UNITED STATES CHESS SCHOOL

  
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   The United States regularly boasts some of the top young talents in the World, yet somewhere along the way most of them either drop out of chess or fail to improve. Much of this lack of improvement can be attributed to the lack of support, training and guidance these young chessplayers are given. The USCS is hoping to change that, with a high level of chess training programs devoted to developing the strongest young players in the country.

  Eight Young players will receive 5 days of free training per session with one of the top Grandmasters in the country. The only major expense the students will need to pay is the airfare and possibly lodging depending on the location. The training however is completely free of charge. The goals of this program are as follows:

1. Train our young players to their fullest potential
2. Create strong bonds of friendship between the top young American players
3. Provide the players with a mentor whom they can turn to for advice at any time
4. Instill the kind of work ethic that is necessary to becoming a top player.
5. Cultivate as many new American GM's as possible
6. Help to develop talent to lead our future Olympiad Teams


Below are comments from our main trainer, GM Gregory Kaidanov, as to what the training sessions will entail:

United States Chess School:

 by Gregory Kaidanov

                                    

1.   Right now we are in the perfect situation as far as young talent is concerned. I don’t remember any time in recent history when we would have such large group of gifted young chess players. Most of them are very determined to become Grandmasters and possibly even best players in the world, however judging from my experience they really don’t know how to do it. I see our goal not only in teaching those kids how to improve their chess, but also in showing them how they can study chess themselves. I hope to demonstrate to them that studying chess is very exciting if you do it in a right way. I also believe that showing them the importance of hard work and how rewarding this hard work can be, we help them succeed in life in general.

 

2.   My vision of USCS is not of a school where “a teacher will teach students”. I believe that we are going to have a group of chessplayers, who will learn from each other. I look at myself as a coordinator, who will help students to go in the right direction. Here are some of the things we are going to do:

 

3.   Each student comes to a session with a selection of his/her annotated games. We all discuss those games and formulate the student’s strengths and weaknesses. Then I would suggest a homework assignment, which will help student to improve such weaknesses. An example will be for someone who is too excited about his/her own play and constantly misses/underestimates the opponent’s counterplay to study games of Anatoly Karpov. Karpov is well known for his prophylactic style and obsession about how to stop opponent’s plans. I am aware that for some students it will be a very hard test. Most of our young players don’t like to be criticized and prefer to show only their victories. I hope to create such an atmosphere where critique will not be too harsh and will be well wished. I believe that these lessons will have profound influence on students and will go well beyond chess.

 

4.   Besides homework aimed at improving one’s weaknesses, each student will receive an assignment to prepare a lecture for the next training session. It could be anything from “Endgames with Rook and Bishop vs. Rook” to “Typical plans in positions with a closed center”. I’ll provide students with the list of books/games they need to study to make this presentation. I myself will be well prepared and will make some additions to the student’s work.

 

5.   We’ll learn how to study in groups. My plan is to identify students who play the same opening, then make them study a critical position in this opening and come up with a novelty. I’ll teach them how to use databases and chess playing programs. I’m convinced that after such experience students will be well equipped to study openings on their own.

 

6.   We’ll pay a great deal of attention to the area of chess psychology. Such common problems such as time trouble, overestimation of one’s position, fear of stronger players, etc, all will be addressed. We are going to play training games, where student will get a specific assignment, for instance “pay attention to the clock and avoid time trouble”.


7.   I’ll try to emphasize the importance for a chessplayer to be physically fit. I hope to reserve some facilities here in Lexington, where we’ll play soccer, basketball, tennis, etc.




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