Important coach in my life
Hello everyone! In this article I will be talking about one of my coaches, and why having a coach
is good. When I was 7 years old and in 2nd grade, my rating was around 1500. At that time, I
met my coach for the next 4 years, Brandon Nydick, a National Master with a rating of 2300. He
was a high school freshman at the time and is now in college at Stanford University. Every
Friday after he finished school, he came to my school in Harlem, or the public space in Lincoln
Center to teach me, rain or shine.
How he taught me
Brandon was a calm person but never compromised until I put 100% effort into everything I did,
even if I took 30 minutes for 1 puzzle. He taught me for 60-90 minutes during every
lesson. During these 4 years of coaching, I became much better at tactics, positional play, and
calculation. Brandon always told me “Never give up.” I have saved many losing positions even
when I felt like resigning in actual games because of this principle. He made me calculate
without moving the pieces on the board, really helping my visualization because I learned to see
the board in my mind while doing these calculations. I learned tactics from his book that were
very tough, but they were very fun and valuable. We played training games to practice some
openings and analyze all our mistakes. He also helped me review all my important games.
A Lesson at the Public Space in David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
A big gift
As you might know, I went to Spain in 2017 for the World Cadets in the U10 section. Brandon
told us that he would do a fundraiser for the trip's expenses. He raised most of the funds that we
needed! These trips are very expensive, so we were so grateful for his support.
Why a coach is important
Having a chess coach at a certain point is very important because eventually you will need to
know your weaknesses and where you need to improve. When you get stronger, you can’t be
weak in 1 area and strong in every other: you have to be consistent. Coaches will see your
weaknesses and teach you how to build on those aspects. Coaches can be very helpful in
openings study, game analysis, and tactics training. My coaches always did these 3 things.
When should you get a coach? How do you get the right coach?
You should get a coach when you have difficulty improving, struggle at a certain skill in the
game, or just want to go to the next level. The way you find the right coach is by thinking about
what you need to improve and finding who covers your struggles the best. For example, if you
struggle with positional play, then you should try to find a coach with great expertise in
positional play.
Is a coach needed?
You may not need a coach if you can prepare your openings, get better with your positional play,
and do your tactics on your own; however, this work is very time consuming. Coaches will share
their knowledge, improve your weaknesses, and give interesting insights. The coach will give
you openings to study, tactics to solve, and books to read, but you still have to do some work
outside of the lessons. They also analyze your games, give advice on how to improve certain
aspects of your play, and provide emotional support during tournaments. From my own
experience, coaches are very helpful because they know your weak points and how to improve
them.
Conclusion
I’m very grateful for Brandon teaching me and helping me improve my game. He is a big
influence on what I want to be in the future. I want to pay his help forward to others by trying to
support others' progress. During the time he was coaching me, I went from a 1500 to a National
Master. Coaches will really help you enhance your skills in chess if you really want to. I think
you should get a coach when you feel like you are struggling in some area, so that they will help
you in all the areas you struggle in!