Selfish Study, Selfless Teaching: What Coaching Chess Taught Me About My Own Game

Hey Impressive Chessers!

Chess teaching and chess playing are actually surprisingly different skills. Some of the most influential chess teachers like NM Dan Heisman*, NM Bruce Pandolfini*, GM Jacob Aagaard* and arguably the most famous chess coach of all time: IM Mark Dvoretsky*, were strong players themselves.

*Pictured in the Mount Rushmore in my thumbnail, from left to right

But at a certain point, they chose to focus more on teaching than competing. Why? Because the skill sets, while overlapping, are not the same.

A Quick Tribute

Before we get too far into the weeds, a quick shoutout: this blog is proudly powered by Strategic Kids. Their motto is “teaching life strategies through games,” and they do this through chess (of course), but also LEGO, origami, magic, and more. One of my main roles at Strategic Kids (SK) is training the instructors. It's a really cool part of my job and honestly, I often feel like I learn just as much as the instructors I’m coaching! Many of the blog ideas you read here come directly from teaching sessions, whether it’s from training the SK instructors or from my private students. You all ask some fantastic and creative questions.

Recently, I kept getting asked the a similar one, along the lines of:

“Does teaching chess help your own chess game?”

The Short Answer: Yes... But.

At first, I’d always say yes. Teaching definitely can help you improve because:

1. Daily Reps Matter. Teaching forces me to look at and think about chess on a near-daily basis. That keeps my calculation and evaluation muscles warmed up.

2. Mastery Through Explanation. If I can teach a concept clearly, I probably understand it well myself. For example, explaining something like: 

But the longer I’ve done this, the more I realize: it’s not all upside.

The Downside of Chess Coaching

Here are some ways that teaching chess can quietly drag your playing strength down if you’re not careful:

1. Mental Fatigue. After several hours of coaching, you might not want to look at a chessboard—let alone play a high-stakes game.

2. Playing “Instructor Chess.” I sometimes feel like I have to make the clean or teachable move in my own games, instead of the gritty, practical move that might score the point but look ugly on a demo board.

3. Less Personal Study Time. The more hours spent prepping for lessons or reviewing beginner games, the fewer hours available for studying complex positions or reviewing my own tournament games.

So... Does Teaching Help or Hurt?

Overall, I believe teaching chess helps more than it hurts... but only if you’re conscious of the tradeoffs.

It keeps your fundamentals sharp. It forces you to organize your thoughts. And it can reveal patterns and blind spots that show up in your own games. But it’s not a substitute for pushing your own limits. If you’re not also reviewing your own losses, playing in tournaments, or diving into deeper endgames and opening prep, you’ll plateau.

And that leads me to the real point of this blog:

But... before we get to that it's time for a...

Real Point of the Blog: Teaching Chess ≠ Studying Chess

Teaching is about clarity, simplicity, reinforcement, and selflessness.
Studying is about growth, struggle, complexity, and selfishness.

When teaching, your job is to illuminate a concept and meet your students where they are.
When studying, your job is to wrestle with new ideas and push your own ceiling; whether or not anyone else understands what you’re doing.

When I’m preparing for tournaments, I dive into murky, complicated lines that would confuse anyone rated under 2000. Honestly, I don’t even fully grasp some of them fully yet; so I wouldn't dare teach them! And that’s okay.

Both roles are valuable but they require different hats. And if you're a coach or aspiring teacher who still wants to improve as a player, it's important to consciously carve out time for your own chess. GM Josh Friedel once gave great advice on the Perpetual Chess Podcast that teachers should "book lessons" with themselves so that they have enough time to study what is appropriate for their own chess. And it's always good to practice what we preach and hire ourselves a chess teacher/coach. Kind of like how therapists always have therapists of their own.

Don't Teach Like Teenage Craig

I’ve been coaching chess since I was in high school. Let’s just say: Teenage Craig had some... flaws.

My biggest one? Selfishness.

I had my own goal of becoming a master (and beyond!), and I just assumed my students, mostly between 6 to 8 years old, shared that same goal.

I was going to dazzle them with my passion for the 1991 tiebreak between Vassily Ivanchuk and Artur Yusupov

Spoiler alert: extremely complex and totally inappropriate for a classroom of beginners

Good Teaching is Selfless not Selfish

It took me longer than it should’ve to realize this: Being selfish in your own study is fine, maybe even beneficial. Study the lines that fascinate you. Go deep. Get obsessed. 

But teaching others, especially a classroom full of kids with mixed skill levels, requires humility and patience. You have to meet them where they are, not where you want them to be.

So, to make up for those students who sat through some insanely complicated games, here are three actually instructive, accessible, and inspiring ones:

First by the Current Woman's World Champion: Ju Wenjun

Conclusion

Teaching chess has made me a better player in many ways, but only because I’ve also committed to staying a student of the game. The moment you stop learning is the moment your game starts to stagnate; whether you're a teacher or not. So stay selfless when teaching/coaching others but don't forget to keep carving out time for yourself and you'll surely...

…Stay impressive!
OLM/NM Craig C.
linktr.ee/ChessToImpress

Thanks for reading, and let me know in the comments:
Do you think teaching makes players stronger, or does it hold them back?
Have you ever tried coaching yourself? If so, what did you learn from it?