I was at an RJ Shield Tournament the other day and one of the parents asked me what his 10 year-old son had to do to keep improving. He was worried that his son, a promising player, had been playing in a number of tournaments but was not showing continuing signs of improvement.
A few weeks ago we were all surprised by the fantastic result of 15 year-old James Morris who became an International Master after his great result at the Zonal Tournament in Queensland. The question on everyone’s lips was how did James become so strong so young? Perhaps there are some lessons here that could help our worried father.
I was very pleased therefore to be able to interview James last week when he was doing his work experience at Chess Kids and the interview confirmed my own views as to what it takes to become a chess champion.
There were five significant factors in James’ chess development.
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Learn Chess Early!
James learnt the moves at age 6 from David Cordover. I was reading a blog the other day about Australia’s number 2 player, Grandmaster David Smerdon, which said that David learnt how to play at age 4. Very young. So this is point one. If you learn how to play at an early age it does not mean that you will become a chess champion but it gives you a better chance. This applies to other sports also. Think of Tiger Woods playing golf at age 4!
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Read Chess Books
James says that he has “a couple of hundred” chess books. Ian Rogers also had many chess books when he was very young and I have thousands of them. Most of the pupils I teach at schools would be lucky to have one or two books. So this is the second clue to chess success. Read chess books.
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Get a Chess Coach/Mentor
James was fortunate to have David Hacche (an A Grade chess player) become his chess coach and mentor from an early age. James says that David used to get James’ games, go home and analyse them on the computer, then come back the next day with the results and go over the games with James. It’s my view that the very best way to improve is to go over your own games with a strong player/coach as soon as you can. The coach can point out any deficiencies in your play or areas that you need to work on. It’s much better looking at your games rather than (say) how Kasparov can have improved on his play against Shirov.
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Place yourself in a good “Chess Environment”.
As a rule of thumb players generally are not able to progress above the level of the environment that they are in.
James was lucky in that he went to school at Essex Heights Primary School which has a very active and strong chess club. Here he had a number of rivals who were able to compete against each other and help each other to improve. One of these players, Eugene Schon, is now also ranked in the top few juniors in Australia and is continuing his rivalry with James.
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Play in Senior (Open) Tournaments
James played in his first adult event (a Victorian Open Championship) at age 11 and has regularly competed in the big Open Weekenders such as the Doeberl Cup in Canberra and the Ballarat Begonia Open.
This of course requires considerable support from parents or a chess coach to take you to these events and can potentially be a frightening experience for a young player. If, however, you and some of your mates/rivals can all enter together then the transition to senior chess is a lot easier.
It is important that young players are not pushed too far, too fast. A poor result can be a big set-back to their confidence if they are used to winning, but Swiss events mean that you are always paired against players on the same score and you should end up finding your level of opponent and winning some games.
If you want to become a chess champion no doubt there are other factors that will play a part in your chess development. Having an enquiring mind and a strong will to win would be an advantage, but no matter what individual qualities you possess, if you follow the example of James Morris then you are well on the way to reaching your potential as a chess player. Good luck!
