Positive trademarks of a dedicated Chess Instructor - Episode 1

As a trainer it is important that when you start working with new students to analyze the most recent games played with White and Black. It is safe to say a minimum of 40 to 50 of the last games will give a good idea of what is the player’s strengths and weaknesses and his overall understanding of opening, middle game, endgame, tactics and strategy.

After this the trainer can put an individual short and long term plan together. In this way you can tackle more directly the needs of each individual student and follow the progress the student is making. There is no perfect system or way of teaching but a good trainer will always go through some personal played games and not work with a standard training plan without the necessary adjustments for the individual.

The main idea or goal of this series of analyzed games is to illustrate in practice how the system works. And after each analyzed game we can point out to the students some key good and bad patterns that they may have. In the short term this will at least help the students to become conscious of some bad habits and create an opportunity for the trainer to give them some straightforward tools that they can work with to begin recognizing and avoiding basic mistakes.

For the player with a 1700 rating it is better for his chess development to play open games and later when they become stronger to play semi or close position. But it will be wrong for a trainer to stop him from playing an opening that the student feels comfortable playing.

                                               

Everything takes time and as trainer our job it not to impose our style of playing or opening choice but to guide them in the right direction.

 

Conclusion

White had no problem developing his minor pieces but went for an aggressive approach on move 7 with pawn d4 instead of castling right away. White wasn’t well prepared for this sharp play and paid a very high price for this.

White castled short on move 9 to bring his King to safety but overlooked that the position became relative critical. The game ended right at the end of the opening phase therefor there was no middle game and endgame to analyze.

It is too early to make strong conclusion but it seems that white don’t have relative enough experience in the English opening and was swept from the board easily. As always the best way to improve is, to go through your games so you can learn from your mistakes.

Enjoy the hostility and till next time.

 

Sensei San Valentino!