The days are counting down until the Chess Punks Tournament Final this Sunday! 

And since the tournament is all about chess improvement, we continue our Coach's Corner series, soliciting the best chess improvement tips from the 8 coaches preparing the finalists.

Today's featured coach is FIDE Master Midas Ratsma, an experienced chess coach and popular Chessable author. With a specialty in coaching beginner and club players, Ratsma's sensible, straight-forward approach to teaching - with an emphasis on tactical ability - has won him huge fandom on Chessable. 

Here's what advice Midas has to offer: 

What's your coaching philosophy?

The aspect that you likely skip in your chess training is properly analyzing your games without using a computer. This is what I like to focus on in my lessons. I like to teach interactively and let the students reconsider the moves they played in their games. 

Providing a chess training program for my students is important to me. The first Chessable course I made was an unpublished one for my students to improve in openings. Now, I am spending more time making Chessable courses than coaching. 

In my coaching philosophy, my Chessable courses provide you with all you need to know about openings, tactics, calculation, and strategy so that the lessons can be spent on game analysis. The chess games you play will test your skills in these aspects. Therefore, in the game analysis, you touch upon all these fundamental parts of the game. As a teacher, I can help my students better when they also study my courses. 

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

First and foremost, you should schedule when and what you'll be studying.

1. Openings (1 hour/week):

• Choose Chessable courses with a manageable number of trainable lines and move depth to suit your schedule. Aiming to study an extensive Lifetime Repertoire course could be a painful mistake and leave you too little time for other chess training. 
• Aim for perfection: Consistently practice until you know every move by heart.

2. Tactics and Strategy (1 hour/week):

• Focus on tactics that align with your skill level, ensuring you can solve them accurately.
• It's best to do tactics that are sorted on tactical themes so that you master the tactical topics.
• Strive for perfection: Review any tactics you got wrong until you fully understand them.

3. Game Analysis Without a Computer (1 hour/week):

• This is likely the step you might overlook. Independently assess your games, marking mistakes you and your opponent made. Reflect on why you made certain moves and suggest better alternatives.
• Only after your review, use a computer to verify your insights. If the computer's recommendations surprise you, it's a sign you might benefit from a deeper analysis or the guidance of a coach.

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

U1200: For you, sharpening your tactical skills will be game-changing. Prioritize calculating captures first, always protect your pieces, and keep an eye on your opponent's unprotected ones. 

U2000: Your focus should be more on game analysis without using a computer. Recognizing your own recurring mistakes can be essential to rapid improvement.

What is your preferred way to improve your opening? And, what's your approach to chess openings that you try to teach to students? 

The students I am coaching are almost all using my Chessable courses to study openings. 

What is typical for my opening approach is

1. Punish typical mistakes at your level: I consider what's mostly played at the level the course is targeted for
2. Keep time for your job and social life: I try to keep the courses concise and to the point 
3. Tactics are key: With the tactics chapter, all the tactical ideas are repeated 
4. Consistency is crucial: By going for similar plans and ideas, it's easier to learn. 

One tip for improving in openings! After every game, you can use the browse repertoire tree function to see if what you played was recommended in your opening course.

What is your preferred way to improve at the endgame?

In an endgame, you must always have a plan and anticipate your opponent's plan. I suggested analyzing your endgames without using a computer to improve in the endgame. (possibly with a coach) You can only use a computer at the end of analyses after finding suggestions for improvement for you and your opponent. 

Midas' Courses

If Midas' advice resonated with you, be sure to check out his Chessable courses! You can try two of the opening courses he mentioned above for free here: 

Short & Sweet: Ratsma's 1.e4 Start learning a full attacking repertoire with the white pieces, perfect for the up-and-coming chess improver!

Short & Sweet: Ratsma's Repertoire for Black The same aggressive, attacking repertoire for club players, but for Black!