DanielGuel

Hi, my name is Daniel Guel! I'm a 21-year old from Texas, and I'm currently a junior at Baylor University planning on studying Entrepreneurship. I am currently accepting students! Please take a few minutes to fill out the form below, so I can get some information about you! (*NOTE: I am offering a FREE 10-minute consultation session for prospective students, please message me for details, or inquire in the form!)

CHESS LESSON FORM

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MY COACHING PHILOSOPHY:

• My primary market is adult improvers/hobbyists in the 800-1200 range. I am willing to take players of all ages and rating up to approximately 1400-1500.

• Just like any coach, I go through your games before we begin lessons, and "look for strengths and weaknesses". However, I feel like every coach says that, and it's kinda dull and obvious! When I review your games, I look for consistent reasons you are losing games, and we make action plans to fix those weaknesses. I also emphasize your strengths as an area of encouragement and self-esteem!  

• During the lesson, I emphasize calculation and game analysis. I believe that no matter your level, if you're willing to put in the work to improve your calculation and learn from your own games, you will become a better player. I also will show other concepts (such as openings, endgames, positional themes, etc), as doing only calculation and game analysis over and over can be boring.

• After the lesson, I send students personalized exercises to work on outside of the lessons. My students have complimented how my exercises feel more "game situational" than online puzzles. Almost all of my exercises come from real games.

• As a "lower-rated coach" compared to masters who offer lessons, I believe that I can be very relatable to students. I know what it's like to be at your rating level, and I constantly share with students methods that helped me improve as a teenager. 

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CURRENT RATES:

$150 for five hours booked in advance

$250 for ten hours booked in advance

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OK, if you are here for my personal profile, my name is Daniel Guel! In the past, I've written a little summary about myself, but why not bullet point my facts on my profile?

• Texas native!

• I am 20 years old, and going to be a junior in college this fall

• My current USCF rating is 1783, with my peak at 1836 (good for Class-A!)

• I am a self-employed chess coach, recognized by Chess.com. I've had lots of students of all ages throughout the years, ranging from first-time chess players to 1500 strength. My primary market is adult chess hobbyists, being a full-time student myself, I understand how much limited time we have, and I can help you be as resourceful as possible in improving at chess!

• I'm also great with kids! I have six siblings (five of them younger, almost all into chess!). I've volunteered to teach multiple local scholastic chess programs, and of course, I have my share of younger students.

• Feel free to contact me for lessons and rates... my coaching philosophy is at the bottom of my profile, so be sure to read that as well! 

Please note I am NOT playing in leagues at this time, sorry, and thanks in advance for your interest!

Also a couple of other notes (if you are reading this, good for you) ... I only will answer serious coaching inquiries. I may not reply to "Hi, please coach me". Please provide a little bit of detail for me to reply. Also, if you send me a random message, like "Hi", I may not reply, and don't take it personally. You're welcome to chit chat with me if you are my friend or have a good question/statement, otherwise, if you message me and I don't know you, I may not reply

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ABOUT ME:

I first discovered chess when my parents introduced me to Chessmaster when I was 12 or 13 years old, to keep me somewhat off video games. They had a rating system though I only played against computer personalities. I got a rating of "1", and was embarrassed. I was going to get that rating up! Soon enough, I was grinding at it, and loved playing on Chessmaster! I started playing on Chess.com when I was about 1000 strength.

I started playing in scholastic tournaments. I have about 20 trophies collecting dust in my closet. Unfortunately, I've grown out of winning trophies, though they still remain memories I cherish to this day.

My first USCF rated tournament was in 2015. My rating after 25 games (when your rating is more official and not provisional) was almost 1400. Here's a timeline on when I've broken every significant rating by the hundreds:

• 1400 -- March 2016 (at age 15 years old)
• 1500 -- September 2016 (at age 15 years old)
• 1600 -- December 2016 (still at age 15 years old)
• 1700 -- September 2017 (at age 16 years old)
• 1800 -- March 2018 (at age 17 years old)
• 1800 (again!) -- May 2021 (at age 20 years old)

Since then, I've kinda plateaued. As you can see, it gets harder to gain rating as your rating goes up. However, I believe I can make a comeback, as I'm still motivated, even being a "busy" college student. I see a GM chess coach online every other week, practice a little bit every day, and hope to one day break 2000... MAYBE 2200, but I feel that's a long shot.

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