Best of CLO 2014 #5- Greg on Chess Talent
February 1, 2015
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Photo Janis Nisii
The #5 in Best of CLO 2014 is How to Spot Talent by IM Greg Shahade in which the US Chess League and US Chess School founder explains the surprising thing he noticed about the biggest stars he has encountered:

There is one very reliable sign to how much potential and how strong a young chess player is or is going to be, and it's probably not what most people would think.

It's not how quickly a student solves tactics or sees combinations (although these two things always seem to be correlated with the main point of this article). It's not the student's positional understanding. It's not even how much they claim to study chess.

Instead it is "How likely is this student to recognize a famous game/position and know the players involved?" 

According to Jennifer Vallens of "Off the Rook", "Greg Shahade writes with conviction.  This article clearly states his opinion on how he spots chess talent and provides examples to back it up."

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Photo Janis Nisii
Greg has a popular YouTube channel, where he posts frequent content. including a recent video combining chess and Crossfit with his sister CLO editor Jennifer Shahade. His website is gregshahade.com 

  Greg Shahade won Best of CLO 2013 #7 for his piece of Magnus Carlsen & openings.
In addition to working with the top students in the country in his US Chess School sessions, Greg is also the coach at his high school alma-mater Masterman. Check out Greg's article on coaching the Masterman team to victory here.
 
Find out more about the Best of CLO judges here.


Best of CLO 2014 Countdown
#4- ??
#5- How to Spot Talent by IM Greg Shahade
#6-
 Legal Moves: Melekhina on Chess & Law School by FM Alisa Melekhina 
#7-Krush on Orlando: What it Takes to Be a Champion by GM Irina Krush 
#8- Kazim's Back: Gulamali on Taking Down Vegas by CLO editor Jen Shahade 
#9- Kostya on Norm #1: Staying Present by Kostya Kavutskiy.  
#10- An Interview with the Ubiquituous Claudia Munoz by Alan Rodenstein