Six Things IM Oladapo Adu Wishes He Knew as a Young Chess Player
It’s never too late to start learning chess. Our very own Coach Oladapo Adu, an International Master (IM), didn’t begin to play until his older brother taught him the rules when he was around 15 or 16 years old. “He was always beating me and I really wanted to beat him, so that’s one of the things that kept me playing,” said Adu. “The more I lost to him, the more I wanted to beat him. Quitting was not an option for me.”
Two years later, Adu competed in his first tournament: the African Junior Chess Championship, which was held in his home country of Nigeria. “A friend of mine took me to the tournament, which was an experience because I’d never been to one and I didn’t know how it worked. I had a good result. I was surprised.”
From Chess Champion to Chess Coach
Adu began coaching chess professionally in 2002, but he’s had a passion for sharing the joy of chess with others from day one. “Even when I was a beginner, when I was learning, I’ve always taught people [how to play]. I remember teaching every kid in my area. I’ve always loved passing knowledge to anyone around me. Anywhere I find myself, I always want to tell people about the game and teach them the game.”
Now a coach for Silver Knights’ D.C.-area clubs and online chess Academy program, Adu is passionate about teaching his students how to analyze their games. “I love to be able to put my students in the position to think, to see the things I see, to know why or how I see those things. It’s not just about telling them, ‘This is this, this is that,’ but putting them in the position to see the same things I do.”
IM Adu is always observing, learning, and striving to improve–just like he teaches his students to.
As a coach, Adu is more focused on the process than the outcome. “I love the results my students get, but one thing I always stress is that I don’t really care about their wins and losses. It’s more important that I see the effort. I want to see them doing something, because with effort, something positive is [eventually] gonna come out,” said Adu. “Put in some work and be positive. If you lose, that’s fine. At least you were thinking about things. Don’t get carried away by trying to win games. If you win, that’s fine too, but how did you go about winning?”
Six Things IM Oladapo Adu Wishes His Younger Self Knew About Chess
With so much wisdom to share, Coach Adu is a great resource for chess players of all ages and skill levels. We sat down with him to talk about the advice he’d give his younger self on handling losses, playing in tournaments, and more.
1. When He Was a Total Beginner
“How ratings work. I also wish I had a coach. I had a mentor, but I wish I had a coach because my results definitely would have been way better. Having someone to guide you, someone to direct you, someone you can ask questions about certain things, is a big plus.
I would also tell myself to find my way to Europe or the US as quickly as possible. If I had that chance, I probably would have become a GM by now because there were not a lot of opportunities [for that] back home. Position yourself where you can get opportunities, but before you can do that, you have to be ready. Don’t just be like, ‘I want to be something’ when you haven’t really put in the work to be that thing. It’s not gonna work.
And don’t play a lot of blitz.”
2. About How To Deal With Losses
“My losses really push me. If I lose a game to you, know that I’m looking for you next time to get back at you, definitely. But it’s not about being upset. It’s not about being mad. When I lose games, I’m like, ‘OK, you have more work to do.’
Let me give an example. I was in Nigeria recently and played in this blitz tournament. I didn’t do well because one, I was moving too quickly, and two, I wasn’t familiar with the openings. I lost to the Scandinavian twice. After that tournament, I went home and studied so many lines of the Scandinavian. I pretty much told myself, ‘The next person that plays the Scandinavian against you is gonna be in a lot of trouble.’ That’s the way I like to operate. When I lose games, I take it to heart, but I don’t feel bad just to feel bad. I tell myself, ‘I have to get back at that person.’”
3. About Playing in a Chess tournament for the First Time
“Calm down and don’t be nervous. It’s just one of the many, many games you’re gonna play in many, many tournaments. Just try your best. Make sure you go over each of the games you play–doesn’t matter if it’s a loss, draw, or a win–so you can try to get some information from your opponent. Nobody knows it all. If you do that, your opponent will teach you something.
Don’t be nervous, take your time, and have fun. That’s it. Don’t set any expectations for yourself. You don’t have to score a certain amount of points; you don’t have to do anything. All you have to do is put in effort.”
4. About How To Overcome a Plateau
“It can be very frustrating. It’s a plateau because you don’t know what to do. You keep getting to this point you just can’t get over, and it’s because you don’t really know how to go about it. Sometimes you might need some help to really discover why you’re stagnant and haven’t been able to move past a certain level or certain rating range, and once you get all the information–or some information–you have to act on the feedback and see how that works.
You cannot afford to get discouraged. It’s a process. Everybody goes through that process. You get to a point where you just can’t seem to get results [because] there’s something missing that you don’t know that maybe somebody else needs to tell you. And then when you act on it, everything changes.”
5. About How To Study Chess
“Study all your openings. I used to have a chess notebook where I’d write my moves down. I started as an e4 player, so I’d write ‘e4,’ and then I’d write out all the possible defenses to e4 and start to go over all of them. Check the opening and what the opening says about those defenses–what you should do, what you shouldn’t do. After studying that, go check grandmaster games. How do they play these openings?
After going through those, I play games myself. I want to try [the openings] out because I have to experience them.
The good thing about studying is that you might not need to use [everything] at once, but each time you study, you’re building your knowledge. This is gonna make you really, really strong. When you start playing people who don't have a lot of knowledge about those things you’ve studied, it's gonna look so easy to you. You know why? Because you’ve already done the work.
I remember the first time I beat a grandmaster was in 2001. I was on the black side of the French defense. I won the game, but what led to me winning was that I had started playing the French defense in that period, so I had checked the lines and played several [practice] games, and unfortunately for the grandmaster, he played one of the lines I studied. That was how I was able to defeat him.
One thing I don’t do: get into lines I’m not familiar with. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing a beginner or not. That beginner might know just a little more than I do about that line. Any line I play is something I’ve studied. Another thing I’m doing recently is just trying to get myself in a position to fight and think in a game. Get into the game, look at all the factors, and get the best out of it.”
6. About How To Manage the Clock in Chess
“[Playing quickly] is fun, but it’s not gonna improve your game as much as you want it to. You have to make a choice: are you trying to get better or have fun? If you wanna have fun, you can play that way. But if you’re tired of just losing games, then you need to stop the blitz, or at least cut it down to a minimal amount.
I’m more of an intuitive player. I feel the position and just move. Sometimes it can be counterproductive, but you must find a balance where your intuition and your ability to calculate match. You can’t just be intuition throughout. You’re gonna make mistakes at some point. When I find out that the position is a little critical, I try to take my time and get more information about the position before I proceed.
For example, yesterday I played a game against a master and it got to a point where I normally would have just kept moving, but I knew I really wanted to beat him, so I slowed down, got a better understanding of the position, and then continued. Even though I took some time to slow down, I was able to gain that time back very quickly because he had to take a lot of time to think about the problems I posed to him, but he couldn’t come up with the right solution.
It’s not about how fast you can throw moves out. It’s about the assessment of the position: what do you think you should do? Then do it at the right time.”
Favorite Chess Games
Here are two of IM Adu's recent casual games. He played as White in the first game and Black in the second.
Victory for IM Adu!
Another exciting win.
Learn Chess With Silver Knights
Want to enroll your child in one of IM Adu's classes? You can find him at several of our sites in Washington D.C., as well as in the Queens and Kings levels of our online Academy program. Like the rest of our excellent team of online chess instructors, IM Adu will also be coaching some of our online camps this summer, which run weekly from June to August. We offer morning and afternoon sessions for all skill levels, a range of fun themes, and lots of exciting activities to keep your child’s mind active while school’s out for the season.
Sign up for a chess camp today.
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