Choosing the best chess coach is not an easy task. I have seen most of the time how parents hire coaches without examining any information they discuss only fees and schedule to start asap. Sadly, when they come to know about other factors, either they or a student seem to lose interest in chess.
There are so many coaches and academies who come up with unrealistic promises that create the illusion that they are the best. Having a good chess coach is the most important thing. After all, you will invest your Time, Money & Hard work with your coach. So we can skip potential losses by choosing the best chess coach.
Here are some essential steps for you in our Step-By-Step Guide when trying to find a coach. Turn these filters on and see if you can get the best out of them.
Choosing the Best Chess Coach #1:Coach with good enough experience
The experience of a chess coach matters a lot. An experienced coach can quickly determine your problems and will give you the best possible way to improve. They went through a lot of students like you, so they may have some easy tips that work most of the time.
Choosing the Best Chess Coach #2: A coach who is a former chess tournament player, or currently playing tournaments: Step-By-Step Guide
If Coach is currently playing tournaments, he can tell you what’s going on right now and which tournament you should play. Most likely you will get tournaments that suit your level for the best result.
If the coach played many tournaments before but not currently, he can still tell you about his tournament experiences, which will be an add-on to your improvement.
Rating level
The coach must have a good enough rating because even in age group tournaments children face higher-rated players. If you are a beginner who doesn’t know how to play then it’s ok, but once you learn you must go for the higher-rated coach. You can check any player’s rating by searching their name on the FIDE official website. A higher rating means playing strength is also high. Also, this will help you to avoid fake coaches.
All unrated or lower-rated coaches are not bad but they are quite risky.
FIDE (World chess federation) titled Player
FIDE made this easy for us. Most of the titled players are good coaches as they get titles with only high-rating performances. You can improve even if you are only playing with them. So obviously if you can learn from titled players then big yes from me.
There are titles for trainers also. FIDE check all aspects like rating, coaching results, etc. take training and exam, then trainers get the title according to their performance. So you will for sure get a trained, certified coach.
Remember trainer titles are also given according to their level. The trainer titles (in descending order of expertise) are FIDE Senior Trainer (FST), FIDE Trainer (FT), FIDE Instructor (FI), National Instructor (NI), and Developmental Instructor (DI)
Teaching methodology
Check if the coach’s teaching methodology is suitable for you. All the points above are good but having a good teaching methodology is the most important. Each coach has a unique method but some common points you can check are:
- Students’ games analysis
- Training schedule based on Student’s needs.
- Titled player’s games analysis
- Tactics and positional chess training
- Build a tailored and permanent opening repertoire.
- Middle game training
- Endgame training
- Psychology, Calculation, Visualization training.
- Give daily homework after each lesson.
- Tournament rules
- Providing, and suggesting study materials
- Different chess patterns
- Planning and Evaluating Skills
- Time management
- Goal setting
Choosing the Best Chess Coach #3: Choosing quantity is good but without quality, it fails
Don’t only go for quantity, but also go for quality. For example, some coaches offer more lessons and fewer fees. Here I will suggest quality over quantity. For quality check, you can have some lessons and then decide.
A number of lectures will keep you in touch more but without quality will not work. If you are increasing the number of quality lectures then results will improve more obviously.
Choosing the Best Chess Coach #4: Check what the coach wants from you
Some coaches are strict, they cancel a class if you don’t complete homework. They will be strict if you repeat mistakes. Obviously, they are not bad coaches at all but check if you can keep up with them. Some are not strict at all and behave friendly. Both are good but see which one is suitable for your style.
Find their student’s results
You can check the coach’s or Academy’s website or Facebook page where most of the coaches post their student results. Most academies or coaches have their students win and they post on social media. You can check their performances you can’t compare them exactly. But you will get some idea about their student results.
Reliability
The reliability of a coach also becomes a big factor. If your coach is taking a lot of breaks, coming late, and canceling a lot of sessions, it can affect your improvement. Some coaches are teaching great but are not reliable, so you can choose different available options. Taking money in advance but not completing classes. So check reliability also then go for it. If there is no way to find how reliable the coach is, you can go for the last point below.
Trial and error
If some points above are not possible to check before choosing the right coach, then you can use the trial-and-error method.
Ask for a trial session to check the points above. If it is still not done, then book one or two sessions more. Once you confirm you can go for it. Don’t be impatient, take the decision calmly.
But never keep jumping from one to another. After trial and error reach the final decision. If most of the points match, then I don’t think trial and error will be required.
Hope this guide will help you in choosing the best chess coach. Enjoy your coaching!