Online Group Lessons
Hi everyone!
For quite some years I'm doing regular group training sessions for several clubs, mainly in Amsterdam area but also other clubs have shown interest in my services. Due to the pandemic outbreak these sessions have temporarily been paused. Until recently I had mainly used Skype for private training lessons, or maximum small groups of 3-4 people. Zoom is the ideal platform hosting my chess lessons for larger groups.
For a couple of weeks now I have been experimenting with Zoom + screen sharing and it works great that I'm not even sure we will ever get back to the physical group sessions we used to do. No seriously, I really hope we will get back to normal again, nothing beats the social gathering at your club evening. However, for chess clubs there are so many advantages organizing training sessions online, e.g.
- It doesn't clash with the normal club evening, as people don't have to chose between playing a game or following a course.
- Lessons can easily be recorded, saved and studied afterwards. Also nice for people who weren't able joining the sessions live.
- The pandemic has a positive influence on the number of activities chess clubs can organize. Apart from training sessions/lectures there are also more possibilities organizing other type of events.
I hope many clubs, once the pandemic is over, will continue offering both off- and online activities to their members.
Tonight I did a lecture on the exchange sacrifice for my local club in my hometown: SV Zukertort Amstelveen. My favorite example is a game I played myself against the legendary GM Alexander Beliavsky at the Reykjavik Open 2017. It shows very well both the strengths and weaknesses dealing with this type of material imbalance.
This game and more examples have been analyzed in my book Crucial Chess Skills for the Club Player, Volume 2. Both volumes are now for sale at the site of Thinkers Publishing!
Perhaps your chess club will be interested organizing similar training sessions for its members or you are with a group of friends looking for some chess entertainment. Feel free to contact me here by dropping a PM. More info about my training can be found at my personal website: http://robertris.com
