alex

"IM Valeri Lilov is a very good coach, in my opinion. His private lessons offer very fast improvement. We have had only 7 lessons so far, and yet my chess ability has soared over the past ~2 months. Each lesson is formatted--- 1.He starts every lesson with how is ur training going, and makes some useful suggestions 2.Go over the thematic HW assignments. These excercises introduce thinking processes in different positions. Very helpful. 3.Main part of the lesson. We go with either what he has prepared or some of the games u have played. The suggestions come as IM lilov finds out your weaknesses in your play and thought process. He really wants ur participation, and will ask u to calculate or apply his principles directly. 4.At the end of the lesson, I get a clear way to improve and practice on the skills learned. There are many pros, including that he really cares about your progress, and always puts the lesson material one step ahead of ur level. This may make the lesson very difficult at first, and grasping it may be frusturating, but his explainations are very precise, so that the advanced material is grasped eventually. Few cons, except that Valeri has slightly overestimated my level. He claims i play like 2100, even though my rating is over 1900USCF, but under 2000. He offers a training simul as well, usually every other sunday to students, so they can test their skills and applications. My recent performance in a "B" field tournament showed my improved skills, as I scored a whopping 90%, performance over 2000. As a last note, I find it amazing how Mr.Lilov sees the chess pieces during our lessons, subtle things that I would have never seen before. Lilov is highly recommended as a coach." -- Alex, Maryland, United States