simply, I was completely outclassed my first time there. That experience was humbling enough that I didn’t return for a few months.

During that time, though, I became determined to improve. I played hundreds of games on Yahoo Games and studied classic games on Chessgames.com [ed. note: this was a few years before Chess.com existed in its modern form], where I also began building my first opening repertoire. When I eventually returned to the club, I was much better prepared. I vividly remember that nearly all of our games were played at long time controls, which forced me to slow down, calculate deeply, and really think through every position. Looking back, that environment was instrumental in my development. By the time I played my first tournament, my initial US Chess rating was already 1375.

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

The only formal coaching I received during my chess development came through one intensive week each year at the Castle Chess Camp in Atlanta, Georgia. There, I was fortunate to learn from a wide range of strong instructors and professionals, including GMs John Fedorowicz, Gregory Serper, Yury Shulman, and Varuzhan Akobian, among many others over the years.

One of the most important takeaways I gained came during my first visit in 2004. I observed that virtually all chess professionals were using ChessBase to store and deeply analyze their games. That insight fundamentally changed my approach to improvement. When I returned home, I made it a habit to manually input my own tournament games into ChessBase and conduct detailed postgame analysis to identify recurring mistakes and areas for improvement.

That shift marked a significant jump in my playing strength. It also reinforced a key lesson that stayed with me throughout my development: many players plateau not because they stop playing, but because they fail to systematically address the weaknesses in their game.

Many players plateau not because they stop playing, but because they fail to systematically address the weaknesses in their game.

What is your favorite or best game you ever played?

I was the manager of the Miami Champions Pro Chess League team and had the opportunity to play against many strong players. I liked the preparation in this game, as it is not typical to play this way against a Hedgehog structure but it worked quite well.

How would you describe your approach to chess coaching?

My approach to coaching chess is really centered on the idea that chess is bigger than the board. It’s not just about memorizing openings or chasing rating points—it’s a tool for building important life skills like discipline, better decision-making, and learning how to bounce back from setbacks.

Chess is bigger than the board... it’s a tool for building important life skills like discipline, better decision-making, and learning how to bounce back from setbacks.

A big part of how I teach comes down to improvement through honest analysis. I put a strong focus on reviewing games after they’re played, finding patterns in mistakes, and using tools like game databases and structured annotation to help players truly understand what’s going wrong. In my experience, most players don’t stop improving because they lack talent—they plateau because they never fully address the recurring issues in their play. My job as a coach is to make that improvement process clear, structured, and something they can repeat on their own.

Just as important is recognizing that not everyone learns the same way. Some players thrive with structured lessons, others learn best through video content or hands-on game review. Because of that, I’ve developed different types of learning resources, including videos and courses, all designed to focus on real understanding rather than passive memorization.

At the core of everything I do are three simple principles: hard work, having the right support system, and a genuine love for the game. When those are in place, chess becomes more than just competition, it becomes a way to grow and develop as a person over the long term.

At the core of everything I do are three simple principles: hard work, having the right support system, and a genuine love for the game.

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

I see my role as a coach very much like a personal trainer and guide rather than someone who simply delivers instruction. My responsibility is to identify what a student specifically needs to improve, structure a clear and efficient training path, and provide the tools, feedback, and support system that help them progress faster than they would on their own. A major part of that is also helping them navigate setbacks—whether that’s emotional frustration after losses, stagnation in rating, or difficulty breaking through to the next level.

At the same time, I’m very clear that I cannot do the work for the student. Improvement in chess ultimately depends on their willingness to put in consistent effort outside of coaching sessions. That includes reviewing their own games, practicing deliberately, and being honest about mistakes rather than avoiding them.

So the responsibility is shared but distinct: I provide structure, direction, accountability, and support, while the student is responsible for execution, effort, and commitment. When both sides fulfill those roles, progress becomes much more efficient and sustainable.

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

One of the most important things I try to get across to my students is this: don’t tie who you are to what your results say on the crosstable.

Chess has a way of messing with your head. Rating pressure, fear of blundering, and that sinking feeling after a bad loss can all creep in and start influencing how you play. When that happens, players often shift into survival mode: They stop taking necessary risks, avoid sharp positions, and end up playing not to lose instead of playing to actually win. The problem is, that kind of approach quietly slows everything down. You can’t grow if you’re constantly trying to protect yourself from every possible mistake.

From a practical standpoint, the less you’re emotionally tangled up in the outcome, the more mental bandwidth you have available for what actually matters: calculating, recognizing patterns, and making good decisions at the board. And over time, that tends to show up as more stable, higher-quality play, especially when the position gets complicated or the stakes feel high.

So the idea is pretty simple, even if it’s not easy to live by: focus on the position in front of you, not what it means for your rating or reputation. And when you review your games, approach them like someone trying to understand what happened—not someone trying to judge themselves.

Focus on the position in front of you, not what it means for your rating or reputation.

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

I had the privilege of playing legendary GM Garry Kasparov in a small simul in 2022. It was quite the experience and lesson.

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

I prefer teaching offline because the interaction is simply more engaging and focused. When you’re sitting across from a student, you pick up on things you can’t always see online, body language, hesitation, confidence, and how they’re really thinking through a position. That makes it easier to guide them in real time and keep the session more connected and interactive.

In-person lessons also tend to have fewer distractions and a stronger sense of accountability, which helps students stay locked in and take the work more seriously. Overall, I find offline coaching more effective because it creates a stronger learning environment where engagement and focus naturally happen at a higher level.

Online teaching definitely has its place, it’s convenient and allows access to more students, and the tools can be very efficient, but it can sometimes feel a bit more distant or fragmented.

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

The most valuable training tool the internet provides for chess players is Chessable. And I don’t say that just because I publish courses there! I use it personally, and it’s also a core part of how many of my students train.

What makes it so effective is the combination of structured learning and active recall. Instead of passively reviewing material, players are constantly tested on what they’ve learned, which forces real retention. It also allows for repetition in a very controlled, efficient way, which is critical for building opening knowledge and reinforcing key patterns over time.

For serious improvement, having a tool that turns study into an interactive, repeatable process is a major advantage, and Chessable does that better than anything else I’ve seen online.

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

The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by GM Jonathan Rowson.