Interactive Q & A Daily Course by email

What I appreciate most about Chien's daily email lessons is that each day, you learn something about chess that is not only interesting but also useful in games. I have only been taking email lessons for six weeks, but I already feel like his teaching has helped me to improve my game. It is also easy on the pocketbook, so you don't need to have a lot of money to get this valuable instruction.

I have taken lessons before, but in America and other places, chess lessons are very expensive, and you only see your teacher once every week or two. With Chien, you can ask him a question and have instruction any day. He also seems to have a feel for your playing level, and he gives lessons suited to your needs.

Daily email chess lessons are one of the first things I consider when I study chess. They are like reading a good chess book that adjusts to your needs. And, I have already learned about chess subjects that I have never heard of before in books or from other instructors. I highly recommend, and am thankful for, Chien's valuable teaching.

Thanks a lot Andrew. It's my pleasure to work with you

You are absolute right about few highlights you mentioned:

* It is like reading a chess book that adjusts to your needs / playing level.

* Participants can ask me any question and have instruction any day.

The pace is fully their controls, there will be no pressure from me.

Some are doing interaction with me on daily base,

some are busier and doing it only 2 or 3 times a week let say,

but there are some who has privilege to do more than 1 email conversation with me daily.

I usually reply immediately when I am not in mid of playing tournament's game or teaching in live session, but even when I am busy I will usually respond not more than 8-12 hours

Chien truly know how to teach. I learned for a while, but then got busy with school. However, the amount of content that he can deliver simply through email is exquisite. Thanks!

Hello and Greetings to all chess family of this forum

Here I am again after 10 months that I have started email daily (almost) lessons with Chien !

The one and most important thing that I must say is that I am more than satisfied . The quality of tests/lessons and discussing is high . Even if solutions are not satisfactory Chien is never giving it to me from the first moments. He insists and tries to lead my thought and focus on the right point !! This has increased my visualization and the way that I approach on the game to the best !!! I have become more trustful and sure about my game and plans .

Chien is also following my fulfilled games and corrects my mistakes because all of us are learning from that (as it is in real life )

From here I want to send him a big thank for the help and for the friendship 

Sakis

(May Kaissa be with us )

https://www.chess.com/play/tournament/5729795

Two or three weeks ago, I decided to enroll in the daily email course offered by Mr. Chien Ming. I must admit, he truly impressed me with his kindness, his Socratic approach, and his deep expertise in chess. After all, I had nothing to lose, since Chien offers a free one-month trial.

From the very beginning, he captivated me with the quality of his exercises, insightful commentary, and constant encouragement. Not only do I learn from the positions he provides and his thoughtful questions, but once the questions are in, I gain a deeper understanding of the examples themselves. I cannot stress enough how valuable this course has been already for improving my grasp of the game and identifying areas I need to work on.

Mr. Ming is remarkably patient. He never pressures anyone to work for hours, yet his enthusiasm makes you want to invest more time. This way of learning is truly inspiring. As someone who tends to be naturally lazy, I find it both enjoyable and engaging to study with him. I can easily spend hours analyzing a suggested position, identifying candidate moves, and exploring possible variations — all without undue pressure or rigid constraints. I work entirely at my own pace.

Another benefit of working with Mr. Ming is his prompt email responses. He often goes above and beyond by sending me examples of games related to the openings I use. Just recently, without any request from me, he shared a highly instructive game he played years ago that perfectly matched my favorite opening. It was completely unexpected and fascinating. Chien Ming seems to intuitively understand my needs and never runs out of material to offer.

The cost of this course ($25/month) is minimal, yet it’s the most effective chess instruction I’ve received since childhood. In my opinion, if your rating falls between 1000 and 2000 on Chess.com or at your local chess club, you owe it to yourself to try this course. Give it a shot for a month or two — you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Around a month ago, I began sending email back and forth between Chien Ming and me. At first, we started with the basic chess knowledge. I told him I already started doing chess lessons and puzzle from chess.com, and from chess books like Bruce Pandolfini and Bobby Fischer.

My knowledge was extremely bare. Some people, when they said they start learning chess again in their adult years, actually meant they used to play chess a lot as young kid. And then they show you how easy to play again as adult. Like suddenly skyrocketing their elo at chess.com to above 1000 levels within days or weeks. Nope, not me. Seriously, as a schoolkid I was terrible at chess for real, and I had no freaking idea how to play chess back then and even after 30 years later.

Anyway, I like Pandolfini's approach using Socratic method to learn chess, and that's essentially what I've been doing with Chien in our every meeting. We discussed some of my old games, and then he showed me several ways to improve. Also, Chien showed me how he would handle that particular situation by giving examples from his own game.

After several meetups, Chien started the Daily Lesson email interactive. For now, the focus is on tactical side, and with several follow-up puzzles to solve to illustrate the case study for that particular tactics. Let me just say, the puzzles are tough but fair. Sometimes I could solve it straight away, but not always. Often I miss something that Chien points out in the next email. You do this, now what if your opponent counters with this. What will you do? Expect that kind of Socratic interaction regularly.

Is it worth it? Without any doubt. Essentially Chien will challenge your logic and your imagination. More often than not, both at the same time. With his guidance, I don't know how far I'll improve by the end of my imaginary Senior years, but I'm pretty certain I'll be lightyear ahead of what I currently am right now.

Chien is so patient polite and infuses the knowledge step by step .

Depend on the student's level, I might start with middle game attacking pattern/ positional motif etc. I seldom start with opening phase unless it's related with middle game plan.

I am also developing Endgame series that will cover all basics that any intermediate players should know by heart.

eg starting with K with multi pawns at each side, where 1 side has 1 extra pawn, then K+1 pawn vs lone K with various application in the real game

A legendary quote by Capablanca

The interpretation of that quote:

"A good players make decisions in the opening and middlegame based on what kind of endgame might arise later.

If you can understand the effects (endgame)

aka if you can predict / dictate the midgame into the endgame position that you want.

then you can better prepare for the causes (middle game and opening) for your favorable endgame.

Thus, it's very important to master several basic endgame positions (the independent endgame positions that can be studied by themselves) eg. basic of several pawn endgame positions, basic of several Rook endgame positions, and many more"

You will understand better what it means later when I will share the complete game from opening till endgame.

You might give it a try. You can pause and resume again anytime you like without any obligation to continue if you don't find it helpful. Pls just leave me your email then I will reach you back soon.

This program has helped dozens of beginner - intermediate - early advance level players for almost recent 3 years. 

I’d like to share a short review of Chien’s daily email course, in case anyone here is considering trying it out.

I’ve been following his “daily course by email” for a while now, and the structure is straightforward: each day he sends a position, you reply with the move you would play, and he follows up with an explanation and relevant ideas behind the position. The concept is simple, but he puts clear effort into selecting positions that match your current level and the type of chess you want to improve in. The material never feels random; he adjusts the difficulty based on how you respond, which makes the training more efficient than generic puzzles.

One thing worth pointing out is his attitude. His communication is consistently polite, patient, and approachable. He takes time to write out explanations that are understandable even when the underlying idea is more complex, and he’s open to questions or alternative lines. You can tell he’s genuinely trying to help rather than just sending templates.

For players who prefer correspondence-style training rather than live coaching sessions, this format fits well. It’s low pressure, asynchronous, and you can think about each position at your own pace. If someone is looking for a steady flow of structured practice and would benefit from a mentor-like approach from a long-time classical chess organizer, I can recommend giving it a try.

Chien's daily chess lessons really do make learning chess more enjoyable, especially when you are very busy. I had to quit our lessons for a while due to being so busy, so he offered me a way to do chess if I only have 3 minutes a day. Now that I have done that for a while, I have been able to up my time for his chess lessons to 10 to 15 minutes per day. During this whole time, Chien has been very flexible in his time and teaching subjects.

I have been taking lessons from him for nearly a year now, and our lessons remain one of the first things I do chess wise per day. It is often very exciting to look forward to the day's lesson, and his replies to my answers.

I would recommend email lessons to anyone who likes to learn chess regularly and on a budget. In the past three months especially, my lessons have been interesting and enjoyable.

I want to thank Chien for the time and effort he has put in with his daily email class. I started December 1st and have found it very beneficial. The program walks you through a progression of scenarios. Each one building on the next. Chien stimulates your thought and analysis of each position.

I have actually had a couple of his examples come up in games I have played. I am positive that without the training I received I would not have played the correct sequence of moves. It was pretty exciting when my opponent made the move and I knew what to do!!

Chien's approach and how he communicates is professional. What I really enjoy is that he allows you to work at your own pace and the pressure to find the correct moves is very low. When I make a mistake he guides me in the right direction and encourages me to come up with the correct answer.

I have started my 2nd month and look forward to working with Chien for many more.

Kind Regards,

Rob

I appreciate all supports and encouragements

Chess is like body building. If you train every day, you stay in top shape. It is the same with your brain.

Chess as a gymnasium for the mind just as lifting weights builds muscle.

If you can allocate 10–15 minutes per day (it does not have to be daily if your schedule is tight—the pace is fully flexible), I will personally guide you through this program.

I have helped many beginner, intermediate, and early advanced players improve their chess skills.

The only prerequisite is fluency in reading and writing chess notation, as our communication will take place via regular email exchanges.

Consistent effort and dedication are essential to achieve optimal results.

Try the program risk-free—no payment required for the first month if it doesn’t meet your expectations.

The core of this training is Active learning 

instead of the opposite way Passive leaning (reading book / game annotation, watching video, browsing engine lines, solve puzzle by guessing), where you collect knowledge but your decision-making doesn’t improve.

Each question will be designed tailor made, according to student's need / level

and will be replied personally in friendly manner on daily base.

Think of having personal trainer, and even personal assistant that willing to answer other chess questions outside the course, e.g. preparing upcoming match or discussing/ analyzing your finished game.

* Tips for best outcome out of this training:

(A) Put pieces in real physical chess board. and try to solve by looking at it without moving pieces as if a real tournament (Over The Board / OTB) situation. and thinks few moves ahead (not satisfied with a linear answer only, but always assume opponent's all possible branches).

(B) Feel no pressure. Relax, have fun while learning.

You have full control of your own pace, as I will only respond back after you replied my last question.

(C) Some questions can be solved under 10 - 15 min.

but in some other more difficult, where you might not get inspiration yet within 10 - 15 min in one day, then you need not to push too hard, you can leave it for another day, sometime the inspiration is not coming right away.

or after 10 - 15 min on that day, you can share anything you thought, so I will know your thought process (strength, weakness) better.

even you can say 'I am totally blank'. then I will respond with 'very minimal hint' that I will never spoil the fun for you to find they key solution aka "Eureka moment"

An eureka moment, also known as an Aha! moment or eureka effect, refers to the sudden and often unexpected realization of a solution to a problem, or the understanding of a concept that was previously unclear. It's that feeling of sudden clarity and insight, like a lightbulb switching on in your mind. The term originates from the Greek word "heureka," meaning "I have found it," famously used by Archimedes when he was tasked with determining if a crown was made of pure gold or if it had been adulterated with silver. He supposedly realized the solution while taking a bath, noticing the water level rise as he submerged his body. 

(D) I usually reply email under 12 hours

It is very fine and I would not mind at all when you ask (checking with me) if after more than 12 hours you haven't got my reply yet because I might occasionally overlook your email amid my other plenty emails from others.

I’ve had an amazing experience working with Chien. Each lesson is well-prepared and focused

Whether we’re analyzing my games, studying positional ideas, or working through tactical patterns, I always leave the session with a deeper understanding of the game.

Chien's feedback is honest and encouraging, which has helped me build both confidence and discipline at the board.

Beyond being knowledgeable and professional, he's also patient, motivating, and genuinely invested in my progress.

I highly recommend learning from him to anyone looking to seriously improve their chess.

I've been with Chien for more than 6 months. This is my update review of the ongoing Daily Email routine. Let's just say, this thing is really what shapes my mindset on chess. No, I'm not making this up. At this point, we're having World Vote Chess against Judit Polgar, yes? You guys ever wondered how Judit as a kid shaped her chess problem-solving skill? By solving thousands of puzzle in daily basis, and then sticking the puzzle sheets all over her bedroom! In fact, if you have the 'Chess 5334 Problems, Combination, and Games' book from Lazlo Polgar (Judit's dad), you should notice that more than half of the problems given by Lazlo to Judit are about Composition Mate in Two puzzles.

At the very basic level, Composition is what I really believe chess mindset is all about. Strategy. The key to it? Not to ensure a path to victory. But to ensure so that ALL paths lead to a victory. If your first move is the right move, then your victory is guaranteed in the second move.

Of course Composition alone is not enough, so Chien also supplies puzzles by motifs from time to time. This one is more challenging, sometimes I need to think for more than a day to solve it. It's a long road, but then again time is on my side. Trust Chien if your goal is to improve yourself within a year or two. Make it four in my case, cause I know I'm quite slow learner. I do that cause I have a full-time job and I'm not in hurry.

Hello

I really like this Daily Course by email that Chien does. After a chess break i returned to chess, and i feel that Chien's daily course chess puzzles really helps to build chess enthusiasm and makes chess seem fun, especially as he chooses interesting puzzles and chess positions, which are instructive, and often the solution can be creative and often something creative or outside the box, and so i learn new things from the daily course. I also feel that the variety is great, as each day there may be different aspects of chess that he focuses on, as it can rotate. for example: sometimes Composition puzzles, or Tactics problems from real games, or Strategic midgame puzzles (which i especially like - and i note how these are from top chess games and so the entire chess game can be appreciated), and Chess openings and Endgames. i much recommend this Daily course by Chien, for anyone would would like to improve chess, and as the chess positions are interesting and fun, i feel it is great for maintaining chess enthusiasm.

The day when I met fhunfi,I knew I met a hidden gem of the chess world.He likes spreading knowledge to people and make them good players,Not only spread knowledge but also share his life lessons which creates a special emotional bond amoung fhunfi and me.He is not just a lecturer but also a great supporter

Tysm for ur support fhunfi

Regards AlwaysPrime_64