Why I’m Stepping Back from Coaching Certain Students
The Line I Can’t Cross Anymore
This isn’t a rant. It’s a realization.
After years of teaching chess, I’ve reached a quiet but firm truth — I can no longer coach students who aren’t willing to work.
Not those who struggle — struggle is sacred.
But those who avoid struggle, yet demand success as if it’s owed to them.
I’ve seen too many come asking for results while resisting the very process that creates them. They want comfort disguised as progress, shortcuts dressed as strategy.
And I’m done pretending that works.
The Shortcut Culture in Chess
There’s a new kind of laziness spreading in the chess world — a hunger for quick mastery without deep thought.
Students scroll through YouTube, memorize openings, repeat slogans like “Play this to win fast,” and think they’re training.
They’re not.
They’re rehearsing someone else’s lines instead of developing their own mind.
When they lose, they blame the opening, the opponent, the day — anything except the mirror.
They treat learning as consumption, not creation.
That’s not how champions are made.
Parents and the Opening Obsession
And then there are the parents — well-intentioned, but misdirected.
They speak to me about openings as if the right first ten moves can replace the right mindset.
“What opening should my child play to win?”
It sounds harmless, but it reveals a deeper confusion — mistaking information for intelligence.
They think chess success begins with memorization. It doesn’t.
It begins with stillness, curiosity, resilience — traits no opening can teach.
When a parent measures progress in results instead of growth, they unknowingly train the child to fear losing more than to love learning. And once that happens, even the best coach is helpless.
The Kind of Student I Can Teach
There’s a clear difference between struggling and resisting.
Struggling is noble. It means you’re pushing your limits.
Resisting means you’re avoiding the truth.
The students I value don’t look for easy paths — they look for real ones.
They study their own losses.
They train even when they don’t feel like it.
They understand that improvement is supposed to be uncomfortable.
They listen not because they’re obedient, but because they want to understand.
Those are the students I stay for.
The Kind of Student I’m Done With
If you want motivation without motion, I’m not your coach.
If you talk about openings more than ideas, I’m not your coach.
If you want praise but not correction, I’m not your coach.
Coaching is not a service. It’s a partnership.
When one side stops showing up with integrity, the other must walk away.
Where My Focus Turns Now
My direction is clear — I’m returning to my own game.
Training, competing, and walking the same path I ask others to walk.
Alongside that, I’ll continue guiding only those who show real hunger — students who question deeply, think independently, and stay consistent when no one’s watching.
I’d rather work with a handful of genuine learners than a crowd chasing comfort.
The rest can keep chasing trends. I’ll keep chasing truth.
The Final Word
This isn’t bitterness; it’s alignment.
When teaching stops feeling mutual, it loses meaning.
I respect chess too much to turn it into noise.
From here on, I teach only where effort meets sincerity — where the game still matters more than the image.
The board always tells the truth.
So will I.
The Immortal Coach,
Sa Kannan.
