Parents Area
Click on the Questions to read their answers.
1. How many hours a day should my child spend on chess?
2.
How to choose tournaments? How many tournaments?
3. How to prepare at home?
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1. How many hours a day should
my child spend on chess?
People get scared when they are told that some National
Under 9/11/13 Champion prepares for 8 hours every day & doesn't
go to school. 90% of these are rumours. Number of hours spent on preparation
does make a difference. Your child knows more if he/she spends more
time on chess but ability to apply it in game is another important quality.
I can't make a general statement like "Work 5 hours
every day and you will get the national title". Instead, I can say something
like "If you can calculate reasonably well, have a good and wide opening
repertoire, know how to play typical positions of those openings, have
good understanding of position, good tournament experience and confidence
to face 4/5 equally strong opponents in 9 rounds, etc., you will be
in the race for the title in National of your age group." To acquire
this knowledge and to develop these qualities, you need to undergo training
and play and analyze a lot of games. Number of hours to be spent on
this depends on how much of these things you have and availability of
coach, local chess club, training/learning methods.
There are some age group national champs who are unable
to maintain their performance in higher level tournaments and I know
some IMs and GMs who have rarely won national titles of any age group.
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2. How to choose tournaments?
How many tournaments?
There are no general rules. Here are some guidelines.
* For a beginner, playing as many tournaments as possible,
at least at the initial stage is a good policy. Make sure that your
child enjoys playing tournaments. You are not forcing him/her to play.
* Generally, choose tournaments where your child can
perform well if he/she plays his/her best game but not those where your
child will lose most of the games or not even those where he/she will
win the top position easily.
* Sometimes, make your child play a very strong tournament
so that he/she learns how senior players prepare, how they behave during
the tournament, how they analyze their games with their opponents after
the game and what exactly is chess at higher level. After this, your
child will develop more focus and will work more seriously and harder.
* I don't believe in the policy "Let him lose for one
or two years and then he will start winning". A player should have a
winning habit. If you make him play against all the tough opponents
to learn from defeats, he will always have the feeling "I am not playing
for winning".
* For some players, at a certain stage, it is good
to play all the local tournaments and win prizes. Experienced players
should play only selected tournaments to save time for training. If
you are preparing for an important tournament, you can play training
matches with some selected players of your playing strength or with
a slightly stronger opponent.
Your coach can give you the best advice as he knows
how your child is doing. Don't take advice from too many outsiders.
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3. How to prepare at home?
Generally, your coach will advice you what to do at
home (homework).
Here are some guidelines:
Solving Problems
This is very useful for improving calculation and board sight.
Set a position from a book on the board and try to calculate without
moving pieces. This is a fun for the children and it actually helps.
Ask your coach how to do it and how many times and how many positions.
Studying the classics
This is the best games series of world champions and top players
like Capablanca, Tarrasch, Marshall, Alekhine, Tal, Fischer and others.
Your child can learn a lot from these games.
Analyzing games
You can actually learn from your own games. Analyze your games
with your coach or on computer.
These are the most common methods of preparation. In
addition, your coach will advice you how and how many games to be played
against a practice partner, annotating games, opening preparation and
how to study endings.
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