IM Vishal Sareen

Hello, it's a pleasure to indtroduce myself. I am IM Vishal Sareen from New Delhi, India. Been a professional chess trainer for almost 17 years now. From training the young and hopeful to improve their skills to working with several Grandmasters, I have done that all!. Trainer of several Indian teams including the Indian women team for two years, trainer of last three Arjuna Awardees (second highest sporting honour) in Chess in India. Personal trainer of GM Abhijeet Gupta for over 15 years, I also hold the highest Coach title - FIDE Senior Trainer (FST) awarded by the apex chess body - FIDE.

I have worked with some of the leading young and not-so-young chess players of the country helping them to achieve their potential. Chess training is my passion, can do that all day without a hint of tiredness!

A formner India Under-15 champion, I first represented the country in World cadets Championship of 1986. Represented India on several occasions thereafter as part of different teams in several opens across the world as well as many Commonwealth Championships. PLayed in Asian Continental too. Made several IM norms before finally taking the International Master title in 2004. Although not a serious player anymore, I played in a closed IM event in New Zealand a couple of years back and finished second even though it was competitive chess after a long hiatus! My best wins: have beaten many Grandmasters since my younger days... my first GM victory was against Matthew Sadler of England in 1994 Lloyds Bank Masters in London. Since then till I took semi retirement, there are many victories against GM opposition. All that can be found in the Mega Database!

www.chess7.com and www.iichess.com

Find me for online and offline group classes on the above two websites.

I felt the need for Chess training in India and decided to embark on this unchartered territory to become the first professional chess coach of India way back in 2004-05. My first set of students included Parimarjan Negi, Abhijeet Gupta, Tania Sachdev and Sahaj Grover. All these four became celebrated chess players of the country as Negi, Gupta and Grover went on to become Grandmasters under my training while Tania became one of the most successful women chess player winning the AsianContinental, Olympiad medal and ofcourse the Indian national championship. Both Negi and Gupta also became Indian national champions subsequently and these two gave me my proudest moment as coach in 2008: Gupta won the gold and Negi the silver in what was an unparrelled performance.

Since 2012 I decided to work on development projects and have been an active member of the Indian trainer's commission. As a FIDE senior trainer I have also been involved in countless FIDE Training seminars where we train coaches to become better teachers! As on today, have a great talent pool of young players (from four continents) who are likely to make it big in the coming years.

I am a writer on chess for over 20 years now and have written extensive articles for Indian news agencies, many magazines and also several news papers. I have been a chess commentator for India's National TV network - Doordarshan for over 20 years. Currently working on a Chess Syllabus for the masses which will be distributed free of cost in downloadable format.

1. Since I work with several strong players, deep opening preparation is always important. Analysis right from an early stage is the key.
2. Finding out new ideas early in the game.
3. How to build your analytical skills.
4. How to build your tactical acumen.
5. Learn to identify important factors in every position.
6. Endgames you must know.
7. Practical Endgame skills - how to develo them.
8. Working on the Chess Classics.
9. History of Chess - with most important detail.
10. TRANSITIONS in Game: From the opening to the middle game to the ending - analysis.

I am pretty active on all basic channels - Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp so that communication with students is not a problem. Try to fill them up with enough homework post our lessons.