3 ms·

> Told that Tani needed a top chess coach to develop, the family scrimped and hired a grandmaster, Giorgi Kacheishvili, to coach Tani three times a week. Hones

by bko 6y ago

> Told that Tani needed a top chess coach to develop, the family scrimped and hired a grandmaster, Giorgi Kacheishvili, to coach Tani three times a week. Honest question, could you be an effective chess coach if you're not a better chess player than the student? [Edit] Tani has a rating of 2223 and Giorgi's rating is 2582, so it appears Giorgi is better https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgi_Kacheishvili https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgi_Kacheishvili

prezjordan 6y ago
Not a very good chess player but I'd imagine it's a similar phenomenon to any sports coach. Tani clearly has an incredible ability that his coach can help unlock. EDIT: This is a really good question and I like these answers - unsure why OP is being downvoted!
qsort 6y ago
At a low level, obviously no, you can't. At a professional level, you are more of a sparring partner than a teacher. Maybe you're an expert of a certain opening or endgame, or you're trying to identify specific weaknesses in someone else's game.
- addicted 6y ago
  Also when chess players reach those much higher levels, they usually have a team helping them out. A combination of even 2 lower ranked players can very easily be better than a single higher rated chess player.
mtbomb 6y ago
1. Tani is rapidly moving up the ranks. He's only 10. Presumably the rating difference was much larger just a few months ago. 2. 300 points is still quite a large rating difference. 3. In many disciplines the best practitioners are often not the best coaches. You might speculate that being the very best and most talented would make a worse coach since the struggle to increasing levels was easier. 4. Even Tiger Woods had a coach at his peak.
Kranar 6y ago
Being a good coach isn't really about "uploading" existing knowledge, but a lot more like being a good manager. The role has more to do with things like maintaining good discipline and habits, keeping you motivated and focused on your objective, organizing your schedule, identifying key areas for improvement, being on the lookout for opportunities, so on so forth...
addicted 6y ago
It might be different for chess, simply because chess is theoretically completely solvable, but there isn’t a single endeavor in which a coach is better than the player they are coaching (or else they would still be playing!).
benmmurphy 6y ago
a lot of supergms have coaches and they are not as strong as them over the board.

by bko 6y ago

prezjordan 6y ago

Not a very good chess player but I'd imagine it's a similar phenomenon to any sports coach. Tani clearly has an incredible ability that his coach can help unlock. EDIT: This is a really good question and I like these answers - unsure why OP is being downvoted!

qsort 6y ago

At a low level, obviously no, you can't. At a professional level, you are more of a sparring partner than a teacher. Maybe you're an expert of a certain opening or endgame, or you're trying to identify specific weaknesses in someone else's game.

addicted 6y ago
Also when chess players reach those much higher levels, they usually have a team helping them out. A combination of even 2 lower ranked players can very easily be better than a single higher rated chess player.

mtbomb 6y ago

1. Tani is rapidly moving up the ranks. He's only 10. Presumably the rating difference was much larger just a few months ago. 2. 300 points is still quite a large rating difference. 3. In many disciplines the best practitioners are often not the best coaches. You might speculate that being the very best and most talented would make a worse coach since the struggle to increasing levels was easier. 4. Even Tiger Woods had a coach at his peak.

Kranar 6y ago

Being a good coach isn't really about "uploading" existing knowledge, but a lot more like being a good manager. The role has more to do with things like maintaining good discipline and habits, keeping you motivated and focused on your objective, organizing your schedule, identifying key areas for improvement, being on the lookout for opportunities, so on so forth...

addicted 6y ago

It might be different for chess, simply because chess is theoretically completely solvable, but there isn’t a single endeavor in which a coach is better than the player they are coaching (or else they would still be playing!).

benmmurphy 6y ago

a lot of supergms have coaches and they are not as strong as them over the board.