In the course of three days, from Feb 5 to Feb 7 the master-classes for coaches under the aegis of Alexander Kalinin were held within the frames of the Moscow Open 2014, RSSU Cup. We asked the grandmaster to tell us about this event.
- The Moscow Open celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Have master-classes for coaches become a traditional part of it?
- As far as I know they don’t have a status of being tradition yet. We started creating the tradition last year when Mark Dvoretsky addressed to the participants of the master-classes, - Alexander says.
- In this case what’s the level of interest from the side of the coaches to the master-classes of famous specialists?
- My answer will be diplomatic. The seminars for arbiters and coaches organized by FIDE gather more participants. And it’s quite clear. There is a fee for the participation in any seminars. Participation in the FIDE seminars has a practical goal – to get the points necessary to get an international category. And if you attend master-classes it means that you just pay money for love of the game. On the other hand it’s pleasant to work with those who attend the seminars, they are real chess players!
- Tell us what have you discussed during your master-classes?
- I wanted to tell the attendees about my understanding of the problem of developing young chess players, about the methods of upbringing of the main quality – independence of thinking. That’s the general line. I like to improvise in the course of my lectures. If the audience responds, asks the questions I can’t predict what examples will be shown, what questions we will discuss. For instance this time we discussed not only the questions of chess education but also had a small excursus into chess strategy and tactics, its history and literature. We paid attention to the chess compositions. We also exchanged some funny stories. A little liveliness in demonstrations has never hurt anybody.
- Master-classes are held for the second year in a row. How is it coming? What positive changes in the coach career of your attendees in the nearest future can you forecast?
- It’s a bit naïve to start expect for any noticeable results, especially when our relations are very short. The time when I was a schoolboy immediately comes to my mind. I attended the lectures of such great masters as Masterov, Konstantinopolskiy, Bronstein, Averkin, Razuvaev. It was very interesting but I didn’t think that it was something special. It was only many years later, when one one fine day I realized that my contact with these great people flipped my world outlook around.
- What would you like to wish your attendees?
- Attendees, no, these are fond friends! They managed to create a wonderful atmosphere at our classes, and I found it a pleasure to engage with them. And I hope they can save that same feeling of excitement to the art of chess and to pass it on to their students!