Jacob Aagaard to hold two training camps in Mumbai in February 2024

by Sagar Shah and Avathanshu Bhat - 25/12/2023

The world-renowned chess trainer is back in town! Six years after his first training camp in Mumbai, GM Jacob Aagaard is once again doing two camps in India in February 2024. The first one deals with Principles of Attack from 1st to 4th February and the second one is the more advanced one on Professional Calculation running from 8th to 11th February. The second one is mainly aimed at advanced players but everyone can attend.Read on for more information on the material covered, daily schedule, price structure, and more!

In 2017, GM Jacob Aagaard made a trip to India and Asia where Sagar and Amruta travelled along with him. The trip included 5 destinations in India - Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and then branched out into Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong and a few other places. This trip mainly revolved around the promotion of his book "Thinking Inside the Box." However, as we noticed the camps at close quarters, two things were clear - Jacob loved chess and Jacob loved to train! Let us illustrate this through some pictures.

The camp in Mumbai was held at the Russian Chess Center in 2017 and some of the best players in the city attended it

Training camp in Ahmedabad with some of the strongest players in the city

The interest at the Delhi training sessions was huge!

Jacob is always living life to the fullest!

The camp in Kolkata was a strong one with some of the best players of the city taking part including Surya Ganguly, Diptayan Ghosh, Arghyadip Das, Dibyendu Barua, Nisha Mohota and many others.

If you thought Kolkata camp was strong, then the Chennai one was absolutely off the charts!

The evening session, which was an open one in Chennai, witnessed participation of massive number of chess enthusiasts

After these 5 training camps in 5 different cities in India, the action shifted to Asia where we travelled to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. Each of these are well chronicled in the Asia Adventure articles - Part I, Part II and Part III. It is clear that the time spent with Jacob will not only make your stronger as a chess player, but will make you fall in love with chess.

Hence, it gave us great happiness when Jacob announced that in February 2024, he will be coming to India to hold two training camps in Mumbai. This will be organized by ChessBase India and are aimed at helping you to become a stronger chess player.

Jacob is strong - not just on the board but also off it.

The Principles of Attack: 1 - 4 February 2024

It is amazing how Jacob is able to train so many people at the same time and make the camps and enriching experience for everyone who is attending!

Jacob will go over the core principles of attack, such as:

· Momentum and Piece Inclusion

· Colour Schemes and Size

· Attacking the Weakest Square

· Attacking the Strongest Square

· Evolution/Revolution

· The Killzone

· Hunting the King,

· Destroying the King’s Position.

This camp is open to all.

Professional Calculation: 8 - 11 February 2024

Jacob's definition of calculation

This camp is aimed at higher rated players. Players with an Elo of 2200 and above + titled players will be given first preference. Others also can attend this camp and learn but they would not be able to interact with Jacob. Aagaard will lead you through the core skills of professional calculation and how it is acquired. These include the topics of:

· Looking

· Slowing Down

· Structuring your Thinking

· Impulse Control

· Visualisation

· Rewiring the arbitrary way your brain calculates

Jacob will also go through the more advanced techniques, such as:

· Comparison

· Elimination

· Resistance

· Debating the common mistakes that strong players make.

Whatever subject Jacob decides to cover, he has deep insights related to it

Daily Schedule

The camp would begin in the morning at 10 a.m. and then go until 7 p.m. in the evening.

Schedules are good, but it is very likely that Jacob will continue playing blitz even in the breaks!

· Two 90-minute lectures on the topics of the day

· Lunch

· 60 minutes of solving of exercises

· 30-60 minutes of going over solutions

· 45 minutes break

· 60 minutes of playing out of complicated positions in groups

· 30 minutes of going over the solutions

Note: the last days may start early and be slightly shorter

Price Structure

A special discount is available to members of Killer Chess Training as detailed below.

Camp 1 - Attack

Regular Entry fee: ₹12,000 + 18% GST, which is ₹14,160.

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Killer Chess Training Members (50% Discount): ₹6,000 + 18% GST, which is ₹7,080.

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Camp 2 - Calculation

Regular Entry fee for 2200+ rated + Titled Players: ₹12,000 + 18% GST, which is ₹14,160.

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Killer Chess Training Members (50% Discount) for Titled Players ₹6,000 + 18% GST, which is ₹7,080.

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Entry fee for players below the Elo of 2200 and Non-Titled player: ₹9,600 + 18% GST, which is ₹11,328.

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Killer Chess Training Members (50% Discount) for Below the Elo of 2200 and Non-Titled players: ₹4,800 + 18% GST, which is ₹5,664.

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Note: The reason why we have charged Rs.9600 + GST for players below the Elo of 2200 and non titled players is because you won't be able to interact with Jacob at a deeper level during this camp. This will be done by the stronger players. However, you can witness all of this unravelling up close and this would be an amazing learning experience for you.

More about Killer Chess Training:

Killer Chess Training is an online training platform that has daily live sessions by well-known renowned trainers which include Jacob Aagaard himself, Samuel Shankland and many other top trainers. It is well-known for its concept of Homework club where you get a sheet of homework material each week to work on and then submit it to be corrected. Many strong players have enrolled for Killer Chess Training and have seen rapid improvements in their games - IM Mayank Chakraborty is one such example, who has rapidly improved and become the second IM from North East India. You can check out their website and decide to take the membership. If you do decide to do it, then you will get 50% off on both the above camps!

Venue:

The venue of the camp is the Habitat Studio in Khar, Mumbai. This place is well-known for stand-up comedy shows. However, the owner of the place Balraj Ghai is an ardent chess fan and has always been keen to help promote chess. He has offered this space for the camps to happen. We had previously done the live streaming of Magnus Carlsen vs Praggnanandhaa game 2 of the World Cup 2023 from here.

The venue of the event is at Habitat Club in Khar.

Of course, we will be making this space into a chess learning arena with tables, chairs, chess sets etc. However, this photo gives you an idea of where you would be learning from Jacob.

The venue of the camp also has accommodation possible. These are the discounted rates for people coming to the camp:

Continental Plan basis (includes Buffet Breakfast):

Single Occupancy basis, per room, per night is Rs. 1500 + taxes. (12%)

Double Occupancy basis, per room, per night is Rs.2000 + taxes (12%)

Triple Occupancy basis, per room, per night is Rs.2500 + taxes (12%)

On Modified American Plan Basis (includes buffet breakfast + Dinner):

Single Occupancy basis, per room, per night is Rs.1850 + taxes (12%)

Double Occupancy basis, per room, per night is Rs. 2700 + taxes (12%)

Triple Occupancy basis, per room, per night is Rs.3550 + taxes (12%)

Address: Hotel Unicontinental, 3rd Road, Station, next to Khar, Khar West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400052. Habitat, the venue of the camp, is on the first floor of Hotel Unicontinental.

The rooms at Hotel Unicontinental are good quality ones at affordable prices

A look at the triple room, which is spacious, clean and affordable

In order to book your room, please write to us at chessbaseindia@gmail.com.

Value for money:

This camp is absolute value for money. To work with a top trainer like Jacob Aagaard for close to 25 hours in a camp at a price of Rs.10,000 + GST is definite value for money. Even if you get a few new ideas and concepts in the domain of attack and calculation it will propel your game to the next level.

About the Trainer:

GM Jacob Aagaard is a Danish/Scottish trainer and writer. His students have won the World Cup, the Olympiad, the Candidates Tournament, Continental Championships, World Championships (with the exception of the big one), the US Championship, the Indian Championship and much more. He is the co-founder and main driver of the world’s leading chess publisher, Quality Chess, and the highly successful online academy, killerchesstraining.com.