Adult Lesson Guide Page 3 NM Dan Heisman

ADULT LESSON GUIDE
National Master Dan Heisman
Page 3: Getting Ready for Lessons

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-Why Lessons? How is Chess Helpful for Adults?

-Compares Chess Lessons with Music Lessons

Special Notes for Internet Chess Club (ICC) in Green
Quick link to ICC students who will play slow

When are you ready for lessons? This is a hard question to answer, but I do have one:

If, when playing slow games, you are ready, willing, and able to take your time on each move and try to find the best move, you are ready for lessons because we can discuss better and better ways to do that (and other things!).

GAMES ARE THE FUEL FOR MOST LESSONS - while I have many "canned" lessons on instructive problems, openings, endgames, etc. your games, more than anything else, will tell me what you understand and what you don't, and therefore what you need to learn to get better.

Record and bring all games to lessons so we can study them! (ICC students can play slow games and move them from their history file to their library. Do "help libraries") I realize that most adults are very busy, but I will do my best to help you derive as much benefit as possible! Think of me as a training guide, not just a source of information! I also ask that if a student has time and is looking for opponents, I can help you find other students to play (see below).

What are the best kind of games to play (and show to me during a lesson)?

Games slow enough that you can learn how to think and can explain to me what you were thinking. I would say 45 5 (45 minutes with a 5 second time delay or increment) or preferably slower is good practice. But make sure to take (almost) all your time!
Against decent competition - you want to play opponents who better than you but certainly not more than 100 points worse. A good range might be (-100,+250) with emphasis on the plus side
Against humans - playing computers are fine once in a while if you can't find a human opponent, but humans are more inconsistent, and so provide more "fun" opposition

Show me games that you made some mistake you don't understand; for example, you were winning and drew or lost, or lost when you were drawing, but don't know why. "Every missed opportunity to play better - even in a drawn game, or a difficult game to win - is your loss. That is why it is necessary for you to return again and again to study your oversights, regardless of how the game turned out.” - Garry Kasparov

Note: There is no need for a student to send me games ahead of a lesson. First, I get about as much out of a game in "real time" as I do by studying it before the lesson. More importantly, you also get a lot more out of it if I review it with you during a lesson. The give-and-take of the lesson provides far more information for both of us than just a set of moves: how much time did you take and why, what were you thinking, are you aware of such-and-such fact that may help you next time, how do you like the book you are reading, did you feel that you stood worse here, why did you not accept his sacrifice, do you understand what to do in this type of endgame, etc. Finally, if you give me a fair amount to review before a lesson (something that will take 30 min or more), then I feel I should charge you, and I don't wish, especially since it is hard to prove a "timesheet" of costs.

Things you can do to start improving now:

Play lots of slow games and keep them for review. Play slowly on each move, trying to find the best move you can given the time control. Take this link to find where to play on the Internet or even OTB. Whenever possible, play mostly players a little stronger than yourself.
Do as many basic (easy!) tactical problems as possible until you can do them very quickly
In slow games, every time you make a move attempt to construct a Principal Variation (PV) including what you expect to happen, such as "your current move, your opponent's likely response, and your next move". If you do not take your time on each move in a slow game and try to apply the things you have learned, how productive is it for you to learn more?
Read my award-winning articles, especially Novice Nook and The Thinking Cap!
Create a Hall of Shame notebook of mistakes you don't wish to repeat: Hall of Shame Example (it's not really shameful!
HAVE FUN during your games! I don't want my students to play "worried" - worry about how you can improve after the game! During the game do the best you can and have fun - it's your hobby!

I enjoy working with each and every student!

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