Where can I get an import?

But I have no idea how to create a site. I’d love to do it, but I don’t have a blessed clue how to register fora site, let alone design it or build the code for the games. Maybe I’ll take a couple of computer classes and design it in a year or so. That is a very awesome idea, and I’ll see about making it happen.

I’d still like to keep the numbers managable. If someone sets up a private site so that we can keep the number of players reasonable, I’d be very glad to do some coaching and a little playing.

I use the Evans method for teaching (Larry Evans was a US Open Champion for several years. He was my coach when I was younger. Dr. Robert Hubner was a World Candidate player and coached me when I was very young and living in Germany).

Evans places a lot of emphasis on strategy before tactics (Time – initiative, Force – strength of pieces, Space – key squares, Pawn Structure – use of the most numerous pieces on the board). He used these four “pillars” to build winning positions, which could then be converted into tactics (pins, forks, skewers, mating nets, openings, endgames, etc). A lot of modern teaching methods throw a lot of memorization and tactics at the player, and expect the student to fall into the coach’s style of play. Evans (though American) taught in more of a Russian approach. Teach the tools for the student, and allow him or her to develop a style based on his or her on tendancies.

A lot of young players today learn tactics, but never get a chance to use them at advanced tournaments because they get out played strategicaly. By learning to build a good positon based on sound strategic principles, a student learns that the tactics will become available without having to calculate “moves ahead”. (The dirty secret is that master and GM level players don’t calculate moves ahead like a computer does, but instead they build better positions through “artistic” thought, something a computer can’t replicate. This requires a “players / artists” eye for what makes a better move/position, again based on the trade offs of time, space, force, and structure).

Set up the site. You’ll be surprised how much you learn in just the first few lessons. My only drawback is that I prefer the old descriptive system for annotation (ie P-K4 vs the new algabraic d4). I can use both, but am an old dog.