Chien (fhunfi) is really great value, passionate about chess, kind, and generous with time.
Even if you don't become student, he would be happy to be your friend for chess learning journey. Also, Chien always replies to my chess emails promptly, so it feels like having a chess buddy accompanying on this chess journey.
Thanks, @fulmarsky
Today we just learn the application in real game.
of this beautiful quote below by Stanley Kubrick (famous America movie director that also strong chess enthusiast):
“Chess teaches you how to control the excitement that you feel when you see something that looks very good. It teaches you to think before you act, and to think with the same objectivity when you are in trouble”.
Following up on my review on 7th January, I can make a few further points.
As a regular weekly student of Chien, he is kindly providing the daily course to me for free.
I often play daily chess games on chess.com and have developed a habit of moving pieces around before making a final decision on which move I think is best. This is useful for playing good moves in daily games, but a bad habit for improving at live chess games.
On each exercise he asks me, as a first step, to visualize all of the moves based on the diagrammed position, as if I were playing a real game.
When I first started this about 3 months ago, I started to struggle after about 4 or 5 ply. I was not sure if I was imagining the pieces on the correct squares or not. Recently, I realized that I can now do much better at this, There was an endgame position where I was able to correctly calculate up to about 25 ply and then say which side wins. It came as a surprise to me because I had not seen the very gradual improvement I was making each day as I practiced visualizing positions. I still have a way to go before visualization goes from being a weakness to a strength of mine, but I can say that the daily course is helping me move in the right direction.
After the visualization phase, I put the pieces on a real board and move them around. This usually reveals some new insights into the position and I get some new ideas which I email back to Chien. He will then reply letting me know what I got right or give me a hint if I am going in the wrong direction.
Finally, once I have a general idea about how to win (or draw) a position, I play it out against a strong engine. On the chess.com site I have managed to beat many of the Super GM bots starting from the supplied positions. In some cases I can win first time, and in others the bots has dozens of ideas I had never considered and it takes many tries until I can succeed, but always with help from my coach, I can get there.
I run the Bookworm Club here on chess.com, I always enjoy reading chess books, and there are many useful books, but all of the things I mentioned above are things I have never gotten out of reading a book. A book is just a monologue and can never provide feedback on how you are doing. For that you need to have a coach to help steer you in the right directions.
I am not a regular student of Chien, but we have had much chess communication in the past. He often sends me chess instruction or an analysis of my games at no charge and without me even asking for the information. Chien is the most passionate chess player I have ever known. He runs many tournaments on Liches, chess.com and on ICC. I do not know how he keeps them all straight. He is super responsive to email inquiries. I don't know when he sleeps.
He even will work with you if you have limited time and funds. You will not find a better deal than that. I can without question highly recommend Chien if you are looking for a chess coach, playing or training partner, or just someone to review your games or provide chess instruction.
This week we studied a famous Magnus Carlsen game. @fhunfi gave me the starting moves from the game along with annotations, and at move 10 he asked me how white would start an attack if black accepted a gambit?
Then we proceeded to move 12 and he asked me what would happen if white played a different move? In short analyzed several different positions from the game including variations that did not but could have happened.
Finally @fhunfi asked me to find the checkmate combination. It seemed impossible, but then, after a small hint I looked again and found a beautiful resource.
After I had found it, he sent me the full game. I had seen the game before, but it was 2 and half years ago. I didn't remember any of the moves or positions from the game, only that the game has been played and I has seen it.
However, I think I will remember it much better from now on, because I have invested the time and effort to really think about the positions and strategies for myself from both sides of the board.
This is not the first game and probably won't be the last game where I will experience this. It is easy to play over someone else's game or watch a video of someone describing a GM game, but the recollection of it later is not very good unless you really invest the time and energy to think through the positions yourself.
It is something that is possible in theory but extremely difficult to do in practice without a coach. There are some questions that you just would never think to ask yourself, something that you would never consider in a million years. It is easy to study games with an engine, and the engine can quickly show you some tactical ideas, but it cannot do a good job of getting you to think about chess strategy.
I am amazed at the level of instruction Chien provides in his daily lessons. He is prompt to respond and works at my pace. As soon as I complete one exercise, he is ready with the next one … I receive a large amount of material for little cost.
Right now we are going over middle game tactical motifs. Although these are techniques we have all heard of, Chien shows how they apply to real world situations, how to look for them, how to apply them, and more. He’s extremely patient, giving hints when I don’t find the right moves the first (or second or third) time.
What’s more, Chien’s love for the game of chess is so evident. He often talks about the “cleanest” or “prettiest” or “most fun” way to launch a tactic. This makes the studies very enjoyable.
It's been some days that I started with Chien and believe me that email course is really helpful . I cant wait to receive his feedback about my replies and discuss about them if right or wrong . For me who am 64yrs this method is ideal as I am not a memory person anymore and critic analysis seems that it is the only I need .
Thanks Chien for the help . I am expecting to see my progress in my competitions (online or OTB)
I recently started this course and am finding the practice positions useful as exercises. It is particularly helpful that fhunfi does not tell you the answers, but gives you hints to find them. The explanations are clear and concise, and fhunfi is always ready to answer any questions that come up in the analysis. It is too early to tell if it will affect my play, but I am hopeful that the insights gained will prove useful over the board as well!
I started a daily email course a few days ago and it has already enlightened my imagination and in one position i visualized to 29 plies(15 moves) although there ended up being a better move for my colour at the first move but i learnt and i ended up getting the subsequent themed similar position right first time even though the similarity in concept wasnt obvious at first sight. Chien is big on themes in the course as a way of stimulating thought patterns in games, a way of learning which the great Soviet Chess Schools used. at 25 dollars a month its a really good choice to economically improve your game.
Please send me DM (private direct message) if you want to answer
Just had a lesson with Chien which featured this composition that he made. I did not know where to start at first so he showed me a simpler example with the same tactical motif. Once I could solve that, this more complex example could also be solved. White can win here with best play.
Please send me DM (private direct message) if you want to answer
Just had a lesson with Chien which featured this composition that he made. I did not know where to start at first so he showed me a simpler example with the same tactical motif. Once I could solve that, this more complex example could also be solved. White can win here with best play.
And instead of giving solution at once, I will always give small hint each time if needed ... with purpose that you will find answer by yourself aka using "Socrates method".
instead of revealing answer / hint too quickly or clearly, I will always stimulate one's thought process so that they will find the final answer by themselves at the end.
What is the Socratic Method? Developed by the Greek philosopher, Socrates, the Socratic Method is a dialogue between teacher and students, instigated by the continual probing questions of the teacher, in a concerted effort to explore the underlying beliefs that shape the students views and opinions.
I bought this course because I was intrigued by both the idea and the way it was taught. Even though I'm stronger in evaluation than the fhunfi, he pointed out some things that I wasn't fully aware of. He also always responded in a way that let me know that he had read the whole email, even though my average response was around 2000 characters.
In my oppinion for those who are at chess.com rating around 1300-1700 it is a great option, and even for people like me who are 2000 and feel that are lacking in the basics it might be a good investment.
I hope fhunfi will continue with this idea as it is cheap and good option for many players 
I have greatly enjoyed working with Chien through this daily email course. I was initially skeptical that it would help much more than the private lessons I already take elsewhere, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the email course is a great complement to them. Usually my private lessons focus on details of my actual games, pointing out where I made mistakes or missed opportunities, while Chien's course looks at more general tactical and strategic motifs.
You may think that this would be strictly inferior to private lessons specifically concerning my own games, but it is not. The positions Chien gives me to analyze are always important positions from games that are usually not something I tend to see in my own games, which tend to follow the few openings that I play. This exposes me to new ways of thinking that I can apply in my future games, and I can think of multiple times when I explicitly remembered something from one of Chien's examples that gave me a winning idea in a live game. I'm sure that there have been other opportunities when I subconsciously thought of a winning idea after being exposed to that concept beforehand in his course.
Chien is very responsive and helpful, nudging you in the right direction if you're having trouble finding the answer without giving it away. It is very gratifying to discover the solution to a challenging problem without resorting to checking it with Stockfish and not really understanding how to get there without the engine, even if I needed a good amount of help to get there.
For what Chien is asking monthly ($25 as of this writing), you would be hard-pressed to find a better value when it comes to chess improvement resources. Don't waste your money on another book you won't find the time to get to for years. Instead, give Chien's daily email course a try. You will not regret it!
Chien's ability to create unique positions that help you improve is very impressive, I highly recommend it for the price it costs.
This is a practically unique way of learning the fundamentals of chess through a series of emails sent back and for answering the questions, asked, about various positions to help stimulate the thought process in a game, Fhunfi also makes it ridiculously cheap and it is incredibly fun. Some classical games are covered as well as positions and all in all it isnt a tough decision to pay 25 dollars for all that learning and fun.
Playing routinely in classical time control is an important aspect to apply what you have learnt.
Finding peers to practice serious chess with classical time control online is not too easy -
I accommodated it by founding 90m+30s club since April 2022
https://www.chess.com/blog/fhunfi/reasons-to-join-90m-30s-chess-com-online-chess-club
I've been following Chien's daily email course for a few weeks now and I heartily recommend it. It sharpens both your tactical and strategic understanding, covers all three phases of the game, and enhances long-term retention by presenting and re-presenting key ideas in different positions. Most importantly, it's challenging (as good chess training should be) but also fun. Especially Chien's responsiveness is remarkable, and ensures that this course offers excellent value for its money.
At first I was skeptical about a chess e-mail course. After working through 10 or 12 positions I am no longer a skeptic. Not only do I learn quite a bit from the positions that are given before the questions from Chien begin, but after the questions begin I understand a position in depth. I can't emphasize enough how useful this has been to my understanding of the game. It also makes me realize how far I have to go.
Working at your own pace allows learning to be fun. Sometimes I spend 2 or 3 days on a position. This may be because I need the time to understand a position thoroughly, but sometimes I am busy doing other things. Other times I can put an answer together in a matter of minutes. I never feel rushed.
Chien responds very quickly, usually in a matter of minutes. He never runs out of material for me to look at. I am currently studying very basic endgame positions, but by reading some of the other reviews I know that this is not all I will be learning.
The money that I spend on this is not much, but this may be the most useful chess instruction I have ever been exposed to. You owe it to yourself to take a close look at this course. Try it for a month or two. You may be surprised.
For recent past few months, I develop Daily Course by email.
mainly for those who can't afford to pay weekly regular lesson (USD 15/hour) via live session (skype/ chess com classroom feature).
It run successfully and they find it very helpful.
How it works?
It is an email-based course, on daily base, where typically I will give you a position (or discussing a whole game move by move / scene by scene) and asks you to think about the plans and the best moves. When you can't see the correct answers, I will email you back with a hint, or if I find the correct answer then I will proceed to the next question on the position.
From the daily course you will be learning a mix of middlegame strategy and positional understanding. In some case this will also relate to Endgame and specific openings but usually it is applicable to a wide variety of different openings. This is not the usual Tactic/ Puzzle test that you can find & practice easily from many sources by your own.
To finish discussing 1 Test, often it will take 4 - 5 email reply back and forth / question & answers from 1 scene to next. as we are discussing your answer.
And instead of giving all solution at once, I will always give small hint each time if needed ... with purpose that you will find answer finally by yourself aka using Socrates method - I will stimulate your thought process so that you will find the answer yourself with my minimum hint.
After Test-1 finished, then I will send you next test, and so on.
You will just need 5 - 10 min / max 15 minutes daily for thinking of solution.
and you don't even need to do it / reply the test every day if you are busy on any particular day- the speed it at your control - as soon as you replied the test, then I will promptly respond back & so on.
The motto is: Every day is small steps of improving.
With very affordable (USD 25 monthly) for this Daily-Course-by email program, you can give it try for a month, and only if like it & find it useful, then you can think to pay for the service at the end of the month. You have nothing to lose as there is no obligation to pay the service at first month if you don't find it helpful. I will even not mind if you can only afford less than normal fee, as long as you show some passion & diligence.
Please DM me for more detail.
Some reviews:
* From link https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-lessons/for-anyone-who-would-like-to-practice-90m-30s?page=5#comment-96958649
** From link: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-lessons/for-anyone-who-would-like-to-practice-90m-30s?page=5#comment-98666499
Kind Regards and happy to serve the classical chess community.
Chien