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International Chess University Students Talk
"Awesome lesson, really enjoyed! John is a godsend, he is such a great guy and such a good teacher I can't wait for my next lesson!!!. I am so happy I joined u guys! That man is a genius, I can't believe the amount of time he has for low confidence players like me!!!" - Tom Bennett, United Kingdom, 26 years old
"I’ve been taking lesson with my coach, John Marble, for the past three and half months. The improvement is amazing. In one month of play in tournament chess, I have gone from a 1000 rating to a 1305 rating. The confidence and guidance that John Marble has given me is beyond words. John and I would look at my games and he’d show me where my thinking was off. He let me talk through my thinking, and did not shut me down... which I enjoy. He provides positive feedback and useful advice, which I have used in my over-the-board play.
No matter where you are…in what stage of chess, beginner or advanced. IChessU can help you to improve your game, please check my rating history at http://www.uschess.org/. You will see how much I have improved my tournament games. - Michael A Elwell, USA, 47 years old
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"I enjoyed the lessons, learned a lot of great tactics and
strategy.
It's like
having Nimzovitsch on the phone. I think my game is vastly improved. The lessons
have done me a lot of good. My compliments to Martin, he is a superb
instructor and a
good guy.
I am glad I found your school and look forward to more lessons." - Maria Rodionov, Russia, 36 years old
"Great lesson, I feel a bit foolish to repeat myself telling every time how instructive the last lesson was. But, that is the plain truth. The efficiency of the lessons by far surpass what one can obtain from chess books. What's more, on the basis of the lessons, reading chess books is like reading a completely new story. What seemed rather dry and dull material becomes juicy. To me, the best way to really learn chess, not just fool around with the pieces." - Michael Schalit, Israel, 70 year old |
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"I am very happy with Voja and his lessons. He's a very good and very patient teacher. I feel I have improved my level and want to go on like that." - Manuele Facchini, Italy, 38 years old
"Just got my new rating it 1305, up from 1000. It all due to the help I have received from your coaching. Thank you!!!! - Michael A Elwell, USA, 47 years old
"THANK YOU so much for all your help with Arissa. This is beyond what we
expected going in to Western States with only 4 tournaments under her belt.
We've always known that she is one special girl and we thank you for also
believing in her. She had a great time and she's got a trophy bigger than
her. She is thrilled and she can't wait for next season." - Shey and Rommel, parents of Arissa Torres, USA, 8 years old
"I did not enjoy learning like this since I was a little kid! Huge thank you to Alex for his dedication and efforts. " - Danny Morris , USA, 69 years old
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"When I have joined IchessU my level was around 1100.
Today I am beating 2100 players and constantly playing in national
tournaments and other events" - Curtis Jones, USA, 43 years old
"IchessU helped me to gain a better understanding of positions. Now I only need to implement this knowledge in my tournament games." - Rodrigo Kreiss, Brazil, 36 year old
"I enjoyed the lesson about pinning very much. It was explained thoroughly and I believe my chess game will improve immediately because of learning the value of the pin. I am both humbled by my ignorance and excited about learning. Thank you for your patience and for giving me the opportunity to learn." - Greg Way, USA, 44 years old
"John went to a tournment for the first time, and won 1st place - only due to his great coach, International Chess Master Vlado Jakovljevic" - Lin, mom of John Zhang, USA, 8 years old
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"Drew is preparing for the 2008 USCF Junior National Tournamant.
Also, Drew won 3rd place in the Oklahoma State grade 6-9 primier section last Weekend. Between rounds Drew said something that really caught my attention. He said that he's starting to recognize familiar postion patterns that he has studied with Vlado!" - Jerry Cottrill, father of Drew Cottrill, USA, 15 years old
"The class was great! I also think its at the right level for me. The
material will definitely extend me. All explainations were clear. All in
all very enjoyable and definitely what I'm looking for." - Ryan Stevens, South Africa, 27 year old
"Actually, this was the best class I have had so far. Going over my games helps immensely. Vlado was most impressive to me today, and is very appreciated." - Rockford Watson, USA, 34 years old
"My chess rating is now 1500 a goal I have had since I started playing" - Tim Cunningham, United Kingdom, 55 years old
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"I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my hurt for the time you spent with
me, your flexibility and the fact that all this time you were very
supporting.
I really felt that you want my success!" - Gadi Markovich, Israel, 39 years old
"Dear teacher,
thanks a lot I`ve got 1st place again in the last tournament 12/2/06, K-6
department. Planning to go to K-8 dept. next month, hopeful to get another
trophy.
Thank you for teaching me, I really appreciate, anyway I wish you are here so
i can Invite you on my B-day party this comming sunday. I`ll be 9 y/o.
Your student,
Iryll" - Iryll Roberto, USA, 9 years old |
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"Just wanted to tell you that I´m extremely happy with John as a coach.
I feel that in the two days with John, I have learned alot more than the prior four lessons. Thank you very much!!! I am really happy and pleased now." - Gonzalo R. Guerrero Brito, Columbia, 34 years old
"I am learning a lot!" - Joe Norsworthy, USA, 46 years old
"Just wanted to let you know I came second in the Queensland State Chess Championships. I held a draw with an international master (2401) in the final round. Vlado would kill me if he saw the final position because I was completely winning. We both only had a minute left on our clocks so I was nervous to press to hard. He won't be so lucky in the future :-) " - Ryan Stevens, South Africa, 28 years old
"The coach I am assigned has an impressive chess resume. I feel fortunate to receive tutelage from such an accomplished player. Thank you." - Greg Way, USA, 44 years old
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"When I started to attend IchessU my knowledge of chess was very basic: how to move each piece and a bit off game play. After few lessons I am starting to understand logic behind chess. I even started to win some games. My teacher Vlado is really great. I never met someone with so much patience. He will answer all questions and never make you feel not good enough. There is no question that is no important how small or how stupid it might sound. Then there is Alex. He will make sure that everything is up to your convenience. If any of you is thinking of learning or improving your game with all my hurt I recommend IchessU. I felt so welcomed the first day. " - Adrianna Jemielita, 30 years old
"Playing on Fritz, my rate has gone up 200 points" - Manuele Facchini, 39 years old
"John is a very helpful mentor...and a really nice guy. I will be telling my friends and family about IchessU..." - Colin James, USA, 23 years old |
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"I enjoyed the lessons, learned a lot of great tactics and strategy. The lessons are fascinating. I think my game is vastly improved. My compliments to Vlado, he is a superb instructor and a good guy.
I am glad I found your school and look forward to more lessons." - Charles Reinhorn, USA, 67 years old
"Vlado is a definitely a gifted instructor and we appreciate his patient and focused teaching style. Drew learned a great deal and enjoyed his weekly lessons. We were certainly blessed to meet Vlado and wish him success at Ichess, in addition to all future endeavors!" - Jerry Cottrill, father of Drew Cottrill, USA, 15 years old |
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Aimee's story,
By John Marble IchessU coach
This is Aimee.She is now 20 years old. From her uniform, you can see she is
in the United States Navy where she currently repairs and services jet plane
engines. She is happy, independent, and very smart. Aimee also has ADD, and
a mild form of Autism called Aspergers Syndrome, and she will have them all
of her life.
Most people inherit ADD as a result of a family history. Aimee is different.
When Aimee turned in her mother's womb, prior to birth, the umbilical chord
wrapped around her neck, This halted oxygen to her brain. This problem
lasted 4 weeks before the doctors discovered it. When Aimee was born, she
was blue from the neck up. No one knew how seriously she was affected until
much later. Aimee was slower to learn to walk than many kids. She was also
greatly affected by severe and frequent ear infections while a baby, which
slowed her development of speech. She didn't speak in a way people could
understand until he was 3 years old.
In pre-school, teachers began recommending her for special classes for the
developmentally disabled because she was so slow to learn how to use
scissors, or slow to learn games, or slow to learn the alphabet. But we were
stubborn as parents because we had a feeling that Aimee was very
intelligent.
When she entered school Aimee was seemingly unable to learn and she was
never able to complete any of her school work. But something else began to
appear. Aimee could draw. Aimee was the most talented artist in her classes.
But she was different. She would start drawing a horse at its hind foot. Not
at its head like other artists or children. And she always drew her pictures
upside down (The ground at the top of the page and the sun at the bottom.)
But the pictures came out better than those drawn by students 5 or 6 grade
levels above her (When the paper was turned right side up.) Aimee could also
memorize anything that she heard repeated just a few times (She knew every
Disney animated movie script verbatim.) Because she was so different in the
way she behaved and talked, she was picked on by most of the other kids
throughout grammar school. At 7, Aimee was diagnosed with ADD. But the
schools would not acknowledge that she needed the special funds given to the
schools by our government to help her with her school work. After fighting
with the schools for 4 years and Aimee failing in virtually every subject,
the schools began giving her the assistance she deserved by law. And with
the introduction of medicine, Aimee began to improve. When she entered Jr.
High School she was able to pass all of her subjects but only just barely
pass them.
Her 7th grade year showed little improvement in performance, Art and chorus
were the only subjects in which Aimee could get grades better than a "D".
Schools in the US use letter grades "A" = Superior/Excellent, "B" = Good, C
= Average, "D" = Poor, and "F" = Failing. Aimee was so forgetful that
dangerous things could happen to her because she would just forget to do
something (Like forgetting to turn off the gas stove when there was no
flame, or lids being put back on the top of a hazardous cleaner.) Her mother
and I were beginning to discuss the fact that Aimee would probably always
have to live at home with us for the rest of our lives.
Then something happened to Aimee that would change her life forever. I (her
father) had a stroke when I was 42 years old. I lost the use of the right
side of my body, and I had moderate to severe short-term memory problems as
a result of the stroke. I was able to go to physical therapy to learn how to
walk again, and to learn how to use my right hand again, but what exercises
help with memory problems? Finally the therapists recommended Chess. I had
learned the rules of chess when I was 8 from my father. (Not all of the
rules.Not how to castle or en passant. But I played my father 3 games before
I quit out of frustration from losing.) I bought books to teach me how to
play after my stroke and I spent 18 months during my rehabilitation playing
3 hours of chess per day. I played chess on-line because I didn't feel I
could play in a club yet. Aimee would come home from school while I was
playing. One day she walked into the room and sat on the bed behind me and
watched me play an internet game of chess. She didn't talk, and she seemed
to like watching her dad win games, but even better was when I lost. It was
much more fun to tease me about my losses. It made dad human, not
perfect like her. Eventually I began winning frequently and Aimee would
faithfully come in and watch me every day. One day I just decided it must be
boring for her, so I began describing for her what was happening in the
games.What I was planning, what I thought my opponent was planning and how I
was going to stop it. I NEVER taught her the rules. Nor did I give her any
formal lessons.
When the 8th grade began, Aimee's best friend (1 year younger) started
attending Aimee's school. One day early in the school year, Aimee's friend
told Aimee she couldn't walk home from school with her because she had to
attend the school's chess club meeting. Aimee told her friend she liked
chess (even though she had never played a single game in her life.) Aimee
went to her first chess club meeting and played 5 games of chess with
different club members. She won all 5 games. A few weeks later, Aimee came
home with an entry form for a chess tournament and asked if she could go. I
asked her if she had ever played chess before. She said yes.she was a member
of her schools chess team and she had to go because she was the best player
on her team. I took Aimee the next week to her first tournament. Sure
enough.Aimee won 3 points out of 5. Even stranger.Aimee had this knack for
gaining draws in totally hopeless positions. From that point forward, Aimee
was going to chess tournaments.
Our goal was not for Aimee to win. It was for Aimee to sit and concentrate
for an hour (Each game had 30 minutes on each players clock), five times in
a day. Aimee would lose more games at the end of the tournament because the
more you won the harder your opponents became, but also because she would
tire and concentration became harder. But Aimee improved. She also had a
knack for beating players rated far above her own rating. She never
understood that she should feel intimidated by her opponents rating.
Something else improved as well. Aimee started finding ways to listen more
in class. She began to show signs of being a very smart young lady. By the
end of her 8th grade year she had climbed 4 grade levels in reading and 3
grade levels in math. More importantly to the schools, Aimee was holding a "B" average in all of her classes.
In High School Aimee earned some very big chess wins and was invited to a
very exclusive chess event. Her best performance came in the Western States
Championships.a two day event where she lost her first to games on day one,
and then finished with 5 straight wins. Her performance in her senior year
of high school seemed to be a miracle and she graduated (Something her
mother and I had not dreamed possible when she was in the 7th grade.)
One year later Aimee took the ASVAB. A test required by the US Military to
see if you are fit to join the service. Aimee had one of the highest scores
in our county for that year.
After basic training for the Navy, Aimee was sent to Florida for school to
learn how to work on jet engines. She wrote me a letter and asked me to send
her a chess board and set. "There are lots of players who play chess here."
She tries to solve a chess problem a day, to keep sharp for school. She pays
her own bills, socializes with friends and lives an adult's life with all of
its responsibilities. And chess was a very big part of the reason why she
can do it. It performed true miracles for my daughter. I have since taught
chess to other kids with ADD and it is proving to be just as helpful for
them as well. I have 3 children now that I work with who have ADD. Some show
improvement greater than others.but all benefit in some way.
I now am a tournament director at local youth chess tournaments. There is a
boy with Aspergers who plays in the high school section at every tournament
He is much lower on the spectrum than Aimee was, but he PLAYS chess. He
never wins.but he really does play.and winning isn't the most important
thing for a child with autism. He is not isolated like other kids with
autism. While he talks little, he does talk and his conversations are
appropriate and on topic (Something quite rare for someone at his spectrum
level.)
I wish I could go back in time to India and thank that man for inventing
that game. It may have saved my Aimee's future.
If your child has a developmental disability, or suffers from Autism or ADD,
you should investigate what chess might be able to do for him or her. Always
keep in mind that one should have realistic and appropriate goals for ones
child with such disabilities. But they may just surprise you. Aimee sure
surprised us.
Michael Anthony Elwell story,
IchessU student
Michael Elwell Age 47 Foster, RI, U.S. Chess Federation ID# 1260230 Life Member
I have been playing since my mother taught the game to me when I was seven years old. I did not know about tournament chess until I was 18 years old. I would play here and there with no commitment to the game. I played during my military career so on and so forth. I enjoy the game, and play a lot against computer programs, but it’s different when you play against a human over-the-board. I started back again in 2006 after battling cancer in 2005. It is satisfying when you win the game while playing over the board or even when I didn’t win, but played well enough to learned something new.
In the past three years, I learned that I really do not know the game of chess that well. I would read books and use chess programs to learn more, but something was missing. I know I am a strong chess player, but I was not winning the games I should have won. Players, who were higher rated than me, would tell that I don’t play like my rating…that I am a lot higher. Great, wonderful!!! But still that does not help me in understanding where I am having problems. I knew I needed someone to help, to teach, and to coach me. So I did a Google search, and found IChessU.
I did my research, but was not sure that I should join IChessU. I looked at the cost and what others would charge for lessons. It was fair what IChessU was charging. In December 2008, I decided to be committed to playing chess. Retired because of disabilities; I have time to put an effort in to my game playing. So I met with Alex, who evaluated me, and set me up with a coach, John Marble. The session with Alex was great; right off I could see where I needed improvement.
Now this is where the rubber meets the road, I’ve been taking lesson with my coach, John Marble, for the past three and half months. The improvement is amazing. In one month of play in tournament chess, I have gone from a 1000 rating to a 1305 rating. The confidence and guidance that John Marble has given me is beyond words. John and I would look at my games and he’d show me where my thinking was off. He let me talk through my thinking, and did not shut me down... which I enjoy. He provides positive feedback and useful advice, which I have used in my over-the-board play.
No matter where you are…in what stage of chess, beginner or advanced. IChessU can help you to improve your game, please check my rating history at http://www.uschess.org/. You will see how much I have improved my tournament games.
Michael Anthony Elwell April 4, 2009
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