The FIDE Trainers’ Commmission (TRG) is pleased to announce the results of the FIDE Trainer 2008 Awards as approved by the Kallithea Halkidiki FIDE Congress 2009.
Botvinnik Medal (Men): Arshak Petrosian (Armenia)
Furman Medal (Women): Ye Jiangchuan (China)
Euwe Medal (Juniors): Adrian Mikhalchisin (Slovenia)
Boleslavsky Medal (Book – Build Up Your Chess Series): Artur Jussupow
Petrosian Medal (Special Achievement): Smbat Lputian (Armenia)
Hall of Fame: Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR)
The FIDE Trainer Awards 2008s is the very first initiative of Chariman Adrian Mikhalchisin of the newly formed TRG in April 2009 as proposed by his predecessor Yuri Razuvavev in the meeting of the FIDE Trainers Committee held during the Dresden FIDE Congress 2008 and subsequently approved by the Istanbul FIDE Presidential Board 2009.
A committee was immediately formed within TRG and a short list drawn up and nominations by FIDE Office Bearers, TRG and Federations were invited for the five categories whcih are as follows:
1. Botvinnik Mikhail medal for men’s trainer or captain, for best results in mens competitions where World Championships and Olympiads are valued foremost, to be considered too are long standing high results.
2. Furman Symeon medal for women’s trainer or captain, similar to Botvinnik medal but applicable to women’s competitions.
3. Euwe Max medal for juniors trainer, for best results in junior competitions, to be considered are world and continental championships plus founder of famous chess schools, training programs, and academies.
4. Boleslavsky Isaac medal for best book which instructional values are remarkable, and to be considered are also series of articles, instructional computer software, and programs for development of players.
5. Petrosian Tigran medal for a special achievement over the last years.
TRG also made the decision to also induct one or more legendary trainers of the past (and also from the present in exceptional cases) each year into a Trainers’ Hall of Fame and FIDE also approved a judges’ panel (voting after September 1st, 2009) consisting of seven (7) members, all with reputation in the field of training, and whose decision would be reported to the Kallithea Halkidiki FIDE Congress 2009.
The full results of vosting are available by clicking here .
Congratulations to all the winners.
Especially to the Chairman winning his own proposed award?!
‘The full results of vosting are available by clicking here.’
I clicked there to get the vosting results, got dead link.
I have no problem with the link.
“I have no problem with the link.”
That’s because it was since corrected by the kind blog owner.
It’s strange. Some of the nominnees are listed by their rating federations, instead of by their nation to which they belong to and are citizens of?!
Why our own John Donaldson has zero points? Who are the voters? Fans?
Some clarifications since I was responsible for helping organise the nomination process:
1. Awards was initiated by previous Chairman and the new Chairman immediately opted out but because he is also famous trainer with great results he was nominated anyway.
2. The panel of judges (who were the ones voting and not TRG) was approved/decided by FIDE and none of the members were nominees.
3. Donaldson was nominated by USCF and that by itself is an achievement but was unfortunately up against candidates with massive achievements.
4. The link has always been as it was – no correction was made but of course the web is sometimes a strange place!
5. In FIDE, players are listed by the Federation they are registered under (there are sometimes players with separate citizenship, country of origin and registration!)
Thank you for your hard work Mr. Peter Long.
“FIDE also approved a judges’ panel”
And the names of the judges are?
Igor Suhin is best trainer for young players.
Who is Boleslavlsky? I never heard of him.
“men’s trainer or captain”
Aren’t these two titles very different?
“Congratulations to all the winners.”
Who cares?
If a flag falls and no one sees it, what is the the result of the game?
FIDE is biased.
Why were there so few nominated names in every category?
It’s not possible to be the best chess trainer in the world.
There are coaches who work with beginners and young players; there are others who work with older players. There are many sides to chess including positional judgement, calculation of tactics, and these days it is important to have good opening preparation. It is also very important to be a good psychologist.
I am not a good psychologist and openings are not my specialty. I work with very strong players and I have my own menthods.
Mark Dvoretsky, American Chess Journal #2
Our Josh Waitzkin had trouble ejecting his negative feelings toward the game while embracing his passion for it.
He reveals feeling trapped between two training systems: one, headed by Mark Dvoretsky, that wanted to break down his weaknesses, focus on them, and create a new player almost from scratch.
His favorite trainer, Yuri Razuvaev, wanted him to embrace his love for chaos on the board, and build on that. In retrospect, Josh realizes that he should have followed the second training method.
The best training program for a super-serious player probably combines aspects of both methods, I’d definitely advocate studying what you love. I also agree that it’s a crippling fallacy to approach chess with the idea that we should train ourselves to be “no-mistakes” machines.
This depressing, self-punishing approach can just cause you to quit chess, or at least to impose negative feelings for it that may never be totally erased, regardless of how deep your love for the game is.
Yes, I do feel like this last sentence describes too closely my own relationship with chess. If your first thought when you analyze one of your own mistakes (not a checkmate in one type mistake, but a perfectly run of the mill error in calculation or judgment) is to viciously insult yourself, you’ve probably gone too far along the path of self-punishment as a scheme for improvement. I advise you to backtrack immediately. Being more tender with yourself may make it easier to unravel the real reasons for your error.
Which federation nominated Khodarkovsky?
If it is not late, I nominate Mr. Boris Postovskij for the Furman Symeon medal.