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Hi! If you're planning new courses, I would definitely be interested by a course given at night (after 6 PM EST) or during the weekend. I'm working and have a family, so anything else is near impossible for me... Thanks!

Hello everyone. I am looking forward to the upcoming seminar on November 7th, and was wondering if anyone else getting ready for the class has looked at the videos from IM Rensch yet? I thought they were put together well, what does everbody else think about them?

in my profile page appears that the latest news from this group is First Single-Day Seminar but If i try to access I just can read Oops?! Privacy problem! You are not allowed to see this page because you are not friends with this member. Click here to add them as a friend.

University of Arkansas. B.S. Mechanical Engineering

So one of the issues with these types of courses is finding times to hold them when everyone who's interested can attend. I have two suggestions in that regard. First, and I believe I already suggested this in another thread, is to ask the potential students when they'd like the class to be, prior to scheduling it. The instructor could announce the details of the course - what subject they want to teach, the expected pricing, the number of lessons, and about how much homework there is likely to be. Then, the people who would want to join the class can respond with what times/days would be best for them. Thus, you could maximize the number of students in each class by having them at times when the most interested students are available. The down side is that potential students who aren't available at popular times would probably get left out. Second suggestion: Split the classes into groups. For the instructor, preparing the material, lesson plan, homeworks, etc is the probably much more time consuming than the time spent actually teaching the class. Would it really be that much more work for them to teach the same lesson twice every week instead of just once? This might drive up the price slightly to compensate the teacher for their additional time, but it shouldn't be too much. Instead of trying to find 20 people who are available at one particular time, you might split it into two groups of 8-12 people, each getting the same lesson every week, but one group meeting on one day and time, and the other group always meeting at the other day and time. This would have the additional benefit of giving students in one group the opportunity to sit in on the other group if they would otherwise have to miss a lesson. Just my two pawns worth, from someone who really likes the idea of these courses and would love to take one, if you come up with a subject and timing that work for me. --Fromper

Could someone explain to me how chess.com university works? Thanks in advanced, PawnMagician

There's been some discussion about the banner ad that appeared today on chess.com, with a number of Members complaining that this violates the spirit, if not the letter, of their paid membership agreements. I thought it might be worthwhile to create a Forum topic to air these concerns, and to discuss more generally the issue of a paid course on chess.com. When I first heard about "Chess.com University," my immediate reaction was, "Wow, $300 per course is too rich for my blood, but I wish chess.com and IM Pruess well." But on further reflection, I'm siding with those who have expressed concerns. Is this the first step down a "slippery slope" where the "good stuff" on chess.com cost extra, and we'll see more and more of today's free services moved behind a paid firewall? I have deep respect for IM Pruess, and I do wish him well. But with all respect, does this course really require that much more effort/time/creativity than the various Chess Mentor courses, instructional videos, articles, etc., etc. that are offered for "free" to subscribers? I'm not saying that IM Pruess shouldn't be paid handsomely for his expertise and attention -- he most definitely should. But I think that he should be paid out of chess.com's subscriber revenues, just as the other course/video/article providers are. (Of course, chess.com would probably choose to pay IM Pruess significantly more for his courses than they pay, e.g., an article writer; but that's a different conversation.) Bottom line, although I was very positive toward this new program at first, I now feel that we Members should rise up and say NO PAID COURSES ON CHESS.COM!! I hope you all find these thoughts provocative, if not agreeable. I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for listening, ibiwisi/Michael

People! We need more registrants for chess.com's first ever University Course. If you don't register, this thing may never happen! This is also one of your few chances to get lessons with me. Even if this works out, I'll tend to hire other instructors to do this; I won't have time to teach these intensive courses myself. This is your big chance! Let me emphasize, you aren't going to just be learning about the King's Gambit-- the King's Gambit is just a vehicle. Yes, our examples will all come from the King's Gambit, but what you are going to be learning is: - how to play the opening, particularly: - how to handle open games - how to handle situations with material imbalances - how to weigh different values: material, development, center, king safety - how to use the initiative/dynamic play - how to recognize the "nature" of the game, and changes to it (how critical is the moment, what is the current pace of play, how are values changed based on the nature of the position) - how to use logical thinking - how to be flexible and original and fresh (in your thought process) Finally, you'll learn a bunch of themes in the king's gambit (like typical patterns and ideas), and see how having a stock of themes helps your thinking in the opening. Come on! Let's do this!! I want to send some disciples out into the world to mate others!