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Kevin "Caveman" Bachler
Overview
Kevin
graduated with Great Distinction (summa cum laude) from Shimer
College with a degree in Natural Science (and a concentration
in Mathematics.) Kevin works as a consultant for the Newport
Group in Chicago and Orlando,
focusing on the design and financing of executive benefits, retiree
medical benefits, and financing various corporate reserves.
Kevin and his wife Deborah Socha began being involved in chess together in 1992 when he did a simul for a Montessori School where Deborah was president of the school's board. They became a "chess family" when their son Robert asked them to created a chess club at his elementary school. They worked together teaching and organizing scholastic teams and running chess camps for ten years after that.
Kevin and Deborah also enjoy their dogs (Freckles, Millie and Tucker), walks, reading, and ballroom dancing.
Kevin learned to play chess at age 11 when he received a chess set for his birthday. Way back then there wasn't much scholastic chess, and living in a rural area, Kevin primarily played his high school aged brothers, and a very strong high school student who lived about a quarter of a mile away. Kevin lost over 100 consecutive games to this student (at Rook+ odds!) before winning a single game. Kevin likes to share this story with his students so that they can better understand that everyone has struggles to overcome in becoming a good chess player - or at achieving any other important goal in life.
Kevin played in his first rated tournament in December of 1971 - just as Fischer's exploits were being broadcast around the world. But Kevin's orginal interest was not fueled by the Fischer boom. He simply enjoyed chess, baseball, and football.
Growing up in a rural area, no Internet, and too far from Chicago to get to tournaments easily meant that Kevin was self-taught primarily from classic chess books. He also found that to play often, he needed to organize his own chess club and tournaments. So throughout high school he was involved in organizing and running two "local" (within 10 miles) chess clubs.
Kevin earned his National Master Title in 1982.
Among Kevin's first students (while in college in the late 1970's and early 1980's) was Adam Lief, who eventually cracked 2400. Kevin took a sabattical from coaching from 1988 - 1994, which ended when his son asked him to coach a club at his elementary school.
Kevin earned his nickname "Caveman" when FM Albert Chow, watching then Expert Bachler post mortem a tactical encounter with another Expert, cracked "You play stoneage chess. You play like a caveman!" and the name stuck.
Qualifications (Click for Source)
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For information on the FIDE Trainer program, click here for general info, click here for the FIDE Trainer requriements.
For information on the USCF Certified Chess Coach program, click here.
Coaching Results
Kevin's most active coaching period for schools was from the fall of 1994 through the spring of 2007.
During that time he coached teams from Franklin Elementary, Emerson Middle School, and Maine South High School.
During these 13 years, Kevin coached 12 State Championship teams, 9 State Champion individuals, 3 National Championship Teams, and 7 National Championship top 5 finishes.
From late 1995 through late 1998, one team coached by Kevin won 23 consecutive IL/IN regional tournaments.
During 2002 Maine South High School went 27-1 in team matches.
More detailed results available on request.
Tournament Directing and Chess Camp Experience
Kevin began directing tournaments in 1971 at age 14. He has organized tournaments with over 300 players and directed tournaments with over 100 players. He has also directed round robins and smaller inviational tournaments.
Kevin began being involved with chess camps in 1996, at WisChess held annually at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and took over as camp director in 2000. The camp was the largest and strongest overnight camp in the country until its final year in 2004.
Kevin then started working with St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota on the OleChess Camp. The camp is a national caliber camp using titled players to teach different levels of classes designed for different types of students.
Letters of Recommendation
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From Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov: To whom it may concern: First of all, Kevin has an
incredible knowledge of chess classics. Using games of
players of the past he not only teaches kids important
chess principles, but he also widens their knowledge of
chess history.
Kevin is very well organized in
both how is running chess camps and how he is teaching
chess. Not only he demonstrates the important chess
games, he also emphasizes all important points student
can learn from a given game.
On couple of occasions when I was present on his
lectures the black board was filled with important chess
concepts. It made learning very easy.
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To whom it may concern, I've known Kevin for almost 15 years and therefore had numerous opportunities to watch him working with kids. What impressed me the most is that unlike many chess coaches Kevin builds a solid, long lasting chess foundation for his students based on the classical heritage. He always makes the learning process exciting and therefore I never seen his students bored. His talent as a chess teacher coupled with his playing strength (he is a Master himself), make him an ideal chess coach. |
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From Ken Wallach, USCF Original Life Master: Kevin is the best chess coach in Illinois bar none. I strongly support him as a chess coach. When I first met Kevin back in 1978, he was in charge of the College of Lake County Chess Club. Kevin was nearly a master even back then and every year he organized large round robin rated club championships. Kevin helped all the club members improve at chess through his lively and entertaining post mortems as well as his weekly tournament bulletins that contained club games he annotated himself as well as special educational opening and endgame articles. Kevin provided a great example for others to follow. He demonstrated his flexibility and love of learning by purposely playing his opponents strongest openings against them. Kevin's informal chess coaching helped me earn my National Master title.
I coached chess with Kevin for over 5 years starting in
1994. Kevin is a
superbly organized chess instructor that the kids loved.
One innovative thing he did was create a balanced
chess curriculum by categorizing chess instructional
material into increasing levels of difficulty that he
labeled as different kinds of dinosaurs.
The students that worked their way up to Kevin's
highest level, Tyrannous Rex, eventually made up the 1997
K-5 National Championship Chess team.
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