In the recent years youth chess has taken a considerable lead, but during this wave have appeared many so-called "experts" in the field of coaching. It would seem that the article is written today, but this text was put on paper in 2013 by a person who advised me on many occasions: Emeritus Trainer and International Master Sergiu Grunberg.

The progress of children and juniors depends on four deciding factors: parents, coach, club, federation, with the specification that parents always have the last word.

The strategy for improving the situation can be applied on 3 levels:

    A - strictly chess related

    B - educational

    C – psychological

  A - strictly chess related

The parents

 The role of the parents is more important than it seems at first sight, aiming at a decisive aspect for the children's progress: individual study at home! Just like at school, what you learn with the coach is not cemented, if it is not doubled by individual work at home. In fact, many talented children have failed, not working at home at all, under the indulgent gaze of their parents.

Obviously, the coaches play a decisive role on the chess level!

Most of the coaches, a lot of them very competent, make serious mistakes and here I will point out some typical mistakes:

• After an initial assessment, any coach discerns certain inclinations in students, either an appetite for the tactics, or towards a more positional, more settled game. In other words, the initial profile of the player must be taken into account. This does not mean that we should not insist on the weaker register, but first of all we must take into account the fact that the pleasure and passion of the player to play chess must be maintained and cultivated.

• The major mistake is that instead of focusing on the basics of chess, starting with endgames, standard positions, principles and evaluations, most coaches under the pressure of immediate results (giving in to the impatience of parents or even the boredom of children) deal primarily with openings. The major disadvantage is that not having a logical basis, children learn mechanically, without understanding the subtleties and ideas of the openings. This is not only about beginners, but also about "consecrated" juniors who, thanks to the wrong start, continue to accumulate mechanically. Moreover, due to a misunderstood conservatism and a false certainty, the kids never change their initial repertoire.

• In the same context, 90% of coaches teach their students openings from their own basic repertoire. Taking into account neither the student's appetite and profile, nor his ability to understand or his degree of chess maturity.

• Some coaches teach their students to start with 1.d4 or 1.c4 (considering that for 1.e4 is too much to learn). It is a reprehensible compromise, largely due to convenience, but also lack of professionalism.

The results can be seen over time, because after an overflowing start, largely due to the child's talent, the player is capped and the world does not understand why. In fact, it is obvious that, playing the same types of positions, the player blazes in time, becomes dependent on the habit, is afraid to approach new openings and positions, and can no longer progress.

Modern chess is based on calculation. I know a lot of chess players who work a lot on puzzles during the training, but they miss elementary sacrifices during the game. Of course, no one tells you when you are in front of the pieces that there is a combination. Some says that is chess intuition, but obviously there is a bell that alerts you (based on what you learn over time), that the position meets the elements that favors the combination or not.

The chess clubs

All the considerations set out above regarding the individual coaches remain valid for the coaches from professional chess clubs, with the specification that the group trainings have their specificity and often an increased degree of difficulty.

Overcoming the shortcomings of the heterogeneous team - differences in knowledge or understanding, problems of discipline, there are also chess advantages:

The basic elements of chess are accumulated more easily when you have a dynamic group. Thus, the champion of puzzles will be stimulated by their success. The ones whose solutions and answers were slower or wrong compared to the others, will work harder, will try to find the nuances looking forward a new chance to prove their strengths. Moreover, during the group sessions, some special skills are developed. Such as solidarity, empathy, friendship, which are later found in the team spirit!

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