Coach's Corner continues!

And we're not stopping until we've interviewed all 8 coaches preparing the finalists in the Chess Punks Tournament Finals this Sunday.

Today's featured coach is Grandmaster Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko - 2016 Ukrainian Chess Champion, coach to the Ukrainian national teams, and popular Chessable author....not to mention, a Ph.D in mathematics!

Beloved on Chessable for his insightful chess instruction, it's no surprise that the chess improvement tips Mykhaylo offered us were of the highest caliber. Here's what he had to say: 

What's your coaching philosophy?

My coaching philosophy is that the student himself makes the main improvement. First, I want to make sure that my student knows what to do, how to do, and why to do certain activities. And maybe more importantly, what NOT to do. Which is why during the first few lessons, I ask detailed questions to the student. I get to know the player. I ask how many hours the student is devoting to chess per week. Then I ask what exactly is the student doing. Then I ask how is the student working with the openings (where and how he/she is storing, memorizing, and improving their opening files), calculation (what puzzles, for how long, how many hours per week, with or without the chessboard, with or without writing down solutions and so on). Then I give personalized advice often based on my own painful/successful experiences. Believe me, I made many mistakes myself!

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

Well, it depends on the goals. If the goal is to become a better blitz player then I would suggest simple (not primitive!) puzzles (1-2 minutes/per puzzle) as a warm-up, then blitz with increment(!) and then a quick opening analysis that definitely needs to be saved in the personal opening database. It is much harder if the goal is to improve in classical chess. Then I would suggest more challenging tactical puzzles (3-5 minutes per puzzle), blitz with longer time control (like 5+3), and deeper opening game analysis saved on the computer for future use!

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

U1200:  I think many games at this level have big tactical blunders for both sides. A player should strive to minimize this number. You achieve that by working with tactical puzzles. Unfortunately, there are many ways to work with tactics without much benefit. In general, I would say focusing on improving calculation is the key. Also, it is important to learn/understand/implement the opening principles. This way you would feel comfortable from the very start of the game. Which is why I created my Opening Compass course.

U2000: Here, the big mistakes happen much less often. Nevertheless, improving calculation is still a good idea. I would also add that it is quite useful to address opening problems that happen in your games. And they will happen a lot! The key is to learn from those in your post-game analysis

What is your preferred way to improve at tactics & strategy?

With tactics, it is crucial to improve the speed of your calculation as well as your accuracy (in my experience, very few people pay enough attention to the accuracy). Tactics is like a muscle. It is a skill. It needs constant training. Solving puzzles of a proper level is the key. Strategy, on the other hand, is more like knowledge. You increase your strategic understanding by studying (not just reading – studying!) various books and courses. Also, I would add a third important part of the game – initiative/active play with pieces. It also needs your attention! Studying analyzed games of active, aggressive players is a good idea. Also, I have a course dedicated to this topic!

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

I improve my existing openings by working with the opening mistakes that happen in all my games. And I mean ALL my games! I analyze every single blitz game that I play and I look for opening mistakes/improvements. Then, I save them on my computer so that I can use them in my future preparations. If I want to study a new opening then I look for a Chessable course or a book to lay the foundation. If that is not an option, then I look for a strong player (one is often enough) who often plays the opening and I start creating my own file based on his games and Stockfish’s recommendations/improvements.

What is your preferred way to improve your endgames?

I would split this question in two. First, you have to know and understand the theoretical endgames with just two or fewer pieces and some pawns on the board. You can find those in various courses at Chessable. The key to playing well when there are more pieces is calculation and active play with your pieces. The calculation certainly ends when you reach a theoretical position that you already know. Also, you should always try to extract valuable lessons from your own games. In your analysis, try finding or guessing the best move rather than waiting for Stockfish to give you the answers.

Mykhaylo's Courses

If Mykhaylo's advice resonated with you, you definitely want to check out his Chessable courses! Mykhaylo has created courses on many of the topics he talked about, such as calculation, fighting with the initiative, and more. You can even try out the Opening Compass course above for free here: 

Opening Compass: Free Lesson Learn the basics of navigating unknown opening positions. The full course even includes an opening repertoire for White and Black!