"Chess Imitates Life": Chess Tips From Award-Winning Filmmaker & Coach Dylan Quercia

Dylan Quercia is a multi-faceted creator, chess player, and coach who has helped students improve their game for over 20 years. Dylan—a.k.a. Coach Q— is also one of the driving forces behind the film King Chess, an award-winning documentary that focuses on the 2018 Candidates Tournament.

We spoke to this modern-day Renaissance man and found out how being motivated by root beer would eventually lead him to become a top 25 finisher in the US Open, why the 2018 Candidates Tournament was one of the most remarkable in history, and were lucky enough to get some of his best tips for chess improvers.

Want to book a lesson with Coach Q? Contact him via his Chess.com profile! 

Banner photo credit: Vivian Lin.

At what age were you introduced to chess, and who introduced you?

Around age 10, after winning the Arizona Boys & Girls State Games 1st place in checkers (and 2nd in foosball), the sponsor of the games club said that I should learn chess. When I entered junior high school, my science teacher Mr. Sprout would have monthly tournaments where I could win root beer for 1st place. I was hooked from there on! 

What is your first vivid memory from chess?

One of my most vivid tournament memories was at one of the first regional events that I ever played in my 8th-grade year; I won my first-round game and got a forfeit win in round two. That meant that I was tied for first with an IM and I was rated only about 1100.

I was so excited to play him that I ran around asking everyone what he played. Someone told me the exact variation that I should play. I didn't know this at the time, but he played directly into this line of the Slav that was quite equal. I ended up blundering an exchange shortly thereafter, but it made a great impression on me that I could prep that well. I just needed to be more careful! 

What can you tell us about King Chess?

King Chess is a film about the 2018 Candidates Tournament and World Championship. It premiered on Hollywood Boulevard at the famous TLC Chinese Theatres and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. A few other awards came in, including a CJA Honorable Mention for the Best Documentary category. It's set to be released on April 9, 2024!

I had reported on the 2016 World Championship and knew the 2018 Candidates was going to be exciting. Our Director Gloria Iseli (also my spouse) said that we should film it, so we spent a month in Berlin filming the event and getting interviews with everyone.

The tournament was so exciting that we decided to continue filming and went to the 2018 Sinquefield Cup. This was also incredible because I was able to interview GM Yasser Seirawan, my childhood inspiration through the book Winning Chess Tactics! Then we went to London for 10 days of the World Championship and filmed the second half and tie-break games. 

'King Chess' is a film about the 2018 Candidates Tournament and World Championship. 

What made the 2018 Candidates Tournament so special?

The whole reason why we filmed the tournament was that it was a unique event. It was a meeting of the old and young, west and east, and the US had two candidates for the first time in decades. I also saw Fabiano and Wesley [So] as both having very good chances to win, which would bolster the interest of non-chess players in the US.

Another unique element is that it was Vladimir Kramnik's final Candidates tournament and he played some amazing chess. I still remember this Rb8 idea that he played against Aronian. Incredible. Also, if you remember, there are quite a few photos of Fabiano with an American flag draped around him after he won the final game against Grischuk... Well, that was given to him by a Budapest-based German journalist named Jergen Bruscan! He was quite a character and would make wild claims and lost quite a few Euros trying to predict that certain players would win when I said they would likely draw. 

[The Candidates] was a meeting of the old and young, west and east, and the US had two candidates for the first time in decades.

There was also an incredible moment that happened during one game where I came back to the media room and Grischuk was standing right behind my chair. I thought, well what do I do? I guess I'll just go stand next to him. I casually asked him a few questions about the game and he started rattling off long lines. He was surprised when I was actually able to follow his calculations (though of course he was blowing my mind with the depth). He was very sarcastic earlier in the event and roasted me quite a few times when I was interviewing him.

I came back to the media room and Grischuk was standing right behind my chair.

The entire event was an unforgettable moment in time. I am very proud to have captured it and must thank Gloria for presenting the story in such a captivating way. One last thing that I am very proud of is that we did one of the last interviews with Iepe Rubingh, the founder of chess boxing (he passed away a few years ago). His words are forever memorialized in our film. 

Which coaches were helpful to you in your chess career, and what was the most useful knowledge they imparted to you?

I have had a lot of great coaches in my career. My high school sponsor Jim Minnick would always play 1.a4 and 2.h4 just for fun. Then when I was in college there was Ron (R.I.P.), a 1900-rated hustler who would play on North Avenue Beach in Chicago. I would pay him 20 bucks for lessons and he was always so kind to me and my mother.

Next are IM Zhanibek Amanov & IM Kostya Kavutskiy whose book, Modernized: The Open Sicilian, helped me win the U2100 section at the 2015 National Open.

Then of course I must mention GM RB Ramesh, with whom I had the pleasure to do quite a few Zoom lessons. We worked mostly on improving pieces and maneuvering in mostly equal positions. I have loved working with GM Surya Ganguly through the ProChessTraining program and I have just embarked on the Chess Dojo training program to make a run at NM and FM!

What is your favorite or the best game you ever played?

I certainly would not consider this my very best game, but frankly, it is my most entertaining. NM Joel Johnson tried to channel Tony Miles and I played slightly strange as well. But, I am proud of the result as I calculated a very nice offered sacrifice and ended the game quickly. 

How would you describe your approach to chess coaching?

My approach to chess coaching is to inspire players to develop a lifelong love of the game. Chess can be such a challenging game to learn and grow in, so I try to be as encouraging as possible.

I also push my students to try to calculate as deeply as possible. The development of visualization skills is incredibly important to becoming a strong player. I push my students to try their very hardest in every game while being kind to themselves after the game. I want to balance the fighting mentality with a forgiving mentality.

Chess imitates life and loss tolerance is essential in both! 

What do you consider your responsibility as a coach and which responsibilities fall on your student?

My responsibilities as a coach are to provide the tools students need and the tools to think about any position that they encounter. It is important that I am able to identify the holes in each student's game and the next steps to improve their game and/or reach their goals.

The key responsibility that falls to the students is sticking to their practice and training plan. Once we develop a plan, it is important that students stick to it and trust the process. The other element that falls to the student is to fight to win or save each and every game.

Along with this, I consider it my job as a coach to continually improve my game and become a better chess player! I can't expect students to work hard if I don't myself. 

Chess imitates life and loss tolerance is essential in both!

Do you prefer to teach online or offline? What do you think is different about teaching online?

Before the pandemic, I was driving everywhere in Los Angeles teaching mostly in person. If you don't know Los Angeles, the driving can be maddening with maniacs trying to run you down all the time. Now, I love the fact that I can teach a mix of online and in-person.

As far as travel time, sure, online is superior and I am able to teach many more students that way. But, I don't think I would want to teach only online because it is nice to see students get excited about strong moves in person. 

What is a piece of advice that you give your students that more chess players could benefit from?

Use the squares and unclutter your calculation! Many players who haven't watched top players talk about games say things like, "I'm going here and I'm going there." or they say "Knight takes queen" etc. But, this just makes it much harder when trying to calculate long lines.

The best way to calculate is just by saying the piece name and the square it goes to, almost like it is written in notation, except that I recommend taking words like "captures" out of your calculation. So simply: e4, e5, knight f3, knight c6, bishop b5 for the beginning of the Ruy Lopez which is written similarly 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5.

Cleaning up your calculation in general will take you so far! Plus, it's a little brain trick that I borrowed from neurology in which the brain remembers "loci" or location in space-time much better than purely conceptual words like knight takes queen. 

Cleaning up your calculation in general will take you so far! 

What is your favorite teaching game that users might not have seen?

Morphy vs. Morphy (1850).

If you are not paying attention, you might think "Another Fried Liver Attack?" Well, look again and see that the great Paul Morphy gave his dad rook odds! Plus, he checkmates his dad by castling! What can be better than that?

What do you consider the most valuable training tool that the internet provides?

The ability to access full, top-level games is a very good tool. The other is very obvious but that is tactical training. You can seriously improve your game just by doing daily tactics puzzles that get progressively harder like the tactics trainer. Don't just do Puzzle Rush though! For stronger players, a simple copy of Chessbase and the latest release of Stockfish will take you far (AFTER analyzing with your own brain of course.)

Which under-appreciated chess book should every chess player read?

Capablanca's Best Endings by Irving Chernev. This book is the gateway to a lifelong love of endgames. The original master of endgames, Capablanca's games are clearly presented and ready to consume for most levels of chess players. Just beautiful stuff! 

My approach to chess coaching is to inspire players to develop a lifelong love of the game.

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