This is a VERY IMPORTANT question. Let’s be realistic: without a good teacher, your chances for becoming a titled player are quite limited.
Of course, you can try to discover everything by yourself: read books, play games, analyse your mistakes.
Perhaps sooner or later you will come to the right decisions. BUT chess is a competition. Your opponents – who are taught by good coaches, and whose training is more effective – will beat you more often than not.
The problem with chess teachers, however, is that there are so many of them. How do you choose the right teacher for you?
PLAYER STRENGTH
it is vital that you choose a chess teacher with a rating sufficiently higher than yours. Doing so will ensure that you are getting the proper advice from someone who can actually see the holes in your chess game.
TEACHING STRENGTH
This can be a hard thing to quantify, but let’s give it our best shot. Being an amazing player does not make you an amazing coach. There are certain things that make someone able to teach chess, and those things are not in every great player. The most important thing is the willingness of your chess coach to study your games with enough care and attention to identify your weak points. Moreover, you should find a chess teacher that will create a personalized plan for you, not a standardized plan.
SPECIALIZATION
Just as each player leans on certain aspects of the game more than others, chess teachers can also excel and focus on certain aspects of the game. Make sure you understand your teacher’s playstyle and line it up with the areas in which you need improvement.
CONNECTION
This point cannot be understated; it is very important to have an open rapport with your chess coach. You should feel comfortable and free to ask questions, take risks, and make bad moves. Without the comfort of doing these things, you will not get the intended benefit that you desire.
A private chess coach should perform the following things for you:
- Analyse your games and detect what you need to work on.
- Develop your training plan.
- Make on-line or real lessons.
- Answer your questions that arise via e-mails.
- Check your last home task and provide feedback on your work.
- Think about your overall progress; make necessary corrections in your training plan.
- Plan your participation in tournaments.
- Keep track of the current situation in chess (read chess news, observe main tournaments, notice new tendencies, popular openings, etc.).
A private chess coach should perform all of these tasks regularly, even if you have only one chess class a week! By using the above list of items, it will be easier for you to evaluate a certain coach and to decide if he/she is a suitable one for you.
We offer private training sessions with our coaches where you will get personalized attention and guidance for every step of your chess journey.
we will work together to identify your strengths and weaknesses, so that we can tailor all sessions to meet your individual needs.
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