FM Kevin Bachler

I am Kevin Bachler, 45-year chess coach for both adults and youth. I am located near Chicago, IL in the United States. I have run some of the major chess camps in the U.S., including OleChess and the Caveman Chess Camp. I have coached many individuals and teams to state and national championships.

My full-time career is as a financial and benefits consultant to large corporations.

Frankly, I've had less time to play the past few years while focusing more on my primary career and coaching. I've won many smaller, local events. In terms of large regional or national events:
- I took first in the 1980 Janesville Anniversary Open ahead of GM Bisguier, and defeating IM Morris and SM Brasket.
- In 1982 I tied for 4th-5th in the Midwest Masters with FM Albert Chow.
- In 1999 I won the under 2300 (US Chess) prize in the Chicago Open
- In 2000 I won the under 2300 (US Chess) prize in the US Masters

My nickname dating back to the early 1980's is "Caveman" - due to my aggressive and tactical style of play when I was young. If you've heard of "Caveman Chess" - it was named after me.

I have been coaching since the mid-1970s. I have coached teams to over 10 state titles, three national titles. My teams have at times won 22 tournaments in a row, or had seasons with results of 27-1 in matches. I have had students participate in the U.S. Junior Championship. I have run several of the major chess camps in the U.S.

For details see: www.cavemanchess.com/kevins-credentials which includes several letters of recommendation.

FIDE Master
FIDE Trainer
USCF National Master
USCF Life Master (norm system)
USCF Original Life Master
USCF Professional Coach (Level V): one of five in the country, the only person who is also a FIDE trainer
USCF Senior TD
Author: Midwest Masters Inv 1986 and U.S. Masters Inv 1987
2007 IL Chess Coaches Association "Coach of the Year"
Camp Director OleChess

My goal with young students is to assist them in successfully mastering fundamentals of positional play and tactics, such that if they wish to move to higher levels I will eventually replace my position with that of a GM instructor. GMs have valued my teaching because I stress these fundamentals.

I focus strongly on classical games and positions to illustrate concepts. For younger students, appropriate analogies are important - placing a concept in a context they can understand.

Students will have assignments - sometimes puzzles, sometimes games. Rarely do we focus on memorizing openings or other concepts, although that does occasionally have a place. A better focus is how to SEE a position and how to analyze it.