Today’s chess quotation
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
GM Igor Zaitsev (born 1938) is a well known name in Russian chess. A very strong competitor in his own right , Zaitsev dedicates his time today to coaching. And what a coach! He served as Karpov’s second in many of his matches and just this week was appointed head coach of the new chess school at the Botvinnik Central Chess Club in Moscow.
In an interview (see link below) he was asked about his goals and objectives as the new head coach. What I liked most of this interview is contained in the quotation below: a certain realism that, despite the very significant role of computers in chess today, it is very important to help children realize the importance of independent thought and objectivity.
”The ultimate goal …is to instill the skills of independent thought in young chess players. That strikes me as exceptionally important in our digital age. Of course, it’s unrealistic to dream about completely escaping from captivity to the computer.
I’d consider our task complete even if we managed to just slightly reduce the dependency of decisions made during opening preparation on the computer’s recommendations.”