Lesson Structure

Where is it going to take place?

In most cases, for online students, the lessons will take place on the chess platform Lichess.org, where a study (essentially a mini classroom) will be created by me and shared to the student. On this study, both people can contribute and make moves and annotations. Additionally, the calling platform Zoom will be used. Both camera and microphone should be working, as all my lessons involve a video call.

Which components of chess are we going to look at?

1. Game Analysis - We'll start off by going through your recent games, preferably Over The Board but also online, in order to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

2. Opening Repertoire (Long-term students)- For long-term students, we will spend a couple of lessons building on your opening repertoire with both white and black, based on your style of play and preference. In order to build a full repertoire, we will be going through many sidelines. Students are expected to revise these lines throughout the week to keep everything in memory.

3. Tactics - There will be a strong emphasis on building muscle memory for tactical patterns and every lesson will involve at least a tactical exercises. Additionally, intermediate students will be working with the STEP workbook, focusing on further sharpening their tactics at home.

4. Positional play- Once the above have been mastered to a strong degree, we will start delving into deeper, more complex and strategic ideas in the middlegame, exploring plans in different pawn structures in the middlegame.

5. Endgames- For the majority of students we will mostly be exploring the must-know theoretical endgames, as they are the most important. For the advanced students, there will be a larger focus on more practical and complex endgames.

6. After lessons - For long-term students, there will be a document sent out summarizing each week's progress and dates for check-up sessions. The document will also contain the homework, which will be mandatory but relatively short. Students are also encouraged to be active throughout the week, either solving puzzles, playing online games or revising their opening repertoire, especially when a tournament is due. Of course, students are welcome and encouraged to message me at any time, if they are facing any problems at all.