IM André Sousa

Hello! My name is André Sousa and I am 25 years old, from Portugal. I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering, but I am currently a chess professional as I am focused on teaching and playing, as well as other things related to chess. It is my passion to play and understand chess better, and to pass that knowledge to the people around me. My goal is to make people play chess better and my friends are constantly bombarded with exercises or interesting positions (:

Outside chess I am passionate about music, books, and jigsaw puzzles. I am also an occasional pc gamer. I should also mention that I possess a huge (100+) chess set collection!

I started learning chess when I was around 4 years old, but my first official tournament was the youth district championship under 8, which I won at age 7. I have played many tournaments, both in Portugal and internationally, and my biggest wins and achievements could be:

- 1 GM norm
- youngest Portuguese International Master ever
- youngest Portuguese Classical National champion ever
- 5 times Portuguese Classical Champion
- youngest Portuguese Blitz national champion ever
- 2 times Portuguese Blitz national champion
- 1 time Portuguese Rapid national champion
- 4 times Galician Champion with the team "Ourense Chess Club"

I also have a lot of experience gained by playing a World Cup, 4 Olympiads, 4 European Individual Championships and many Youth European Championships. My best classical win was obtained against GM Gadir Guseinov (rated 2661 at the time) and the best draw against Ivanchuk (twice). I am also the player who drew Carlsen in his infamous banter blitz where he exclaimed " This is the dumbest move I've ever seen!" :)

I have been coaching for the past 9 years, though professionally only for the last 3. I have worked with players of all levels, from beginners to GM level. My best students have become WFMs, FMs and NMs, national champions, and have broken elo records for their country, but others have also showed improvements, having started playing chess only for a few years and having breached the 2000 elo barrier.

I also have worked with people that are not interested in places among the best, but instead in improvements on their own scale, or simply people that enjoy learning more about the game.

I organized, during the pandemic, an online anonymous tournament where the players would play each other under the names of World Champions and the big reveal would be done only at the end, with me commentating all games during a stream. It was a fun experiment and I think it was appreciated in the portuguese chess community. Check my twitch for the final (in portuguese only www.twitch.tv/helloitsdmitri/).

I occasionally appear as a chess commentator on portuguese streamer channels, or tournaments.

I think it is important that I have worked with many coaches and I learned from them also how to teach chess (and what not to do, in some cases!). The trainers that have contributed the most for my development are GM Jorge Ferreira, GM Lubomir Ftacnik, and, through Killer Chess Training, GM Jacob Aagaard and GM Julen Arizmendi, among others. I have also participated in camps/classes with GM Michael Adams, GM Ivan Sokolov, GM Sam Shankland and GM Boris Gelfand.

As a chess player, my best skills are probably calculation and practical decision making. I have a fairly good amount of opening knowledge, but I would not say I am a specialist.

As a chess coach, my strongest suit is probably explaining complex concepts in a simple way. The people I have worked with say that I am good at understanding the student's struggles (as I have been through a lot as well, and can relate and know how I solved my problems) and that I am extremely patient with them when discussing chess.

Finally, and this is something that should be obvious but unfortunately not always is true, I am fully committed to helping the student reaching their goal, and I do not shy away from saying things that might be hard to hear, or doing work that might be boring at first, but that I know that in the long run will be extremely beneficial. On the other hand, if the goals are more connected to having a good time with chess, I also plan my lessons from that perspective.

My lessons consist mainly of  going through your games (ideally classical, but rapid works too if that is what you have) and discussing the various chess questions that come by. I focus a lot in the psychology of the game - understanding why you play what you play is much more important than simply saying " there is a tactic here, find it". With me, you will work on all aspects of chess, but, in the end, will mainly be a better chess decision maker.

I can also help with opening preparation but I suggest that this should not be the focus of our cooperation. I think that openings are rather easier to study alone, and it is much more important to use your time (and money!) to discuss chess with me, rather than going through opening lines. I can help with choosing openings and some specific lines though, as that is not very trivial.

I give weekly homework as well, for you to work on your own.