What Endgames Say About Your Chess, From A Top Teacher And Coach

Chris White is an elementary school teacher of more than 20 years, which has helped make him an excellent coach for scholastic, beginner, and intermediate students. He also runs the Novice Chess Channel on YouTube, with lessons aimed at novice players aspiring to intermediate and beyond, and is active answering questions and giving advice in the comments sections on his videos. As he has brought his coaching services online, Chris has been able to reach even more students.

Interested in lessons? Contact Chris on his Chess.com profile!

At what age were you introduced to chess, and who introduced you?

My late uncle Charlie introduced me when I was seven. I didn't start playing tournaments until I was 24 and won my first tournament game at age 25. 

And how did you get into coaching?

I’m an "adult learner"—I always loved chess, but never had a club in school or tournament to play in, so I finally made the step at age 24. Since then I’ve been very passionate and dedicated as a public school teacher to offer chess to my students.

Last year, I started to look forward to the future and realized that by the time I retire from public school teaching, I will likely want to really get into the online chess coaching. My plan was to enroll in the Chess.com Coaches program and hopefully get just one student. Because I am so busy with work and my kids, I didn’t want to have more than just one at the start! But what ended up happening instead was that I very quickly had five students. I find it difficult to say no to people who are eager to learn about chess! (I eventually had to give one of my students away to a member of my club because it was just too much on my plate). I really enjoy the opportunity to teach students, both children and adults, in other countries. It’s very rewarding!

Which coaches were helpful to you in your chess career, and what was the most useful knowledge they imparted to you?

Nihad Dervisevic taught me that learning endgames is very important, not just for the endgame itself but for knowing when to trade into an ending.

IM Edward Porper helped me with understanding a lot of the "whys" in openings—moves that I was playing without really knowing everything about why the book moves are good moves.

What is your favorite or best game you ever played?

This is a game from New Year's Eve 2000 against a lifelong friend who I had never beaten in hundreds of games growing up. But I finally did win against him, in a tournament no less! I was going into the fifth round with four draws but I finally ended up with a win thanks to a queen sacrifice... that won material!

Here is a YouTube analysis I made on my channel about this game:

How would you describe your approach to chess coaching? 

I try my best to let the student lead the lesson as much as possible. I always have material prepared in case they want me to lead, but if, for example, I have endgames prepared but they are in the mood to look at an opening, I save that prep for another day!

Also, when looking over their games, I get the student to say their thoughts about their moves and have them active in the lesson as much as possible—instead of just listening to a lecture for extended periods of time.  

What do you consider your responsibility as a coach and which responsibilities fall on your student?

The coach must be prepared for the lesson, which can mean many things. It might mean having endgames prepared, or tactic puzzles, or the student's games to go over—but never show up to a lesson without looking at what you're going to teach first.

The student should be on time, have gotten a good night's sleep, and ask plenty of questions during the lesson.

What is a piece of advice that you give your students that you think more chess players could benefit from?

Try to look over all your games and make a mental note of your first opening mistake.

What is your favorite teaching game that users might not have seen?

I just stick to my opponent's games and sometimes my games, but I should start to add classic games to my repertoire! My main coaching over the last 20+ years has been at a k-3 school. I just started teaching online a year ago so I'm still working on my craft!  

What is the puzzle you give students that tells you the most about how they think?

This is a great question! Here is a puzzle that I send to my students before our first lesson. Although there are several ways to win this position, the student's approach will tell me a lot about where they are in their chess.

For example, if the player does not start by centralizing their king, I know that we need to open their mind to that idea. This will in turn help them with many other types of positions.

Also creating a passed pawn in this position can add the words "obligation" and "distraction" to their chess vocabulary. Ultimately, after a little guidance and practice, the player should be able to beat the computer with White in this position, even with the computer maxed out. So if they ever faced Magnus in this position, they would win.

Do you prefer to teach online or offline? What do you think is different about teaching online?

I like both! Since I'm a public school teacher I have had many clubs in school gyms over the years. I used to do 45 minutes of chess followed by 30 minutes of physical activity and then 45 more minutes of chess. Now I'm doing one-on-one online lessons and that works well.

What do you consider the most valuable training tool that the internet provides?

The Chess.com ability to send a student a position that we were working on in a lesson and have them practice versus the computer and even change the difficulty of the bot.

Which under-appreciated chess book should every chess player read?

I know it's generally thought to be for more advanced players, but I really like Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual for this. The first lessons in every chapter are basic enough for a novice player to understand. Doing the first few exercises from every chapter gives the novice player the scope of what endgames are out there, and then as they progress along in their journey they start to look at more and more of the book, Dvoretsky with them all the way. Although it's considered to be an appreciated book, not so much for novice players. I think they all should have a copy!