This article was published originally on The Chess Improver blog on 2017-03-07
I have reposted it here for reference.
I met Marius
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1202367
for the first time back in 1990. It was my first selection into the lineup of "Portelanul Alba-Iulia", the team I just joined after University and he was playing for at the time. We were playing in the second division of the Romanian National Team Chess Championship. He was the top junior at the time and had the fun assignment of scoring as many points as possible to help us win our matches; together with FM Dorin Serdean
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1203169
(another promising young local player at the time) the three of us became the excitement of the team. We got the nickname of "basketball players" firstly because of being tall and secondly for our quickly developed chemistry and knack to score 3-0 (three pointers) for our team most often than not. We employed most of the times the latest tricks Marius learned during his junior national team training camps; thank you again for those Marius! Our greatest accomplishment was promoting with our team to the first division for the first time ever in its history. We had a great in person relationship until my move to Vancouver, BC, Canada, a relationship we kept strong over the years despite the geographical distance between us. He was kind to send me a copy of his latest book, as well as to agree to this interview. Hope you will enjoy it!
Marius would like to start with a clarification of one of my points made in the previous article presenting his third book:
My initiation book is used in about (20-30)% of schools and chess clubs, while the one on tactics is used in over 90% of them. There definitely are situations when the local teachers use their own materials.
Please tell us a few things about yourself
I fell in love with chess when I was 10 years old. Apart from a few games played against my father and sister, I never played chess before attending the chess courses of Mihail Breaz, a national master who was the soul of chess activities in Alba Iulia, a beautiful city in the hearth of Transylvania. It was in Alba Iulia where the delegates of the National Assembly of the Romanians from Transylvania signed the Union of Transylvania with the Romanian Kingdom on December 1st, 1918. From the very first chess lesson, which I joined accidentally, I felt a special attraction for this wonderful game, most likely influenced by the very enjoyable atmosphere created by my first chess teacher. As a junior, my best results were national U20 champion titles in 1992 ahead of Andrei Istratescu and 1993 ahead of Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian chess players after the golden age of GM Florin Gheorghiu and GM Mihai Suba. In 1992 I finished 8th in the European Junior Championship in Sas van Gent (Netherlands).
My passion for chess continued over decades, even though, at a certain moment, I decided to put my favourite game behind and build a professional career as an electrical engineer. Since 1999 I work as an engineer in the national company of electricity and chess has become a secondary activity for me. Instead of playing regularly in chess tournaments, I teach young players from my city and surroundings, write chess materials and organize chess events. For a couple of years, I also played correspondence chess. Over the board I continue to play rapid chess tournaments whenever I get an opportunity and do so with quite good results. In 2014 I won Romanian Rapid Chess Championship and finished 4th in 2015. Last year I didn't play because I got involved in politics as well and the tournament was organized during the electoral campaign.
What made you choose the path of teaching chess to the younger generations?
When I was around 16 year old, I started to teach chess because I got a desire to share the beauty of the game with other people. At the beginning I taught my fellow friends who loved the game, then I had a group of young students followed by more and more students. They were mainly juniors who already knew how to play chess and wished to improve their skills. In time I developed my method of training, therefore I decided to write my own manuals. This step was very important in my development as trainer, because writing a book helps you find the best ways to communicate with the students. I organized my courses better and the results improved. In 2015 could I no longer resist to the pressure of many friends from Alba Iulia, parents of young children, and I accepted to start teaching a few groups for young children. Now I have around 100 chess students between 4 and 10 years, additionally to the more experienced students whom I offer guidance to.
Who are your most successful students?
My most successful student is IM Mihnea Costachi,
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1217518
bronze medallist at the World Youth Chess Championship U14 in 2014 and multiple European champion in rapid chess, blitz and solving problems. At 17 years old, he is an IM rated 2430 and is permanently improving. Last week he played very well in Graz Open, drawing against GM Markus Ragger (rated 2703, #41 rank in the World) and defeating GM Mustafa Ilmaz (rated 2621). In 2015 following my recommendation Mihnea started to work with GM Szabo Gergely
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1205064
(who also coached the Canadian youth team in 2016). I became his second coach and support him in improving his play mainly in the endgames.
Another student of mine, Tudor-Vlad Sfarlog,
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1213792
was multiple national champion and silver medallist in European Youth Rapid Chess Championship. I am also very proud of many students who reached a National Master or FIDE Master level and later focused on other activities and performed excellently. One of them, the chess historian CM Olimpiu Urcan,
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1208624
is certainly well known to the chess public.
Your third book is now available for the public. Is there a connection between them? What drove you into this labor of love?
All my books are for beginners.
"A Guide to Learn Chess" covers the rules of the games, the elementary mates and a few other basic aspects: the value of the pieces, identifying the opponent s threats and logical thinking in chess.
My second book, "A Guide of Chess for Students" is mainly focused on basic of tactics, 26 lessons out of 36 covering this subject. There are also 5 lessons on basic chess principles in opening, middlegame and endgame and 5 lessons on elementary pawn and rook endings. This second book is likely the most popular Romanian book of this century, being used probably in all Romanian chess clubs, in many clubs from Moldavia and some other chess clubs from Canada, Portugal and Brazil. There is no English edition of this book yet, as publishers prefer marketable books written by famous GMs, often for commercial purposes only. But this is not a problem for me, as long as I have thousands of Romanian chess players and coaches who enjoy my books.
My 3rd book, "100 Tests of Chess. Basic Tactics" has been written at the request of dozens of Romanian chess coaches, because they needed more tactical puzzles as support for their lessons on basic tactics. Actually this is the first book from a series of three books on tactics. This one is focused on tactical procedures used to gain material advantages. My next book on tactics will be dedicated to various types of mating patterns and attacks against the King. The final book of this series will pass to the next level, including more complicated combinations and techniques of calculating variations.
What players is this book recommended for? In my opinion it is optimal for players rated 1200-1600, but players 1600+ may also use it and find it helpful. They can try to solve the puzzles faster than normally, something that is usually called a blitz-solving contest. This type of training is useful at any level, even GMs sometimes use this method of preparation! For players rated under 1200 some puzzles may be rather difficult, so I suggest they use this book with tests only after they assimilated the basic tactics first. The Romanian players could easily use this book together with my second book.
Do you have any advices for the aspiring chess enthusiast and/ or club player?
I have no magical advice for them. In my humble opinion there is no path to success in chess except the continuous, hard work. My best student Mihnea Costachi studies chess around 2 hours daily ever since he was 5 years old. During the holidays he studies 4-5 hours daily. It is very important to study useful books for their level. Working with a good chess coach who may recommend the best books to study is certainly an advantage; however a chess player who aspires to improve his knowledge must understand from the beginning that his role is most important. The coach's role must be to offer him guidance and good advices, but the hard work must always be done by the player. Don t expect a coach to fill you up with all chess knowledge and never pay for 1 hour of chess training if you are not prepared to study alone about 9 hours for each hour of paid chess training.
What is your favourite puzzle or chess combination?
It is of course one of mine! I met GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu many times in junior competitions and all our games ended in draws after big complications, even though we are close friends. The scenario was almost the same: Nisipeanu launched all-in attacks, while I defended very well and survived, sometimes with a little help from goddess Fortuna. Our last game was played in different conditions. We met in Romanian Team Championship in 2005, when Nisipeanu was already a top player in the World, rated 2670, while my rating was 2426 and I was rarely playing chess tournaments, being focused on my professional career as electrical engineer. Nisipeanu was in great form in 2005, winning the European title in Warsaw a month after our game. It was rather clear for me that I needed a miracle to survive one more time against my old friend. Hope you enjoy the game!
[Event "ROM-chT"][Site "Baile Tusnad"][Date "2005.05.26"][Round "6"][White "Ceteras, Marius"][Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteElo "2426"][BlackElo "2670"][ECO "E61"]1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. d4 d6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. d5 Na5 8. e4 O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Rb1 e6 11. b4 cxb4 12. Rxb4 exd5 13. cxd5 {An inaccurate decision after which my opponent gradually gained the initiative} 13... Bg4 14. Be3 Nd7 15. Nd4 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Rc8 17. Na4 Re8 18. f3 b5 19. Nb2 Rc3 20. a4 Nb6 21. Bf2 Nxd5 {After this pawn loss my position was near to collapse; however, I didn't lose my confidence and tried to speculate black's reduced reflection time left} 22. Qd2 Nxb4 23. Qxc3 Nbc6 24. axb5 axb5 25. Qd3 Nxd4 26. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 27. Qxd4 Nc6 28. Qf2 Ne5 29. Rd1 Qc7 30. h3 Ra8 31. f4 Nc4 32. Nd3 Qe7 33. Qd4 Ra4 34. Nf2 h5 35. Qd5 Qa7 36. Rd4 Ra2 37. e5 dxe5 {This move played in time pressure gave me hope} 38. fxe5 Ra1+ 39. Kh2 Ne3 40. Qd8+ Kh7 {Suddenly a beautiful idea occurred to me and I immediately realised it was my only chance. It was impossible to calculate all possible variations, so I went for it anyway } 41. Ng4 {When Nisipeanu saw this move, he had a flash back to our previous games where I always managed to escape, sometimes miraculously, and, as he told me later, became circumspect on his chances to win the game} 41... Nf1+ 42. Kg1 Ne3+ 43. Kh2 Nf1+ 44. Kg1 Ng3+ 45. Kh2 hxg4 46. Kxg3 Ra3+ {Possibly this natural move is not the best option} (46... Rf1 {Preferred by engines today. It defends the f6-square and prevents the perpetual check by Qd8-h4-f6-d8. For a human, even a top GM, a move like this is very difficult to find and, if my remember well, neither the engines from that time found it postmortem} ) 47. Kh4 gxh3 {again not the best choice This position is included in my latest book at Test #50 entitled "Drawing combinations"} (47... Ra4 $1 48. Qd7 $1 gxh3 49. Kxh3 Kg7 $1 {Here White is forced to leave the picturesque arrangement Qd7+Rd4 against Qa7+Ra4} ) 48. Kg5 $3 {This incredible move frees the h4-square for my Rook and saves the day; now all Black s tries to win the game are in vain} (48. gxh3 $2 Qxd4+ 49. Qxd4 Ra4) 48... Ra4 (48... f6+ 49. Qxf6 Rg3+ 50. Kf4 hxg2 51. Qh4+ Kg7 52. Qf6+ {Draw}) (48... Rg3+ 49. Kf4 hxg2 50. Qh4+ {Draw}) 49. Rd3 Ra3 50. Rd4 Ra4 51. Rd3 Rh4 {Black s last attempt to win the game, but I could not miss my opportunity to get a memorable result} 52. Kxh4 hxg2 53. Kh3 $1 Qf2 54. Rd1 {Here the draw was agreed because Black can t avoid it any longer. The next moves are just an illustration of how the game might have continued a little while longer} 54... g1=Q 55. Rxg1 Qxg1 56. Qh4+ Kg7 57. Qf6+ Kg8 58. Qd8+
I have reposted it here for reference.
I met Marius
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1202367
for the first time back in 1990. It was my first selection into the lineup of "Portelanul Alba-Iulia", the team I just joined after University and he was playing for at the time. We were playing in the second division of the Romanian National Team Chess Championship. He was the top junior at the time and had the fun assignment of scoring as many points as possible to help us win our matches; together with FM Dorin Serdean
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1203169
(another promising young local player at the time) the three of us became the excitement of the team. We got the nickname of "basketball players" firstly because of being tall and secondly for our quickly developed chemistry and knack to score 3-0 (three pointers) for our team most often than not. We employed most of the times the latest tricks Marius learned during his junior national team training camps; thank you again for those Marius! Our greatest accomplishment was promoting with our team to the first division for the first time ever in its history. We had a great in person relationship until my move to Vancouver, BC, Canada, a relationship we kept strong over the years despite the geographical distance between us. He was kind to send me a copy of his latest book, as well as to agree to this interview. Hope you will enjoy it!
Marius would like to start with a clarification of one of my points made in the previous article presenting his third book:
My initiation book is used in about (20-30)% of schools and chess clubs, while the one on tactics is used in over 90% of them. There definitely are situations when the local teachers use their own materials.
Please tell us a few things about yourself
I fell in love with chess when I was 10 years old. Apart from a few games played against my father and sister, I never played chess before attending the chess courses of Mihail Breaz, a national master who was the soul of chess activities in Alba Iulia, a beautiful city in the hearth of Transylvania. It was in Alba Iulia where the delegates of the National Assembly of the Romanians from Transylvania signed the Union of Transylvania with the Romanian Kingdom on December 1st, 1918. From the very first chess lesson, which I joined accidentally, I felt a special attraction for this wonderful game, most likely influenced by the very enjoyable atmosphere created by my first chess teacher. As a junior, my best results were national U20 champion titles in 1992 ahead of Andrei Istratescu and 1993 ahead of Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the best Romanian chess players after the golden age of GM Florin Gheorghiu and GM Mihai Suba. In 1992 I finished 8th in the European Junior Championship in Sas van Gent (Netherlands).
My passion for chess continued over decades, even though, at a certain moment, I decided to put my favourite game behind and build a professional career as an electrical engineer. Since 1999 I work as an engineer in the national company of electricity and chess has become a secondary activity for me. Instead of playing regularly in chess tournaments, I teach young players from my city and surroundings, write chess materials and organize chess events. For a couple of years, I also played correspondence chess. Over the board I continue to play rapid chess tournaments whenever I get an opportunity and do so with quite good results. In 2014 I won Romanian Rapid Chess Championship and finished 4th in 2015. Last year I didn't play because I got involved in politics as well and the tournament was organized during the electoral campaign.
What made you choose the path of teaching chess to the younger generations?
When I was around 16 year old, I started to teach chess because I got a desire to share the beauty of the game with other people. At the beginning I taught my fellow friends who loved the game, then I had a group of young students followed by more and more students. They were mainly juniors who already knew how to play chess and wished to improve their skills. In time I developed my method of training, therefore I decided to write my own manuals. This step was very important in my development as trainer, because writing a book helps you find the best ways to communicate with the students. I organized my courses better and the results improved. In 2015 could I no longer resist to the pressure of many friends from Alba Iulia, parents of young children, and I accepted to start teaching a few groups for young children. Now I have around 100 chess students between 4 and 10 years, additionally to the more experienced students whom I offer guidance to.
Who are your most successful students?
My most successful student is IM Mihnea Costachi,
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1217518
bronze medallist at the World Youth Chess Championship U14 in 2014 and multiple European champion in rapid chess, blitz and solving problems. At 17 years old, he is an IM rated 2430 and is permanently improving. Last week he played very well in Graz Open, drawing against GM Markus Ragger (rated 2703, #41 rank in the World) and defeating GM Mustafa Ilmaz (rated 2621). In 2015 following my recommendation Mihnea started to work with GM Szabo Gergely
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1205064
(who also coached the Canadian youth team in 2016). I became his second coach and support him in improving his play mainly in the endgames.
Another student of mine, Tudor-Vlad Sfarlog,
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1213792
was multiple national champion and silver medallist in European Youth Rapid Chess Championship. I am also very proud of many students who reached a National Master or FIDE Master level and later focused on other activities and performed excellently. One of them, the chess historian CM Olimpiu Urcan,
https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=1208624
is certainly well known to the chess public.
Your third book is now available for the public. Is there a connection between them? What drove you into this labor of love?
All my books are for beginners.
"A Guide to Learn Chess" covers the rules of the games, the elementary mates and a few other basic aspects: the value of the pieces, identifying the opponent s threats and logical thinking in chess.
My second book, "A Guide of Chess for Students" is mainly focused on basic of tactics, 26 lessons out of 36 covering this subject. There are also 5 lessons on basic chess principles in opening, middlegame and endgame and 5 lessons on elementary pawn and rook endings. This second book is likely the most popular Romanian book of this century, being used probably in all Romanian chess clubs, in many clubs from Moldavia and some other chess clubs from Canada, Portugal and Brazil. There is no English edition of this book yet, as publishers prefer marketable books written by famous GMs, often for commercial purposes only. But this is not a problem for me, as long as I have thousands of Romanian chess players and coaches who enjoy my books.
My 3rd book, "100 Tests of Chess. Basic Tactics" has been written at the request of dozens of Romanian chess coaches, because they needed more tactical puzzles as support for their lessons on basic tactics. Actually this is the first book from a series of three books on tactics. This one is focused on tactical procedures used to gain material advantages. My next book on tactics will be dedicated to various types of mating patterns and attacks against the King. The final book of this series will pass to the next level, including more complicated combinations and techniques of calculating variations.
What players is this book recommended for? In my opinion it is optimal for players rated 1200-1600, but players 1600+ may also use it and find it helpful. They can try to solve the puzzles faster than normally, something that is usually called a blitz-solving contest. This type of training is useful at any level, even GMs sometimes use this method of preparation! For players rated under 1200 some puzzles may be rather difficult, so I suggest they use this book with tests only after they assimilated the basic tactics first. The Romanian players could easily use this book together with my second book.
Do you have any advices for the aspiring chess enthusiast and/ or club player?
I have no magical advice for them. In my humble opinion there is no path to success in chess except the continuous, hard work. My best student Mihnea Costachi studies chess around 2 hours daily ever since he was 5 years old. During the holidays he studies 4-5 hours daily. It is very important to study useful books for their level. Working with a good chess coach who may recommend the best books to study is certainly an advantage; however a chess player who aspires to improve his knowledge must understand from the beginning that his role is most important. The coach's role must be to offer him guidance and good advices, but the hard work must always be done by the player. Don t expect a coach to fill you up with all chess knowledge and never pay for 1 hour of chess training if you are not prepared to study alone about 9 hours for each hour of paid chess training.
What is your favourite puzzle or chess combination?
It is of course one of mine! I met GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu many times in junior competitions and all our games ended in draws after big complications, even though we are close friends. The scenario was almost the same: Nisipeanu launched all-in attacks, while I defended very well and survived, sometimes with a little help from goddess Fortuna. Our last game was played in different conditions. We met in Romanian Team Championship in 2005, when Nisipeanu was already a top player in the World, rated 2670, while my rating was 2426 and I was rarely playing chess tournaments, being focused on my professional career as electrical engineer. Nisipeanu was in great form in 2005, winning the European title in Warsaw a month after our game. It was rather clear for me that I needed a miracle to survive one more time against my old friend. Hope you enjoy the game!
[Event "ROM-chT"][Site "Baile Tusnad"][Date "2005.05.26"][Round "6"][White "Ceteras, Marius"][Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"][Result "1/2-1/2"][WhiteElo "2426"][BlackElo "2670"][ECO "E61"]1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. d4 d6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. d5 Na5 8. e4 O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Rb1 e6 11. b4 cxb4 12. Rxb4 exd5 13. cxd5 {An inaccurate decision after which my opponent gradually gained the initiative} 13... Bg4 14. Be3 Nd7 15. Nd4 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Rc8 17. Na4 Re8 18. f3 b5 19. Nb2 Rc3 20. a4 Nb6 21. Bf2 Nxd5 {After this pawn loss my position was near to collapse; however, I didn't lose my confidence and tried to speculate black's reduced reflection time left} 22. Qd2 Nxb4 23. Qxc3 Nbc6 24. axb5 axb5 25. Qd3 Nxd4 26. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 27. Qxd4 Nc6 28. Qf2 Ne5 29. Rd1 Qc7 30. h3 Ra8 31. f4 Nc4 32. Nd3 Qe7 33. Qd4 Ra4 34. Nf2 h5 35. Qd5 Qa7 36. Rd4 Ra2 37. e5 dxe5 {This move played in time pressure gave me hope} 38. fxe5 Ra1+ 39. Kh2 Ne3 40. Qd8+ Kh7 {Suddenly a beautiful idea occurred to me and I immediately realised it was my only chance. It was impossible to calculate all possible variations, so I went for it anyway } 41. Ng4 {When Nisipeanu saw this move, he had a flash back to our previous games where I always managed to escape, sometimes miraculously, and, as he told me later, became circumspect on his chances to win the game} 41... Nf1+ 42. Kg1 Ne3+ 43. Kh2 Nf1+ 44. Kg1 Ng3+ 45. Kh2 hxg4 46. Kxg3 Ra3+ {Possibly this natural move is not the best option} (46... Rf1 {Preferred by engines today. It defends the f6-square and prevents the perpetual check by Qd8-h4-f6-d8. For a human, even a top GM, a move like this is very difficult to find and, if my remember well, neither the engines from that time found it postmortem} ) 47. Kh4 gxh3 {again not the best choice This position is included in my latest book at Test #50 entitled "Drawing combinations"} (47... Ra4 $1 48. Qd7 $1 gxh3 49. Kxh3 Kg7 $1 {Here White is forced to leave the picturesque arrangement Qd7+Rd4 against Qa7+Ra4} ) 48. Kg5 $3 {This incredible move frees the h4-square for my Rook and saves the day; now all Black s tries to win the game are in vain} (48. gxh3 $2 Qxd4+ 49. Qxd4 Ra4) 48... Ra4 (48... f6+ 49. Qxf6 Rg3+ 50. Kf4 hxg2 51. Qh4+ Kg7 52. Qf6+ {Draw}) (48... Rg3+ 49. Kf4 hxg2 50. Qh4+ {Draw}) 49. Rd3 Ra3 50. Rd4 Ra4 51. Rd3 Rh4 {Black s last attempt to win the game, but I could not miss my opportunity to get a memorable result} 52. Kxh4 hxg2 53. Kh3 $1 Qf2 54. Rd1 {Here the draw was agreed because Black can t avoid it any longer. The next moves are just an illustration of how the game might have continued a little while longer} 54... g1=Q 55. Rxg1 Qxg1 56. Qh4+ Kg7 57. Qf6+ Kg8 58. Qd8+