Lim Zhuo Ren Chess

  I did some guided calculation training with one of my students a few days ago. He had stopped classes for one year. I had no idea whether he could do this position. But he surprised me by being able to see about 7 moves deep without moving. I mentioned many calculation techniques like CCA, candidate sweeps and also what to do when facing resistance. Click the link and try solving together with us. CLICK HERE TO WATCH!

  Literacy-Fluency-Mastery You don't need to wait to be a master at something to use it. When learning a new language, e.g., Chinese. knowing 500 words is akin to literacy. You know enough to live in China alone and to get about. Perhaps fluency is knowing, say 2000-2500 words. You know enough to think in that language. Humans normally think in terms of words and images. So being fluent in a foreign language helps you to be able to think differently too. For example, the way English and Malay structure their sentences is very different, normally opposite. For example, my name is Zhuo ren is nama saya ialah Zhuo Ren. My name is nama saya. Being fluent is probably more than enough for most things. Mastery is perhaps knowing 10000 words like a scholar. In most situations, knowing 2000 words is sufficient. Only in rare cases, knowing the 10000 words will be helpful. Now to get Mastery, sometimes you need say 10 years. But maybe fluency requires 2 years. This is what I mean by not all t...

  Long Term vs Short Term Infinite Game vs Finite Game Patience vs Impulsive Last week, my chess friend (also a coach) was telling me about how there have been so many new chess coaches, chess academies springing up in the past year. And most he never heard of. He wasn't sure whether they were qualified or not. I just said I can imagine that would be true given the popularity of Netflix's Queen's Gambit. And the subsequent boom in popularity after that. I just said it doesn't concern me because most of these people are in it short term. They are the type to chase BSO (Bright Shiny Objects). I said to my friend we are in it long term and I spoke about listening to this concept of the Infinite game (just google it). He told me but they are so many unqualified ones and no one knows the difference. I corrected him by saying you and I know the difference. But outside people don't. The people in the industry always knows how to differentiate the good from the bad within t...

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  Joy is in Constant Approach.....But it doesn't mean you deserve the results. Its my birthday week and I got a lot of great gifts...... First, I get to play a semi 'OTB' Tournament for the first time in more than a year...It starts this Saturday, one day after my birthday. Two, Great results from 3 of my students.... You will see them in the upcoming posts..... I wanted to talk about preparation in this posts. One of my students told his dad that this is the first time he see coach in super serious training mode. I have been preparing quite intensely for this week's tournament. My daily schedule for the past 3 weeks is something as follows: 1. Wake up, 2. Solve for 1 hr, 3, Walk.jog 30 minutes, 4. Opening Preparation, 5. Breakfast 6. Training Games, 7. Game Analysis and Discussion. Sounds intense no? Funny thing I actually enjoy it while I do it.  :) Just that I have been feeling rather nervous these last few days. Part of me feels like I put in a lot of effort. What i...

  When was the last time your confidence took a knock? Is confidence actually fragile? If confidence can be broken, how can I rebuild it? Part 3 In the post yesterday, I spoke about broken confidence and also lessons. And today I will talk about some ways to rebuild it. I am not an expert in this and I don't think this works for everyone and definitely it doesn't work for me every time. But I feel confidence comes from certainty. There is this chess workshop I teach on chess classics and chess strategy where I speak about the Sun coming up in the morning and then sets followed by the Moon coming up. I ask the group how sure are you that tomorrow when you wake up you will see the Sun, they all say 100%. You say it without hesitation. Or if I Say 2+2, they will shout out 4. No doubt, no hesitation. You are confident. Because you are sure. And being sure comes from being certain. ie. certainty. So whenever I try and rebuild my confidence or try and be confident. I go back to my ro...

  When was the last time your confidence took a knock? Is confidence actually fragile? If confidence can be broken, how can I rebuild it? Part 2 In the post this morning, I mentioned that I too have been struggling with my own confidence which is perhaps why I start to see that in some of students now. As I said, if you spot it, you have it. I think my confidence definitely took a knock...Multiple knocks in May. Looking back, I am reminded of the words/Statements I was making. For example, this position I would never throw even a year ago. I can't believe I didn't win this. This is the type of position I tell my students is like a free win. Or things like, I felt that no matter how much effort and energy I put in, It isn't enough. Or I gave my all but its so ..... frustrating because it feels like its not enough. You see I was playing two tournaments during May. The Zonals and the Asian Continental (AC). And these were the words I was using during and after the tournament. ...

  When was the last time your confidence took a knock? Is confidence actually fragile? If confidence can be broken, how can I rebuild it? Part 1 I had a lot of trouble during primary school. My grades were bad, I didn't like going to school and I got punish a lot. I actually almost got expelled once but that's another story. Then when I was turning 12, my parents got me 1:1 lessons with a chess coach, I started getting better and being able to answer his questions and getting positive feedback and encouragement. It made me more confident in my abilities. I then started playing tournaments. My first few tournaments were disasters but as the year progress, the results got better and better. And my confidence grew. For some reason, confidence growing in chess also improved my confidence in other areas. Its like that saying a tide rises all boats. I did well for UPSR that year. And I never had issues with school after. Exams weren't tough even though I miss 2-4 months of the sc...

  Theory vs Practical In science class in school and college, there were always practical sessions. Not just theory. They need to go hand in hand. My 2nd batch of student of the 6 months classics group had been asking to play me in simul since March. Since June was the last month of the current 6 month program. I decided that 5 months of theory probably got too boring for them. So I decided the last 4 classes would be of a practical nature. They were so excited when I told them. We played around 5 simuls and I lost to at least half of my students at least once. Its good to see how much they improved ( i did my job well ). We also did some hand & brain sessions. For the last class, they asked me to do a tournament for all of them. The results are in the photo. The ones who finished 5th, 7th and 8th are the 3 guys who finished top 10 in the Herosifu tournament (under 12 section). The 2nd, 3rd and 4th placings for our internal tournament are 12 and 13 years old.

  Thinking Without Action is Procrasination 2 Months ago, i suffered some setbacks in a tournament. I lost to one player, A from the Philippines who created a new lichess account in 2020. He had played over 3000 games in the space of a year. He also finished in the top 10 of the Zonals featuring many GMs. After the tournament ended, I decided to do the same. Create a new lichess account and play openings I normally do not play such as 1.e4. The only game that didn't feature 1.e4 was one game and I played it this morning. It helped me cross the 2500 barrier on lichess for the first time. Something I never did using my main account. So after 178 games played, I have reached 2500. Its not such a great thing in the grand scheme of things. But for me, its progress. And I am happy I started a new thing from a setback. What slight change are you thinking about that you can make that could bring you results? Maybe its time to get out of the thinking and start the doing.

  The Bicycle Approach to Life......& How You can use it to play even better chess as well as enjoy it more.... There was this story about this guy who was ultra-competitive and a real go-getter. When he was young, he started biking down the beach near his house. And when he started he would push super hard. Pedaling as hard as he could. No matter how hard he pedaled, he would never get lower than 43 minutes to finish the trail. After a few weeks, he started getting less and le ss excited about going through that slog. He became tired. One day, he thought how about today I just take it easy, and go at a decent pace. He could enjoy the view and didn't need to strain himself. At the end, he looked down and couldn't believe his eyes. He took 45 minutes. All that effort, strain and pain, just for an extra 2 minutes. It doesn't help consistency because you are more likely to stop doing things when they become tiring and when they feel like a slog. For chess, its similar, tra...

CLICK HERE  to see my original reason first! I wrote the reason slightly over 5 years ago. Read it prior to writing this.  I think the reasons I wrote in 2016 are still valid. But perhaps not the priority  anymore. I think I don't exactly know the real reason. So typing the reasons I had back in 2016  seem abit naive to me now. But sometimes reasons can change. Alot of times when I write, it is actually to organise my own thoughts and to understand myself more.  When I read the 2016 post, I actually feel some pain and sadness. The selfish truth is Probably I wrote it to document my journey and see how far I have come and Also to be accountable to follow through on some of the goals I have, I have tried different things in the past 5 years. Some worked and SOME FAILED Spectacularly. It really is a journey. It also provides a good springboard for me to  reminisce and see what I thought from a few years ago. Right now, I feel a bit lost and I want to make some...

WATCH HERE!

How this way of thinking and doing things help me make Decisions and how you can too! CLICK HERE  to watch the VIDEO

  Why I Say thank you 1000 times in class and you might not even Hear it!! Everyone likes to hear their name. Everyone likes to hear people say good job. Everyone likes to hear people say thank you. What does all this have in common???? Earlier this week, you read about the secret sauce of success for kids. And that is enthusiasm! It makes them more engage, attentive and participative in class and in their lives. Imagine you do something for someone everyday, for example, you cook dinner, and your kids say that was an amazing meal. You feel good. Now imagine you do the same thing, but no one says anything. Your kids finish and go straight to their room. What's the difference here? Do you like to hear your name? Do you like to hear someone say to you, good job Do you like people to say thank you? How can you summarise it in One word? ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. You want to be acknowledged. You want your efforts to be recognised. You want people to notice that you are trying. If an adult wants ...

  Since Sept 2020,  I have been doing ICC Classes almost every month. ICC stands for Immersive Chess Course.  There are between 4-9 classes per month. July one just ended. As usual, Positive feedback is always given. The 5 players who attended almost every one have gained 100-250 points in lichess rating. 2 of them are adults. You get a chance to watch some of the classes FOR FREE! There are 3 videos I am giving you access to. You can see the first two in the posts from the last two days. The second one is from JULY ICC last month. Many of Malaysia Asian School representative were in that class. WATCH JULY ICC HERE Hope you enjoyed the 3 recordings. If you would like access to over 50 ICC Recordings over the past year, you can message me on my Facebook Page --->  HERE   Ps: There are some package deals especially for all of 2020 Recordings.

  What is the Secret Sauce for Kids and Perhaps Even Adults to Succeed??? The most common feedback I get is my kid like your class. He said very fun. He always looking forward, I don't have to remind him got class. For me, this is the greatest compliment. It is one of the main intentions I have for every class I do. (Whether I do it well is another story). One of the reasons is perhaps because I have enthusiasm for what I do. And enthusiasm can be very infectious. There is this quote: “I'm more interested in arousing enthusiasm in kids than in teaching the facts. The facts may change, but that enthusiasm for exploring the world will remain with them the rest of their lives.” ― Seymour Simon If you have enthusiasm, it is easier for you to start doing things, to start experimenting and to explore your curiosity. It is what kids love to do and how humans are in their natural state. This message (in the photo) from two days ago, Emran's mum told me her son likes my class alot. ...

  Since Sept 2020,  I have been doing ICC Classes almost every month. ICC stands for Immersive Chess Course.  There are between 4-9 classes per month. July one just ended. As usual, Positive feedback is always given. The 5 players who attended almost every one have gained 100-250 points in lichess rating. 2 of them are adults. You get a chance to watch some of the classes FOR FREE! There are 3 videos I am giving you access to. You can see the first one in Yesterday's post. The second one is from JULY ICC last month. Many of Malaysia Asian School representative were in that class. Check out around 1hr33minutes 30 seconds to see how a 10 year  old saw 9 moves deep! The whole exercise starts around 1hr 30 minutes. WATCH JULY ICC PART 5 HERE Last Free video will be posted tomorrow. If you would like access to over 50 ICC Recordings over the past year, you can message me on my Facebook Page --->  HERE

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=693361921100036 Click the link to see original article with video. (Might need to refresh the page) How many of you have a memory that you remember as if it were yesterday? How many of you have more than one such memory? I thought university was going to be an extension of college. Boring passive learning style lectures. At the first class of my IPM module, my lecturer was standing at the middle behind a large rectangular shaped table. The table was longer than my small bed. On the top of his table were his briefcase, some books and chalk. He was wearing a black turtle neck  t shirt. No collar. He didn't look like a professor at all even though he had 2 PhDs. The whole class was noisy. He picked up the chalk, went to the black board and started writing. Everyone starting looking at the board. And then we were all quiet as he turned. Not one sound. His name was in big capital letters on the board together with the title Introduction to Pure Mathemat...

 Since Sept 2020,  I have been doing ICC Classes almost every month. ICC stands for Immersive Chess Course.  There are between 4-9 classes per month. July one just ended. As usual, Positive feedback is always given. The 5 players who attended almost every one have gained 100-250 points in lichess rating. 2 of them are adults. You get a chance to watch some of the classes FOR FREE! There are 3 videos I am giving you access to. I have picked the VERY FIRST class I did for ICC Series Watch link here  ICC SEPT! Will be posting another 2 ICC recordings in the next few days here as well! If you would like access to over 50 ICC Recordings over the past year, you can message me on my Facebook Page --->  HERE . 

  The L-A-T-T-E Principle....  (originally published on 27th January 2020) Last Friday, a few hours before Chinese New Year reunion dinner, I was doing some self reflection and thinking about what I did that brought me the best results in my life, financially, tournament result wise, relationships, etc. As I was writing it down and thinking, this word came into my head and I boiled it down to the principle above. The Latte principle. I am excited to share it with you. The first step is L=LEARN. We are born curious. It is our natural state. I read in a book that learning brings joy. step number 2 is A=APPLY. Apply what you learn. It shows you what works for you and then you can discard the rest. Forgot who said, Knowledge isn't power, Applied Knowledge is Power! And after applying you gain experience. Step Number 3 is T=TEACH. From experience, you can teach it. It solidifies what works for you and also it deepens your understanding of it and then you can keep doing it. Step Num...

Originally posted on  18 October 2018 on my Facebook Page   Einstein once said: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." For some reason, this really resonated with me. I believe everyone is born intelligent. I read from the book 'Prison Child' that there are 9 types of Intelligence according to Professor Howard Gardner. Everyone has a different combination of these types of intelligence. And depending on which intelligence profile they have, they learn things differently. For example, I learnt that I'm better at Interpersonal Intelligence than say Naturalistic Intelligence. I'm not great at Musical Intelligence but decent at Spatial link which basically means I learn better through pictures. I tried applying this to some of my students. I have been trying to teach them some concept for some time now. And I asked them some questions to determine which intelligence ...

Last Year (2020) in December, an Educational Platform, EarnPlus did an interview with me on my journey and how it came to be. Learn about Reverse Thinking and How I came to do what I do now. And Hopefully you can find some tools to help you too.  Click the LINK below to get to the interview INTERVIEW HERE   Skip to 15 minutes for the start of the interview

  Workshop in Nov 2019, the kids who got some free lunch from Yusuf Yusuf (an amazing individual)                                                        myself when I suffered a hairline fracture in Feb 2019                                                 (I'm sure everyone knows who is the guy holding my wheelchair) What is your excuse??? (originally posted on Fb on 11th Nov 2019) I had the honour of meeting this wonderfully positive person, Idris. Yusuf was what he preferred to be called. It was at night and I was watching football with my cousin around 11pm 2 weeks ago. Yusuf called me at night to ask about joining my workshop and he told me he was wheelchair bound. Hav...

 Oct 2019 Free Lesson on my fb page.  100 people watched it in the 2-3 days after I uploaded it on facebook. But no one else has watched it since. Such a waste. So here it is VIDEO HERE Hope you enjoy it.  Write down in the comments in one word/sentence what you learnt!

  You learn better by doing. This is because as Confucius said, I do, I understand. So allow my students to explain the two rules to you just I had explained in to them in this VIDEO Enjoy! This is a game where I beat a WGM using those 2 rules and my students are explaining it

  In my first post of 2021, I mentioned that I will be shifting some of the old content from my Fb page:  HERE  to the blog for ease of accessibility. Unfortunately, I can't go back to before July 2019 unless I scroll all the way.  You will get 1. a free chess lesson here  &                         2. How to Come up with a fun engaging class? Here are the 3 steps: STEP 1 What are the 3 key points you want the student to get from the class? STEP 2 Research tonnes of examples to explain those 3 key points and drill it home. You can repeat the key points a few times. STEP 3 Give autonomy and trust them Watch the video  HERE  to see step 3 in progress. I taught in this workshop 3 key points (STEP 1).  You will see the kids explain the examples using one point each (STEP 2 and 3). See how much fun they are having and learning at the same time. Check out the video here

 I started this blog a few years back when I had an office job. A lot has changed since. My last post was in 2017. I have since started coaching chess. This is my facebook page:  here I had an idea of what I wanted to write about all those years ago. It was very clear and I thought I would only write about that. You could say I was naive and thought I knew everything.  Turns out I know nothing. Just that its a slightly better nothing. There are many posts written on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ZhuoRenChessCoach/ But it is so ridiculous to search back for it. So I decided I will be putting some of them here. It makes it easier to search back and also allows it to be more accessible to you rather than having to scroll through the facebook pages. Check out the page if you are free. There are some videos of me talking there. I still prefer writing but speaking looks more real and it helps me grow. Video quality isn't the greatest. I'm not tech savvy. Just ...