Questions and Answers

I have taken the liberty to interview myself, so both questions and answers are written by me.

I've never heard of you before. Who are you?
I am a Swedish chess coach who has lived one year in Québec, Canada and one year in Kristiansund, Norway. I did not play chess in Canada, but to Norway I moved just for the sake of chess. Now I'm back in Lund, Sweden. What else? 26 years old. No driver's licence. Married to (a) chess (player).

For how long have you been playing chess?
I started when I was ten years old, but back then I played both soccer and chess. When the training times clashed, I had to choose soccer, since I wasn't picked for the matches otherwise. Chess tournaments were always open for everyone.
In 2006, I became serious with chess. The first eight months my elo rating increased 100 points, and I won the Swedish Junior Championship and qualified for the elite group at the championship the following year. It motivated me to work harder, and I quit University. The next year I gained another 250 elo points, and reached 2458.

And now everyone can do the same?
I didn't say that. The cover of the book has an arrow from 1200 to 2400, but I think you need a little more rating than that when you start. However, the most important thing is that you are ambitious and know what you are doing. I also think it's possible to reach much higher than 2400 just by being your own coach, but it obviously depends on talent and dedication.

So the book is about becoming your own chess coach?
Yes, that's correct. The publisher has given the book the title Pump Up Your Rating, but I think it doesn't reflects the entire content. The second part of the book is about how to train chess effectively: analyzing matches, solving problems, studying openings and endgames. But there is also a first part on how to "think chess": pawn levers, piece exchanges, critical positions and calculation. And finally, there is a small bonus chapter about chess psychology.

Do I get the money back if I don't gain a lot of elo points?
No, the book teaches the methods, but it's up to you to follow them and it requires hard work. But all complaints will be considered.

What are your merits as a chess coach?»
I lived for more than a year in Kristiansund where I worked as a chess coach. I have had many students in Sweden, and I have  been coaching at several youth championships. I am also a FIDE trainer, but it's probably best that I don't give my opinions about FIDE's trainer system ...
If I should mention something I'm proud of, it's the GM-norm that 13 year old Aryan Tari (2293) took a few weeks ago. And Nils Grandelius' GM-norms.

Why did you write the book?
I've always wanted to share my own experiences, and writing a book has been a long-time dream. To not interrupt my own chess playing, I decided to first become a grandmaster, and then write the book.
It didn't turn out that way. For each tournament, I felt that the book became more important, and the results less important. Almost exactly a year ago, I lost for the sixth time a game where I played for a norm. I keep my reactions to myself, but it felt like it was time to start writing.
I see the book as a summary of what I learned over five years as a chess player, so the book is very important for me.

Your last name sounds English. That's why the book is published at Quality Chess?
Well, Thomas Smith lived in Leith in Edinburgh nine generations ago, in the 1600s. But his son emigrated to Skåne in southern Sweden to become a gardener, so my Scottish roots are not very deep.

Why should I listen to what you have to say?
As I became serious with chess relatively late, I know what I have done. Some training methods worked well, others not. In recent years, I have tested those methods as a coach and received feedback from my students. Therefore, I feel that I am qualified to provide guidance on how to become your own chess coach.

But you're not even a grandmaster...
No, but I have the privilege to live in a city with many ambitious chess players. During recent years, eight members of the club (Lunds ASK) have become IM:s and two of those are now grandmasters: Nils Grandelius and Hans Tikkanen. I have seen what they have done and tried to pick the best from each of them.

Did it really take a whole year to write the book?
Rather five years, if I think about the time that I collected the material. When I had all the material, I expected that it would take three to four months of full-time work to complete everything. I started last spring, and the book was finished six months later. But after a few weeks of rest, I noticed that there was a lot I wasn't happy with. Since then, I've rewritten, and rewritten again. The book was completed in December, but again I realized that there was much that could be improved. In March I sent the final draft to the publisher, but I can't promise that I won't make more changes.

Have you got any help?
For the first chapter, I received many valuable comments from Jacob Aagaard. Later, I printed every chapter to myself, two friends who helped me with the language and other chess players who gave me advice about the content. So I have printed a few thousand pages.

What are your best training tips?
I think the main thing is that it's active, forcing the brain to work. There are many ways to do this, from using a chess clock when solving exercises to switching off the analysis engine when watching live games. It's all about making the training situation as similar to a game as possible. However, I also think self-knowledge is very important: to be happy when we find a weakness we have rather than denying it. It's possible to get much more information from our games than most people do. One of the central subjects in the book is how to find, categorize and learn from our mistakes.

Tell me something we don't know about you.
I have an extreme need for control, but I think I'm getting pretty good at hiding it. I can't stand open kitchen doors and gets anxious if I do something without knowing why. Of course, this affects my way of looking at chess training: I want to create optimal conditions and have control over everything.

Do you have nothing positive to say?
Wasn't that positive?

No, it sounds like your biggest weakness. The need for control means you will be out of your element when everything is not exactly as you planned. And it never is! Tell us about those hundred meters instead ...
Curious that everyone keeps mentioning that! It was just 10,2 seconds of my life, it was from a flying start, and I only made it once; never before, never after.
It felt strange at the prize ceremony with several thousand spectators, so I think it's better to stick with chess, where you know all the spectators.