Chess Exam And Training Guide: Rate Yourself And Learn How To Improve

   I have been coaching chess in the United States since 1991. Over the years I have worked with 100's of players of various levels. I have held numerous private sessions at my office, at students' locations and at tournament sites, as well as consultations via telephone and e-mail.

   As a coach, two of the most frequent questions I have to answer are:
- What is my current level and when can I become a master?
- How do I improve the level of my games and my rating?

   Every time, I give similar brief responses -
- Anyone who is determined can improve at chess.
- Anyone, even a beginner, can become a master if he or she has a good training plan and follows it diligently.
- In order to develop a plan, a detailed initial evaluation is necessary.

   In this book I will answer these questions for you in greater detail. I will evaluate your current level and offer time-tested training suggestions.

   Private lessons are very expensive in the United States and many people can only afford infrequent sessions with a professional coach. Those who can afford lessons financially usually do not have much time to study. Whether it is lack of money or time, a majority can only afford a limited number of training sessions. As a coach, I feel that it is my obligation to help them to the best of my ability.

   Consider a typical initial training session that runs approximately two hours and costs somewhere between $100 and $200. I run a test of about 6-10 training positions, go over 2-4 games and leave about 30 minutes to offer recommendations and answer questions. These "short" 1.5 hours are barely enough time to collect and process the minimum data needed to design a good training plan. If only I had more time with the student, I would be able to offer so much better advice. Also, considering that for some this would be the only session until 3 or even 6 months down the road, you can see that designing the optimal training plan becomes even more important. The bottom line is that more quality data is needed to come up with successful recommendations.

   In order to streamline the process, I developed questionnaires, sample training plans, books, and software lists. Still, I felt like I could do better.

Author: Igor Khmelnitsky
Title: "Chess Exam And Training Guide: Rate Yourself And Learn How To Improve"
Released: 2004
Format: rar/pdf
Quality: good
Number of pages: 320
Size: 4 Mb