Let them bishops sprout!

As anIM Motivated_Bishop on my seek to the GM title I had a call from a worried mom before the National U-10 Championship. 

She told me she heard good things about me and wanted to know if I would be able to guide her 9 year old (1550 rated) son so he could succeed in the forthcoming tournament.

I soon had a statement to make so I tried to trick her a little bit... I said: "it's still more than a month until the championship. Does'nt he play no where until then?"

She then told me he has a league game on saturday and there is a club tournament he plays each monday but those are obviously less important than "The Championship" are'nt they?

Well it is if you don't understand what chess is all about.

When I had the chance to meet the parents combined with the kid the next week I asked him "what do you like the most about chess?"

And he quite soon replied "The Rooks" without giving any further explanations.

Now I ask you... does he prefer the rooks on the championship games better than the ones in the league games or in the club tournaments games? Do they excite him less? The answer is NO.

The only thing is that he is more anxious about the championship games. But that's not necessarely because of how he is feeling about the championship but due to the enviorment (family,coach,friends) approach towards it that affects him.

So Basically what I have told the mother is that I would not be working with him to succeed in the championship or on any short-term goals...

Because if you want to grow a Motivated_Bishop you need to let them bishops sprout.

If you will show interest in comments I will share how the coaching/sprouting process proceeded...