NigelD

Thanks for visiting my profile page. I'm a Dad, FIDE Senior Trainer, International Grandmaster, tigerchess.com owner, author (22 books published) and video presenter (46 DVDs).

I now live in St. Helens in the UK, represent Wales and work mainly as a coach via my  Tiger Chess site where I offer private lessons as well as instructional material presented in video format. Here's some more about me if you are looking for a coach or mentor to help you improve your chess:

Playing Career

I still play in tournaments when I can, but in recent years I have not had the time. Some notable results are as follows:

British U21 Champion (1979)
FIDE Master title (1980)
International Master title (1982)
British Rapidplay Champion (1988) in the strongest ever event, ahead of Short, Speelman, Nunn and many other GMs.
International Grandmaster title (1993)
Winner of 15 International Tournaments

I made a 2850 performance in Crewe Rapidplay in 2019, so I can still play...

Teaching Experience

 In addition to being an International Grandmaster I am a FIDE Senior Trainer with 35 years chess coaching experience with students of every level and age.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s I worked with several future stars; Matthew Sadler went on to become a GM and British Champion and both Darshan Kumaran and Ronen Har-Zvi were won the World U16 Championship (1991 and 1992 respectively) and became GMs. I was also Gad Rechlis's second during his excellent performance in the 1990 Manila Interzonal and was in Jon Speelman's team during his 1988 victory over Nigel Short.

From the mid 1990s I worked mainly with club players, starting out by offering a game assessment and lessons before offering a correspondence course which was subsequently published by Batsford as 'The Power Chess Program'. In 2014 I moved my teaching syllabus online and in video form (tigerchess.com).

I am also a chess parent, teaching my son and taking him to tournaments since 2010. He has maintained his love of the game into adulthood and is continuing to make great progress.

Teaching Approach

The main reason to take lessons with me is that I have extensive experience as both a player and a teacher; I know what skills are required and can clearly communicate how to go about putting them in place.

Teaching positional play and planning is my main strength, not least because it is rare to find these topics taught effectively elsewhere. I am also good at diagnosing strengths and weaknesses and if asked I will also try to provide a realistic assessment of the kind of improvement someone can expect to make and what sort of work/time scale will be needed to do it.

Other Interests

Besides chess I have a keen interest in tai chi and qigong, usually practicing for one to two hours every day. Although I took up these arts for health and relaxation, in 2016 I became an official Tai Chi Union of Great Britain instructor and then taught a class in a leisure center for several years. I will teach more if the opportunity arises, though the main problem is in finding students who will practice consistently enough to improve.

In 2020 I gained a first class BSc (Hons) degree in Computing, my third year project being entitled 'Predicting Success in Competitive Chess' by using patterns in FIDE rating data. The data indicated that young players need to maintain a strong interest in chess throughout adolescence to make real progress which means they need to enjoy the experience! I have a general interest in artificial intelligence and the potential it has for challenging traditional assumptions.

As a hobby I am also a keen table tennis player, but only good enough to get into the lower divisions of the local league. Still, this is something I really love doing, and the perspective it offers helps me better understand chess players who want to improve.