“A need for coaching does not exist, but it is created...” — Pravin Thipsay

Pravin Thipsay

India's Third GM

“A need for coaching does not exist, but it is created. The way the coaching takes place is basically spoon-feeding rather than teaching chess.

If you see, out of 100,000 players, only 3 or 4 are able to think independently. We often have to de-train students for two to three years. An untrained child is much easier to teach than a trained child who is often on a wrong track.

It’s very easy to become a Grandmaster if there is group discussion, if players come together, meet and discuss among themselves. All they need is the process of independent thinking. We need a coach who coaches, say, for 10 hours and teaches them to think independently.

You will not have everybody becoming a Grandmaster. But many of the International Masters in the country would probably have become Grandmasters even without coaching, if they had decided to sit down together and analyze. Many of them may already be doing that as well.

Nevertheless, the ongoing chess boom has perpetuated the general idea that an aspiring player must spend a heavy amount on elite coaching to reach the pinnacle.

It’s only a myth, and it’s created to promote the coaches.”