Coach's Corner: Alvar Alonso Rosell

Few authors can boast about having a course on a chess opening that matches their origin. This is the case of Grandmaster Àlvar Alonso, who hails from Catalonia, Spain, and wrote the highly regarded course Lifetime Repertoires: Alonso’s Catalan. Àlvar is the second youngest Spanish Champion, the winner of the 2018 Sunway Sitges Chess Festival ahead of several higher-rated GMs, and nowadays, a rising content creator in the Spanish language.

Àlvar has managed to juggle a full-time job with staying active in the competitive Spanish chess scene. Moreover, he’s kept his rating above 2500. On top of that, he is a dedicated Chessable author. He has recently shared a significant update for his Lifetime Repertoires: Alonso’s Benoni course.

As a chess coach, Àlvar believes that training plans and advice should be tailored to each student. His background in mathematics influences his views on chess coaching. “I like to look for very small ideas that spread like a droplet in a still pond,” he says.

In this interview he shares valuable advice for chess players:

What is your chess coaching philosophy?

I would say that my coaching philosophy is based on a mathematical approach. Trying to see chess in the way we learn math, by simple assumptions that pile up on top of each other. So, in order to do that, I usually trim the repertoire or simplify the ambitions/goals to a level the students can comfortably play and grow with. It doesn't force them to prepare for 3-4 hours or to juggle many loose concepts at the same time. 

Once, I had a student who was a huge fan of my Catalan course. He had a knack for “feeling” where the pieces should go so the first thing I told him was to NOT focus on openings at all. Instead, we recognized that he had room for improvement elsewhere. 

Every student has different needs… and the hardest part is to detect biases and tendencies. Therefore, in the beginning, sticking to one goal at a time is very helpful to improve consistently. Especially considering that most students have at least ten different sources of knowledge between YouTube channels, books, Chessable courses and so on.

Suppose a player has only 3 hours a week for chess training. How should they spend their time?

It depends. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 🙂

On a serious note, they should get a very simple and conceptual repertoire since they don't have much time to work on it. Then, I usually recommend playing games so you experience plenty of positions and themes. From there you can drive your interest to solve positions from those games or ask interesting questions about it. Sticking to some amount of puzzles in a consistent and focused way is the best. With 3 hours a week, the key is to have a clear and simple plan.

What is the biggest factor for improvement for players under 1200 (Chess.com)? Under 2000?

For players under 1200, I would say focusing on dogmas. Control of the center, development of pieces–e.g. knights in the center, bishops in diagonals, not moving the same piece too many times– and king safety. And make sure to answer the following question every time you are about to play: What's my opponent's next move? If you do this consistently it shouldn't be too hard to improve quickly. Forget repertoires, forget endgames, just stick to those simple rules and progress will come easily.

For players under 2000 the same thing should work more or less. Here, your repertoire should be a bit decent–by the way, I'm working on a very simple repertoire on 1.e4 so you can basically get to play quickly and not worry about memorizing. What do I mean by decent? Play lines that reward development, initiative, piece activity, space etc. Don't play "premove" openings. That's why I usually do NOT recommend the London as a start, as it is way too schematic and often too technical for starters. Gambits that start with 1.e4 are a great way to learn about dynamics and activity.

The way I see it, you should play dynamic, sharp chess. The earlier the better. It is much easier to learn strategy and risk management later on. That's why having too solid of a repertoire early (e.g. Berlin or Queen’s Gambit Accepted) can be a bit detrimental going forward.

Going back to the topic of U2000, doing puzzles and having consistent feedback (for example, doing puzzle rush survival every day) while focusing on dogmas should slowly but surely help you level up. Studying strategy with great books like Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guides by GM Mauricio Flores Ríos if you want to go a bit deeper can be a nice touch, but at those levels tactics win 90% of the games.

What is your preferred way to improve at openings? What's the approach to chess openings that you try to teach your students?

Basically, get a supersimple and playable repertoire first and then grow it slowly. Practice is very underrated in this age of information, so stick to something and once you dominate it, you can add variety and depth in different angles. I don't think it is a complicated task to be honest. I like to say this: Think of your repertoire as a pet. You need to take care of it. Feed it, give it a walk, spend time with it. If you don't want to do that, then get a small plant that only requires a bit of water every other day.

For starters, we get plants. Eventually, we get a dog.

Generally, I don’t teach the Catalan to my new students. I adapt to what the student plays and we discuss what could be best. It's important to like what you play, so I don't think it makes much sense to impose the same repertoire on every student I have. In this way I learn a lot of different defenses and openings that I eventually play myself!

What is your preferred way to improve at the endgame?

To be honest, I rarely study theoretical endgames. I prefer doing compositions and hard endgame puzzles. I think I have a decent imagination, which is required in endgames. Not sure if it's the best, but I despise reading about endgames. I tried Dvoretsky's book but it only lasted a few pages. I learned about the "corresponding squares" concept, which is pretty cool. Maybe I should keep reading it.

Is there anything else you would like to advise to ambitious chess improvers?

Find joy in repetition, the rest comes later.

Àlvar Alonso’s Courses

GM Àlvar Alonso has published several courses on Chessable, both in Spanish and English. He is mostly known for his work on the Catalan opening, but also for being one of the authors that go above and beyond to keep his courses updated. Just this week, he added 4 new full chapters with 46 trainable lines + new model games to his Lifetime Repertoires: Alonso’s Benoni course.

Check out his Chessable author page.