Lothians congress/Dalguise

[Andy Howie]

I used to use it for support...

[David G Congalton]

Someone needs to take the bull by the horns with this one.

I'd like to give the organisation of this a go, if there is an interest from juniors, adults and coaches. The complexities of putting it together intrigue me. I may be a rubbish chess player, no need to apologise for stating the truth Andrew , but I'm not bad at organising things. My books are all organised in alphabetical order by author and then by the sequence each book was first published.

At the moment I'm thinking of trying to organise some pilot exercises utilising any free trials on offer such as the 14 day trial on webex, (the software Andrew McHarg mentioned). If I can get a coach or two and some guinea pigs to assist I think I can put together at least a couple of pilot training sessions within the 14 day trial to see how it all works or how it all doesn't work.

I'm also interested in Andrew Greens suggestion of Skype and Playchess and I'd still like to investigate the livestream option to see if that could be made to work.

My problem at the moment is my lack of knowledge of the mediums that can be utilised. Why have they made technology so technological? By mediums I mean internet options for bringing together coaches and pupils and not a spooky way of getting in touch with Grandmaster ghosts, although if anyone does have a way of doing this I'd appreciate it if they'd let me know about it, preferably before the Dundee congress. I don't think there are any FIDE rules regarding assistance from beyond the grave. WoooOOOOHHH! Insert a ghost smiley here.

I'll continue my thoughts on the online training thread in the general portion of the forum, once I have given some further consideration on how to proceed.

I would suggest that the online training option is only one of the many things that could be implemented to build on the excellent work done with our junior squads in the last few years by Phil and Jacqui Thomas, who deserve a great deal of gratitude and credit for the enormous work they put in. We owe it to them and those that helped them to continue the momentum.

[AndrewGreen]

Robin, I have only heard good things about Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky. From what I have heard it’s all about training yourself to think correctly in the endgame. Another good endgame book in my opinion is 100 chess endgames you must know by Jesus De La Villa. I think it would complement the Shereshevsky book very well as it is not about how to think but rather shows all the theoretically important positions in a friendly way.

David, I have never heard of Livestream but it sounds very interesting and is worth investigating.
I don’t normally post on the noticeboard but since Robin asked for people to put forward their ideas I thought I would give it a go:

I have been receiving/giving chess lessons online for about 7 years. With Skype available you no longer have to type and the lessons are instant. There are a lot of advantages which people don’t realise till they try a lesson; I will try to list some of the ones I have come across:

• The coach is able to get through a lot more material. You simply press F12 and you can instantly upload a position, no setting up times, the student doesn’t get bored.
• The student and coach are able to save everything covered in the lesson.
• The coach can instantly send homework and receive games the student played.
• These days understanding how to use Chessbase software is very important.
• Like McHarg says the coach is able to charge cheaper rates due to no travelling costs and time.
• As McHarg points out student and coach are able to talk to each other even at tournaments.
When I was at the World Junior last year a lot of the participants were regularly on Skype talking to their coach, sending files and getting help with preparation.
• I am able to answer a quick chess question any time as my phone has Skype on it.

In my experience coaching in groups online does not work that effectively. As you have to use a headset it makes it very personal and it can become harder to control as you cannot see who is speaking. I think coaching needs to be regular - at least once a week - perfectly would be twice.

Ideally I think juniors would be paired off with a coach. The coach is then able to go over their games continually assess their game and create an opening repertoire for the student. Speaking to Callum Macqueen I know he said he would have loved this kind of setup when he was a junior and most certainly would have not been playing the Grob in his younger years. We can point the juniors in the right direction, get them to develop good habits and cut out any bad habits. If you really wanted to create competition you could make it that the top rated junior in each age group gets their coaching subsidised/paid for.

Could we create a page with coaches having a mini blog about themselves? Maybe a picture, their achievements, style of coaching, rates etc? Chess Scotland could take a charge for the advertising on the website to raise some money. I know lots of strong players who would love to offer their services. These players would then also have some money which they can invest in tournaments and hopefully bring back some titles. Suddenly we would have a coaching structure and be raising funds for CS.

Just a few ideas and I would be interested in what people think?

[robin moore]

Andrew,

Thank you, great post ! I will not comment for now on the technology bit of it as I am out of my depth in it's workings. However, I know your system of coaching is very effective from the results I am hearing and seeing from juniors. The only other book I was considering using was the aforementioned Jesus de la Villa offering ! This same book is getting praised by players I have asked again and again. I like the idea of it being used in conjunction with the Shereshevsky one and will be checking it out asap.

Robin.

[Andrew McHarg]

Could we create a page with coaches having a mini blog about themselves? Maybe a picture, their achievements, style of coaching, rates etc? Chess Scotland could take a charge for the advertising on the website to raise some money. I know lots of strong players who would love to offer their services. These players would then also have some money which they can invest in tournaments and hopefully bring back some titles. Suddenly we would have a coaching structure and be raising funds for CS.

Just a few ideas and I would be interested in what people think?

This is a good idea. Some people will work better with others, so it would be good to have a well documented variety.

I still think group sessions would also be beneficial though, as such videos exist on Chess.com and other places and people seem to take quite a lot from them. I'd see it more as a lecture on a particular topic by a strong player and then Q&A sessions periodically. The good thing about group lessons is that it's cheaper for the participants. =)

More food for thought.