What Makes a Great Coach?

Tired of all the recent, seemingly endless, stories and videos about cheating in chess? For this month's featured video, let's change the subject.

RB Ramesh free talk: "Let your kids enjoy the game of chess!" (1:06:37) • '[Published on] Sep 12, 2022'

The description summarized the message of the video.

The great coach RB Ramesh invited parents attending the World Youth Chess Championships 2022 for a discussion to help them understand what a healthy parent-child relationship looks like.

"Let them enjoy themselves, have fun playing chess. Of course you want them to perform, but don't put pressure on them and don't try to coach them. You are their parents, you are their support, you are their biggest fans. Encourage them when they lose. Without pleasure, without enjoying the game, there are no great results in any sport, but especially in chess, which is not called the sport of the mind for nothing. Take care of their minds and that's how you'll raise happy and healthy athletes and adults!"

Note the phrase 'great coach'. The GM's Wikipedia page, Ramachandran Ramesh (wikipedia.org; currently just a stub), says,

He started Chess Gurukul, Chess Academy in Chennai to train young players in 2008. Since then, Chess Gurukul has produced many international chess champions from India.

For several tributes from the year 2020 to Ramesh, see Top Grandmasters of Indian chess pay homage to their teachers (chessbase.in; Sagar Shah). For a more recent commentary, see Interview: GM Ramesh On Coaching India-2 At Chess Olympiad, Winning Bronze (chess.com), especially 'Working With Praggnanandhaa'.