Dear chess friend,

My name is Jaan Ehlvest. I was one of the top tournament player during 1988 till 1991 when I finished the World Cup tournament series only behind Kasparov, Karpov and Salov.

Nowadays I am devoted chess coach. I am very few former elite or todays GM’s who have a degree from College. I studied psychology and because of that I was very keen to listen Igor Smirnov’s webinar about how to think in chess.

Igor is not the first who tries to find simple algorithm for novice players to help them think like a grandmaster. Soviet GM Kotov wrote a book long time ago “Think like a grandmaster”. Other authors like Silman is also trying to cover this subject. Usually they have too serious theoretical background which is difficult to apply in practice.

 Talking about Smirnov’s concept-it is more practical. I like that he has a lot of examples from practical games. You must follow the best brains, if you are talking about decision making process in chess. Igor gives good examples using unconsciously the induction and deduction method in chess. The material is presented in logical hierarchy and must be easy to understand for both to the very beginners and to the advanced players. Igor however is warning the audience that this is only the beginning. Which is the case in chess, you need long hours to study even simple concept.

I used myself some of the materials presented by Igor on Youtube and I was very satisfied costumer. He covers the subject thoroughly from start to the finish. This is probably his only weakness, because I think the webinar should be shorter like one hour. I would recommend to this webinar to serious chess aficionados and I am waiting the follow up of this subject.

Jaan Ehlvest