Help! Advice/Coaching needed for my son until end of next week

Hi Everyone. Please, I need some help for my 9y old son. He unexpectedly was invited to play in a homeschool team at our National Kids tournament on the 10th of September (he will play a small tournament on the 8th). He has never played in a real tournament before and there's no chess club and coach in our town, so he plays mostly online.He reads chess books and is very passionate about the game. I just gave him platinum membership so he can learn better, but he really needs some preparation and advice from an experienced player. My son still moves too fast due to playing too much bullet chess, but we are working on it. I want him to have a good experience at the tournament (I don't expect from him to win everything) and just help him to avoid unnecessary pit falls due to lack of tournament experience and some basic skills. I would really appreciate it, if someone could play a few games with him and give some advice.Thanks!!

I would be happy to help!

Thanks for that!!! I will send friend's requests from my son's account (thegreatauk) to you and when he is online, please feel free to coach him.

You're 6 months too late.

he's testing the saying: "better late than never?"

10th of September last year.  Let me check my calendar...  Yeah, I'm free.

Remember-If at first you don't succeed, lower your expectations.

I could help. I was really good in September.

Thanks Vikram for your offer. At my son's level of play, coaching is definitely important and obviously he still needs it. Though I must say the outcome here last September wasn't exactly what I expected.Speaking for myself, my expectations were definitely not too high, JMB2010, pointless to lower them. Also in some cases with online coaching I wouldn't know if the coach is really good (or suitable), so it's a bit like lottery( unless maybe you have a big budget to go for the best). My son gets a bit of coaching at a chess club when I take him to Auckland for tournaments, and the chess coach is absolutely brilliant (several players said he's the best in NZ). Now I just keep looking for someone in our town. I'm still trying to set up a club here, not easy to find players who have time left to meet up....they all seem too busy... But my son has worked hard and improved, so we just see what the future brings.

First and always first ...... have fun playing chess this will take him far when things go south and they will go south at the worse moments. Trust me as i have been playing for years. From Jr HS to college and beyond.

Want to save money on coaching get him a book full of games where they make numerous comments on the moves. The more comments per move the better. Not comments per game. There is a difference as you do not want him to make bad moves. #1 reason why players make bad moves is a mindless move. #2 is hoping your opponent does not see a way out of it and you see it. Ok the reason for the have a book full of games is to have your son play out the moves.

Tournaments this early? I know coaches will do.... they give them some moves to open with to play in the tourney. What happens..... by the 5 move something goes wrong like they forgot something or the opponent has some moves of their own they memorized to counter it. So the game becomes sloppy by move 20 and goes to 70 moves. Your looking at it live a hoping your son sees he can win a pawn and piece in 2 moves then after that your hoping his opponent does not see mate in 3. Out comes your heart pills. After 5 tourneys you develop a drinking problem or feel a need to do it.

At his age we developed our style of playing by practice. We looked for ways to take out our opponent easy with pins and forks. Practice without keeping track of wins or rank. Focus on working on the End Game, Tactics, Defense, Openings, Patience and Creating a weakness to attack. Also if possible find him a book on the history of some players. If any of this starts to break the bank get a printer and google.com ( search ) it and print it out and put it in a binder. Knowing the history seemed boring at first i got it. I had a stronger connection with those players and the game itself.

Play other games! This a big one. Go ahead and laugh at what i am about to say. But i was a checkers player before i played chess. But i was really good at checkers. It gives me a perspective of the diagonals using the Bishop which comes a bit natural to me. In some cases the checkers are in a position like a pawn chain(pawns on a diagonal) so i was real familiar how to attack a pawn chain. At some point a checker can become a King in which case it a superior piece and learn how to think ahead to capture pieces. Ok enoug of that game. Here we have the ultimate game close to chess........Football.  The pawns are the Offensive/Defensive line. Knights on the flank like TE. The player is the coach. The Bishop, Rook can be the Running Back, Wide Reciever, Line Backer, Corner, Safety depending on how you use them. Each team calls a play (Opening/Tactic). As players get injured(pieces captered) they sit on the side line. Ok sure your getting the point.

The above is to get him strong fundamentals. Then he really starts with the Middle Game which he can learn when he breaks 1400 or playing for 2-3 years maybe less if he becomes with the terms. One summer in the house with a book and set and wham...... it can happen. Strategy is the game changer in chess. To have a good chance to execute that one must have sound play in the opening but not forget his previous studies in the End Game as this will all go to waste. When he gets to this level he will have to be creative. As anybody can take advantage of a mistake by an oppponent. At this level he will then have to start creating a weakness to attack and it gets harder against stronger opponents. For this you may go cheap again by google.com but you get what you pay for. He will need intermediate level. That is why i say have fun first. It becomes some serious work reading at this level. Plus this will save in money when getting a coach as they have less to explain. Make them work for their money teaching him advanced methods that he can use in games and build on the skills he was taught from that coach.

On Blitz! Where do i start with your son. If he wants to be a blitz player then be a blitz player that works. If not. Getting into that early will produce some bad habits for other types of chess. Say he has 3 options for a move and needs to look 3-5 ahead minimum in a non blitz game. By habit he may look at 2 of 3 options only and look 4 moves ahead and miss what happens on the 5 move which may win the game for him  or .....blunder. It it too late to take him out blitz.....like telling a vampire to only drink wine. Get him to playing some games at a longer time like 10-30 minute. A balanced player is a stronger player.

If you take anything from this......go to a dollar store and get some notebooks and have him take notes on his games and any other games he wants. This is his chess book let him go wild. Reason for going to the dollar store to get cheap writing material.   

Even in commercials on tv they wait half way into it before they start talking dollars and cents!!!! 

At $10 per session?   How long is the session? Are you doing all the talking? What are your office hours? Do you give out reading materilal(by email and etc)? If you have been doing it for 10 years?.... well you should be very good why the cheap price?  How well have your students done in the past... no comments from your mouth show proof as you have been doing it for 10 yrs ....should have plenty of examples.

We have several titled players on this site that coach why should somebody take a chance? It is fair question as we have seen so many frauds on this site.

Had to take a look at your stats posted here:

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Live Chess - Bullet 1612

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I think the bigger question has to do with international training.  Has the coach ever worked with students outside of their home country before?

Reading the comment before this one, and then reading this comment, made me laugh out loud.  Thanks.

Hello, may i suggest you buy the book

"From Beginner to expert in 40 lessons" by aleksander Kostyev, Macmillan Publishing company.

All he needs (based on your request) is there.  hope it helps.

The U.S. is very big and i pretty they have no shortage of coaches there. Coaches in every city and many FREE. So why would they take lessons from somebody all the way in India unless they have parents from India or recently moved from India.

Your clever .... nice try.

"I think the bigger question has to do with international training.  Has the coach ever worked with students outside of their home country before? "

The comment from another member above. #18.

If you are a coach, you just made some big assumptions.

What if the student was looking for more than chess knowledge?  How about somebody to talk to that knew what a big tournament was like that could discuss etiquette, calm the nerves, or tailor the final lessons to fill some smaller gaps in knowledge?  Hmm..  A whole book in a week.  Hmm...  Can he read chess notation yet?  Do you even care that she might actually buy that book for her son?

#assumicide

I would be happy to play some games with him .I am 13 and from Wellington I am about 60-70 points higher rated then him in standard live chess .

Hi Harish, thanks for your offer. My son's online chess rating is over 1400 right now. Once he understood that Bullet and Blitz don't help him to become a good player, he improved very quickly. And I agree with the other people here, that for coaching, a high Blitz/Bullet rating simply isn't enough.