IM Slaven Pastar

   My name is Slaven Paštar. I am a 30-year-old International master from Bosnia and Herzegovina who is currently living in Mrkonjić Grad.  If you are interested in working with me, contact me in my inbox or at my e-mail (slav.pastar@gmail.com). I am available for both lessons and training games!

Committed to chess since early childhood (four years old), I have participated in many tournaments and been multiple cadets and junior champions of the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I shared first place in a couple of open tournaments; probably my favorite one was the Belgrade Trophy in 2018 (chess-results.com/tnr378941.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&turdet=YES&flag=30). I also won clear first in some open tournaments(chess-results.com/tnr697074.aspx). I'm an active player!

 I have 26 years of chess experience (6 years as a coach). I have experience working with players of different ages (many lessons with kids) and strengths (from complete beginners up to 2000FIDE). I also worked with even higher-rated players, but more as an assistant than the coach. One of my students won third place In the Republic of Srpska in a competition for up to ten-year-olds. I offer personalized chess lessons, game analysis, and training games specialized for beginning and intermediate levels.

I am available for training games as well.
There are different reasons to play training games:
-you practiced an opening and need a sparring partner to test it on a higher level;
-you think that you can improve by playing stronger players and then analyzing your games;
-you are working a lot on chess but also want to play some longer games to stay in shape for an upcoming tournament etc.
I am open to all kinds of time controls, and if you are interested, contact me!
I charge $25$ per hour for this service, and you can organize the time however you want. For example, if you want a two-hour session, we can play for one hour and analyze the games for the next hour, or we can just play for two hours. You choose!
I got a degree from the Faculty of Organizational Science at Belgrade University. During my studies, I have acquired knowledge that helps me pass the material to students (subjects like pedagogy, sociology...).

With some students, I focus directly on openings, and with some of them, a large percentage of the work is tactical. I also enjoy working on the endgames. I often give homework to my students!

My approach is to speak with the students, analyze the games, find areas for improvement, and then make a plan. I am definitely following chess books, but I also have my own materials. I am trying to focus more on efforts than on results. My goal is never instant success but long-term improvement in chess understanding.
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Lessons are conducted via Skype, where I usually use the Share Screen tool for one type of lesson, and for other types, I use the Study tool on this website.
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When I'm playing a tournament, I usually don't give lessons, but I can still help a student who needs preparation for his game or has trouble with something.