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Michael
- Rate US$50
- Response 19h
US$50/hr
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- Mathematics
- Physics
- Trigonometry
- Geometry
- Algorithms
Graduate from Florida State University; capable in math and physics. Bachelor's degree in Mathematics, with minors in Physics and History as well. I spent two years teaching Chess with the Manasota C
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Trigonometry
- Geometry
- Algorithms
Lesson location
About Michael
When I was a young child I was snooping around upstairs in my dad's loft, which wasn't somewhere I was supposed to be. I got in trouble later when I was caught, but I discovered a Chess board up there - it was my dad's, and was given to him by a friend apparently many years ago (before I was born.) I asked him what it was and he told me, "this is a Chess board, I used to play Chess when I younger". I asked him if he'd show me - we played a few games and of course I lost, but I enjoyed the game very much. I spent many hours playing around with the pieces and "inventing" various openings; most of them were no-doubt terrible, but I did manage to discover a few things about the game on my own. Very quickly I was beating my friends - it became apparent to my mom that lessons might be good for me. She found a church group where for the next year or so I would study under "Mr. Rob" (unfortunately I don't know his full name.) He spent many hours checkmating me - he would sacrifice his knights and bishops and no matter what I did, it seemed like I couldn't avoid his attacks. Through all this, though, I learned many things about the principles of attacking Chess. Unfortunately I fell out of the game as I got a little older, due to a lack of competition, but I rediscovered my love of Chess during my senior year of high school. A website emerged called ChessCube, which was a pay-to-play site where one could buy tokens to play with other users; you could wager your tokens against theirs, and because my parents didn't like letting me spend money, the task had become clear: I win, or I don't play. I'd forgotten most of what I knew when I was a kid, but I still remembered some openings and I still knew certain tactical ideas like "remove the defender", etc. This was all I needed to begin my Chess grind, studying and playing for many hours out of the day.
In any case, your kids will become strong Chess players under me. They will learn how to keep their king safe. They will learn how to apply pressure on their opponents' weakeness. They will understand endgames, and how to convert winning advantages, and they will learn how to strike, and pounce on mistakes. They will also learn how to conduct themselves honorably, and learn from their losses. And If they don't, and maybe Chess isn't for them, you can see I'm also a good storyteller; definitely spend a lot of time talking about guys like Paul Morphy and other historical Chess players -- many of them were very interesting, and kids like stories.
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About the lesson
- Compulsory School
- Secondary School
- Higher Education
- +5
levels :
Compulsory School
Secondary School
Higher Education
Adult Education
Master
Doctorate
MBA
Pre-School
- English
All languages in which the lesson is available :
English
Chess lessons are largely dependent on the student - I find that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching Chess. I do, however, always instill in my students the idea that understanding principles of active, attacking, though solid Chess will ultimately serve them best. I always seek to ensure that students have rock solid understanding of their fundamentals before they try anything crazy, eg "put pawns in the center, get your knights and bishops out, castle in the opening to make your king safe", etc.
However, I am also big on tactics. The hard truth about Chess is that while playing solidly all the time works for grandmasters and other very strong players, the student should aim to play "exciting" positions in the style of Paul Morphy, Adolf Anderssen, etc. This is because below the 2300-ish level, games will very frequently be won or lost on tactical blunders or misunderstandings ofpositions, and although students must always be able to find good moves, they must also be able to pounce instantly on acute weaknesses.
I am capable of teaching students who are new to the game, all the way up to roughly the 1600 USCF range. Beginning students will learn fundamentals such as principles of developing in the opening, principles of attacking weaknesses, and king safety, as well as the ultra-basics; how to checkmate with the various pieces, etc. Stronger students will learn endgames, and principles of positional middlegames. Students who study with me will regularly analyze master games; I will ask them questions like, "what is are the threats in this position?" "What are white's/black's weaknesses here?" "Who do you think is better here, and why?" In short, I am looking to constantly engage their brain, and not just "play moves".
I prefer to teach individuals, but small classes would be fine as well.
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Rates
Rate
- US$50
Pack prices
- 5h: US$250
- 10h: US$500
online
- US$50/h
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