This was due to a number of excellent results: he was Moscow Champion in 1973, finished equal fifth in a strong Soviet Championship in 1974, and won the Wijk aan Zee B group tournament of 1975 by a clear point and a half.

This was something he had tried out and enjoyed while studying at Moscow University, and he quickly gained a reputation for transforming serious, hard-working 2200 rated players into grandmasters.

Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Evgeny Bareev, Joël Lautier and Loek van Wely are among the players who benefited from his coaching.

Valery Chekhov, Artur Yusupov, Sergei Dolmatov and Maxim Dlugy went on to become Junior World Champions after receiving training from him.

Secrets of Chess Tactics, Opening Preparation, Technique for the Tournament Player, Positional Play and Attack and Defence followed (the latter four co-authored with Artur Yusupov).