It’s funny to watch all the incomplete chess personalities that are out there marketing chess programs.  They’re scrambling, throwing together any babysitting program they can.  It’s been barbaric to say the least!  What do I mean by incomplete… It’s simple, They’re uncultured, uninformed, and the only thing they know how to do is play!  I’ve watched PHD’s become famous in school systems for teaching chess for 20-30 years and the last trophy they have is from 2008.  You’d know just how bad that is when you discover that we never give away all the school trophies at a VSCA tournament.  Yes, they could have eventually gotten a trophy for just showing up!  To be a “Complete Chess Personality” means creating national value in what you do.  There are no age requirements to become a Nationally Certified Coach,($25-$300 hr), Tournament Director,($125-500 a day) or US Chess Affiliate.  All of these certifications are Zero based!!  You only need 3 rated tournament games to become a rated tournament chess player!!  You don’t even have to have played a tournament game to be a Certified Coach, Tournament Director, or US Affiliate.  You can research all of this at the US Chess website.

Never a Us Chess Member, Never played in a tournament, no coaching certification, not a tournament director, does not have a current rule book, no organizational experience and making claims that they can take your child to the heights of the game.  The blind leading the blind!  What a bunch of nonsense that is!!!  My Question is; Are you going to rely on these same people to translate, “On Line Chess” into something that can meaningfully measure progress??  On line chess is a toy and training tool, it is not a measuring device!!  They’re scrambling too with all of their, “promises” of being able to catch on line computer cheating!  Good luck with that!  How come no one came out with a full proof, guaranteed way of catching cheaters until the pandemic!?!  All I can say is garbage in garbage out.

In America we’ve become so preoccupied with chess as a toy, we’ve stop acting like chess is a serious scholarship sport!  It has state champions, national champions, and world champions.  A full scholarship at the schools that offer it is worth between $240,000 and $400,000 of tax free money!  It’s a cowardly new world out here in chess.  No one wants to follow Grandmaster advice, everyone is being told to play to get better, everyone plays in their class, concentration and stamina are not part of the training regimens, and kids have learned how to push and manipulate the boundaries of truth, honor, and obedience with Instructors, teachers, parents, and relatives!?!

What is the answer to all of those problems?  I can sum it up real briefly for you.  You have to declare!  What is chess going to be?  Is it going to be a toy or a tool?  If you don’t care when you lose chess games, if $240,000 – $400,000 of tax free scholarship money means nothing to you, if you think being a complete chess personality doesn’t make you unique to adults, if having business opportunities that have no age requirements is unimportant to you, if you don’t care if chess goes in the hobbies and interests section of a middle school applications, high school applications, college application, and/or  resume, instead of the accomplishment section of those documents, you need a chess teacher, an instructor, or a relative teaching you/them how to play!  Why? Because chess is just a toy!!!

You can’t be a chess prodigy if you learn to play at the age of 16.  Every scholarship venue is looking for evidence as far back as possible.  Jennifer Yu won our state championship at the age of 13!  Last year she became the US Women’s Champion at 17!  Jason Moorefield won the state’s amateur championship at 12 and since has become a Master, a certified coach and a tournament director!  Anagha Sinkar became a coach at the age of 6!  Nathan Boguslavsky became a certified coach at the age of 16.  We have created more rated tournament chess players and more complete chess personalities than any other chess services provider in central Va!!!  If you want to take anyone to the top in their field, they need a coach, not instructors, or teachers!

We now have a “Prodigy Program”.  This is a coaching program for serious chess personalities and their parents!! What would you do if you had to train a, “Prodigy”?

1.) The coach must be able to blow the student off the board with odds, for the entire length of the training!

2.) The, “between class”, work must be clear and concise.

3.) There needs to be a monitoring and reporting system.

4.) The training must be for the, “Complete Chess Personality”, ie player, coach, director, and organizer!

5.) The coach should be qualified to provide endorsements.

6.)  Parents must take an active role like they would for any other scholarship sport or venue.

Here’s a partial list of some of the services that are included with our, “Prodigy Program”!