2012 RESOLUTIONS?!

It's the time of year when plans are made for the forthcoming year ahead, reminding ourselves how we can improve upon the happenings past.

Looking back, some of the students have made significant strides in their performance, but will need the January SCF rating list for verification. Others have moved, though slower, but are surely playing better when I first worked with them.

My resolutions for my students for the New Year will be:

1. To score minimum 4.5 pts /7  for all 7 rd Swiss tournaments they participate
2. To ensure that they spend either 4 hours a week on chess-playing or equivalent of 50 puzzles a week, with   the cooperation from parents
3. To help them gain about 30 rating points per tournament
4. For the better students, they should prepare for the top 5 spots in the local major age-group tournaments.

Achievement in chess does spur confidence in the child, however we must always emphasise that all good results come from thorough preparation and hard work. To inspire the child to want that is not an easy task, as many of our cloistered youth do not hunger for success. It is therefore a challenge I set for myself as a trainer to find new ways of motivating students to excel.

My usual practice was to suspend coaching after the National Individuals for all P6s taking their PSLEs that year. However, as I examined their exam results, it appears that the extra time off chess training did not help in improving their scores. Rather, the students developed malaise/stress fatigue  in learning having too much time on their hands. So I am reviewing this practice.