Cover Photo Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-standing-in-front-of-young-children-8466158/

Introduction

Ever since the appearance of the Internet, chess coaching has been revolutionized. The ability to hold a chess lesson with anybody in the world turned it into a much more viable and worthy endeavor for prospective chess coaches. In the last decade or two, we have seen a dramatic increase in offer on the chess coaching market. Numerous strong chess players,¹ trainers and personalities have decided to try their luck online and offer their services to a wide audience.

From the perspective of a student, this is, of course, a very good thing. The wide availability and accessibility of high-quality chess coaching make it possible to find a good chess coach – often at a very reasonable price. The days when you needed to be lucky to have a good chess coach in your near vicinity are long gone.

On the other hand, the abundance of choice does have its drawbacks. According to the book aptly titled Paradox of Choice, having too many options makes it harder for us to pick one.

This can definitely be observed in the context of chess coaching. Despite the vast offer, a lot of players struggle to find the right chess coach. In my experience, there are two main reasons why:

• Many people don’t really know much about chess coaching nor what exactly should they be looking for in a chess coach
• Many people are not even sure whether they should be getting a coach to begin with

Thus, in order to help you find the right chess coach, in this article I will discuss all the aspects related to chess coaching in great depth. My hope is that by the end of it, you will have a better idea of what exactly to look for in a chess coach.

And whether you really need one, to begin with.

I hope you will enjoy it and find it useful.

Why You Should (or Shouldn’t) Find a Chess Coach?

Before we get to the „How“ I would like to talk about the „Why“. I think many players – especially those with less experience – have a misconception about what chess coaching is and misguided expectations related to it. I have the feeling many people hire a chess coach, without necessarily asking themselves whether they really need one. I often have a feeling many do so way too quickly and without very convincing reasoning. ²

This is why I thought it is a good idea to devote a section in the article to this matter. In my opinion, here are some of the reasons why you should (or shouldn’t) find a chess coach.

You aren’t expecting the coach to do the work instead of you

Just a couple of days ago, I started reading a fantastic book by my compatriot, GM Davorin Kuljašević, titled How To Study Chess On Your Own. ³ In the very preface of the book, he discusses the various aspects related to chess study and improvement. I found the following paragraph in the section titled „Be Independent“ very insightful and relevant to the topic at hand:

„I think that […] many chess players […] tend to rely too heavily on external directions for their chess studies, such as assignments set by their coaches, online training courses, exercises from books, and similar resources […]“

I think this is especially true when it comes to chess coaching. I feel many people hire a chess coach and expect they will do their work instead of them. Thinking that time spent during the lessons is sufficient in itself to guarantee their improvement – irrespective if they put any work outside of the lessons.

Unfortunately, chess improvement doesn’t work that way. Unless you put in the hours yourself, the effects will be fairly limited. In my opinion, if you are not spending a substantial amount of hours outside of lessons working on chess, there is absolutely no point in you paying for lessons. They should be a complement to your individual work, not a substitute for it.

In a way, this reminds me of my college days when I used to do math tutoring. I have had people pay for it, do zero work outside of it – and then be bewildered how they failed an exam. Even though they didn’t confirm it, I often got the feeling that took the tutoring because it gave them the illusion they are doing something, while requiring less effort than…you know… actually doing something.

This brings me to the next point.

You have really tried working on chess on your own, but are not seeing the results

As mentioned above – there is no other way of getting better at chess than putting in the hours and studying it yourself. ⁴ Since we live in the era where chess material is abundant, it is nowadays easier than ever to get access to it, find something suitable to your needs and interests and do some independent and high-quality work on your chess.

I think way too many people are too quick to hire a chess coach, without even trying to figure out how far they can go on their own. I wouldn’t go as far as say something like „anyone can become 2000 without a coach“ as some people do, but I do have a feeling some of the concepts – especially at lower levels – can be understood even without having someone spoonfeed them to you.

Do you really need to pay for a lesson to have someone talk to you about what is an opposition, show you an Anastasia mate, or demonstrate an absolute pin? Instead of picking it up from a book, video, or course? ⁵

Maybe I am just being insensitive given that I reached 2000 primarily by reading a lot of books and playing a lot, but I do feel many adults vastly underestimate their own potential. I genuinely think one should consider chess coaching only after they have tried exhausting their own capabilities. When one has reached a plateau or got the feeling that they are stuck. That they are working hard but not really seeing the results.

Or at least be aware that doing it otherwise is essentially an attempt to „shortcut“ it.

This brings me to the next point.

You are ready to „outsource“ the „thinking“ about your chess study plan to someone

As I mentioned above – high-quality chess material is nowadays abundant and widely available.

And even though this enables you to work very easily on your own, it is also a double-edged sword. Navigating the forest that is the chess material market nowadays can be extremely daunting and confusing – especially for newer players. Many people hire a chess coach specifically to help them find the right material and organize their study time in the best possible manner. ⁶

Outsourcing something you could potentially do on your own to someone with more experience and knowledge has a lot of sense – especially when your time is somewhat limited. After all – if your car is broken you are usually better off taking it to a mechanic even if you could potentially fix it on your own ⁷

And while structuring your training or finding the right chess resources does not have the same level of complexity as repairing a car, I do think wanting to have someone to do it for you is a perfectly valid reason to hire a chess coach. ⁸

As long as you are aware that you are basically „shortcutting “ a task you can probably do it yourself.

You are looking for someone to hold you accountable

Everyone who has ever tried developing a healthy habit/routine knows how hard it is to stick. To be consistent.

Chess training is not an exception. It is very easy to come up with majestic training plans consisting of a multi-faceted study of all the relevant aspects of the game that will skyrocket your rating and confidence. It is much harder to actually implement them in practice.

That is why hiring someone to help you with it and to hold you accountable makes a lot of sense. Many of my students mentioned it as one of the top reasons – if not THE top reason – they got a chess coach. I myself am a member of The Killer Chess Training precisely because I feel bad if I don’t solve and send their weekly set of exercises. For me, the fact that it holds me accountable and actually leads to me working on chess regularly is well worth the price. ⁹

You are looking for someone to keep you motivated

Tightly related to the previous point. Anyone who has ever played chess ¹⁰ knows there are periods where motivation is very low (e.g. the aftermath of a really bad tournament). Having someone who will keep the level of motivation high or reignite the motivation once it drops is another very valid reason for you to consider hiring a chess coach.

You are not doing it because „that is what people do“

Last but not least – in the era of social media it is way too easy to get sucked into doing things just because everybody else is doing it. Given how prevalent and popular it is to talk about chess coaching and hiring a chess coach ¹¹, many people within the chess community start experiencing FOMO and feel „pressured“ to do it because „that is what people do“.

Needless to say, out of all the bad reasons for getting a chess coach – this one is probably the worst. Just like with many things in life – you should do what you feel/think you should be doing, not what others think you should be doing.

How To Find A Chess Coach

What Makes A Good Chess Coach?

Deciding whether you need a chess coach or not is only the first step. Because if you decide that coaching is for you, the more difficult task still remains – finding a good chess coach.

What exactly does make a good chess coach? A lot has been written (and filmed) on this topic. If you google „What Makes A Good Chess Coach“, you are very likely to come across some sort of a list with a different list of qualities. For example, asking ChatGPT about this generates the following list:

a) Experience and Credentials

b) Teaching Style

c) Compatibility and Communication

d) Availability and Commitment

However, these vague and broad phrases are not very helpful when it comes to finding a chess coach in practice. Not only are they very broad and generic and not at all specific enough. But every chess coach will claim they have experience, credentials, compatibility, communication, availability, and commitment. This means that these terms are utterly useless when it comes to distinguishing a good coach from the bad one.

Thus, in this article, I would like to talk about some more specific considerations and aspects related to chess coaching which are – in my humble opinion experience – far more relevant. I think there are certain things a good chess coach should absolutely do – both before and during the lessons.

In no particular order:

A good chess coach should be motivated, enthusiastic, and passionate about their job

First and foremost! Even though many people focus on things such as rating, title, credentials, or fame, ¹² I think it is far more important how enthusiastic and passionate a chess coach is about teaching and chess, in general.

Unfortunately, this is not always a given. There are many coaches out there who do coaching for other – most commonly monetary reasons. I have definitely had lessons with coaches where the general vibe was that they would rather do anything else but be there. Not to mention even more egregious examples such as a certain Croatian GM who stated that he is „not an idiot to create a competition for himself“ by coaching talented Croatian youngsters, even though he is getting paid to do exactly that by the municipality/state.

In any case, the enthusiasm can be faked for a while, but in the long run, you should be able to distinguish a motivated and enthusiastic coach from a non-motivated one. And I would definitely urge you to pick those from the first category and to prioritize this highly in your search.

Because an enthusiastic and motivated coach will also make you enthusiastic and motivated.

This leads me to the next point.

A good chess coach should make you enthusiastic about the game

Closely related to the previous point. One of the main reasons why I like to have lessons ¹³ is to keep the „spark“ for the game going – even in times when my natural motivation is not at the all-time high.

A good chess coach should be able to get that „spark“ going and keep you enthusiastic about chess. This is even more important if we are talking about coaching for kids/youngsters. But even the most self-motivated adult improvers do experience some ups and downs in that regard.

It may seem strange to put this aspect of coaching so highly on the list of parameters, but I do believe it is of paramount importance.

Because remember – if you are not enjoying it and having fun, you are doing it wrong.

A good chess coach should come prepared to every lesson

Even though I was complaining about generic and cliche things earlier in the article, it is impossible to completely ignore them.

It seems obvious that a good coach should be well-prepared for every individual lesson, but in my experience, that is not always the case. Once I had a first lesson with a perspective coach where we were supposed to go over some of my games. Yet, even though I sent them way before the lesson, it was quite clear he was seeing them during the lesson for the very first time. Another coach kept forgetting which material we covered in previous lessons and decided on what we are about to do on the spot, only after the lesson has begun.

Of course, the exact meaning of „coming prepared“ can be discussed. I don’t expect a coach to spend hours looking at the material or writing the new Dvoretsky’s Manual before every lesson. More experienced coaches do update their databases/lessons all the time and have an abundance of material to pick from without too much preparation, anyway.

But at minimum, I do expect the coach to recheck the material at least briefly and arrive at the lesson with a clear idea of what the topic of the lesson will be about.

Because how else will they ensure that you get just the right material for your needs?

This leads me to the next point.

A good chess coach should adjust the type and difficulty of the material for your individual needs

Tightly connected to the previous point. Many coaches (myself included) do have a database of problems/lessons covering different topics they constantly use in their lessons.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with using the same material with several students. But quite many coaches out there use the very same material in the very same order with very different students, completely disregarding their perspectives needs, or weaknesses.

I do think it is a duty of a good coach to detect the most urgent problems in your play. And then provide you with material specifically aimed at dealing with these problems and dealing with your weaknesses.

Of course, it is not as exact or straightforward as it sounds. Sometimes it has to span over the course of several lessons covering different topics. Also, there is nothing harmful per se about covering new topics and expanding your knowledge.

But if you are clearly struggling in basic endgames yet you keep covering some middlegame topics in lessons or if the coach keeps providing you with material whose complexity is way below or above your level, there is clearly something wrong.

Once again – a good coach should do some thinking about lessons and the topics that are to be covered way before the lesson has even begun.

And also after it has ended.

This leads me to the next point.

A good chess coach should give you regular exercises/homework

As mentioned above, one of the main values of having a coach is having someone who can provide you with good chess material suited to your level and needs. This doesn’t only refer to the material you are supposed to cover together with the coach during the lessons. But also to the material you use outside of your study sessions.

Therefore, I do firmly believe a good chess coach should provide you with regular exercises. Or at least homework after every lesson, that is ideally tightly connected to the topic covered in that very lesson.

This should not only help you to digest and internalize the topic covered during the lesson and understand it more deeply. But it also allows your coach to keep you accountable.

This is – as mentioned above – one of the main reasons why many people hire a chess coach to begin with. ¹⁴

A good chess coach should have their „hand“ visible in the material they use

When it comes to the material the coach is providing you with – many coaches heavily rely on existing resources and books. I myself consult the relevant literature and search for examples before every individual lesson.

On the one hand, this is very natural. Given the number of good chess books and the richness of chess literature, there is often no need to „reinvent the wheel“. Especially since many students don’t necessarily struggle with access to material, but rather with finding the right material for them.

On the other hand, if you look around for advice on becoming a good coach, quite a few resources and experienced coaches mention that a good chess coach should create and maintain their own database of fresh and original chess problems, exercises, and lessons. For example, in his aforementioned book How To Study Chess Your Own, GM Davorin Kuljašević writes:

I believe that a coach’s duty is to find and prepare fresh exercises (preferably not just rehashing old material from chess books), sorted by themes and difficulty, for students to solve and analyze at home.

A very similar sentiment is shared by the top Indian coach GM Ramesh ¹⁵  and other renowned coaches such as GM Jacob Aagaard. ¹⁶

This poses some legitimate questions. Is it okay for a chess coach to rely on existing resources? Should they come up with their material? What exactly is the acceptable ratio between the two?

I personally think the answer to this question depends first and foremost on the profile of the individual student. Coaches such as Ramesh or Aagaard primarily work with students of a higher level, for whom there is much more value in fresh and original content. Not only have they already seen a lot of chess material in their lives, but their general chess skill is better developed. In order to improve it further, fine-tuned and specific exercises are required. Average club players and lower-rated players usually have bigger gaps in their knowledge which can be more easily supplemented by material from existing resources.

Secondly, the topic of the lesson also plays an important role. Trying to be inventive when it comes to the field of Theoretical Rook Endgames or Greek Gift Sacrifice does indeed feel a bit redundant. Given that such topics are extensively covered in the chess literature, it is very easy to create a big library of very instructive and fresh examples.

Long story short, I don’t necessarily have a problem with coaches taking examples from books. But I do have a problem when this is done in the laziest and most explicit manner. There is a difference between combining multiple resources, re-organizing existing material, checking it additionally with the engine, and adding your own annotations. And simply lifting entire chapters, copy-pasting them in Chessbase, ¹⁷ and then using them in your work. ¹⁸

Long story short, I do firmly believe that „borrowing“ should be the beginning, not the end of the coach’s task. And that you should be able to see the coach’s „hand“ in the material they provide you with.

A good chess coach should force you to think during the lessons

One of the main benefits of having a coach is having someone who can observe and correct your thinking process. In order for them to be able to do so, you should be able to display it during the lessons. ¹⁹

Of course, there is a time and place for the coach to showcase examples and explain concepts. But I do think a good chess lesson shouldn’t consist solely of them talking. I do think a chunk of time should be devoted to you solving/discussing chess positions.

This not only keeps you active and engaged during the lesson. But it also provides you with the opportunity to apply the concepts explained by the coach in real-time. It is not uncommon to think something is clear to you until you are „thrown into it“ and forced to deal with a concrete position on your own.

As they say – learning is doing.

A good chess coach should be someone you like as a person

Last but not least, one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of chess coaching is the social aspect.

Many people pick their coach on the basis of their rating, strength, or some other „technical“ credential, while not necessarily putting much emphasis on their personality. Many people and coaches think it is actually preferable to keep matters strictly „business“ and maintain the distance between the coach and the student.

I do think it is a bit misguided and old-fashioned. As I mentioned earlier, I think it is of paramount importance to have fun and enjoy your chess lessons. And it is hard to imagine how you can enjoy the lessons and have fun if you don’t particularly like the person on the other side of the screen.

Viewing coaching as a personal relationship instead of a strictly business one is, thus, much more preferable. At a minimum, it will make the entire process much more enjoyable and effective. At maximum, you have the potential to extend that relationship out of chess and develop a potential friendship.

In the words of Davorin Kuljašević:

Besides the mentioned benefits of coaching, there are many more. The coach can become your mentor and a friend, not only in chess, but also in life.

These are valuable things.

What makes a bad chess coach?

Apart from trying to define a good chess coach, trying to define a bad one can be equally useful. In my opinion, there are quite a few „red flags“ when it comes to chess coaching that should signal to you that the coach might not be the best choice out there. In this part of the article, I will mention what I consider to be the most obvious ones.

A bad chess coach does it only for the money

One of the things that immediately put me off from considering a potential coach is clear signs that they are doing it primarily for the money. Unfortunately, it often seems to me quite a few coaches are motivated primarily – if not exclusively – by the potential income they can generate.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the desire to earn money and get compensated fairly for your work. But as I argued in my previous article, I don’t think it should be the primary motivator for the work you are doing.

Especially in the case of chess coaching, which in a way, has a social/human element, as it involves helping another human being achieve their maximum potential. I do genuinely think that coaches primarily motivated by money are less likely to have the traits of a good coach mentioned above.

They are more likely to be less engaged and enthusiastic about their work. They are more likely to put much less effort into the preparation for lessons. They are less likely to do any work outside of the lessons. They are much more likely to try to „half-ass it“ and extract maximum gains with the minimum amount of effort. Or put simply – you are much more likely to get an inferior service.

How to tell whether a coach is motivated primarily by money or not? Of course, you can never be  100% sure, but some signs can be very telling. Actions such as:

• Asking you to take as many lessons as possible and not letting you dictate the tempo

There is nothing more off-putting than a coach who tries to talk you into taking as many lessons as possible. I have had a coach who told me I should take at least two lessons a week so he can “pass me all his knowledge”. This was, not very surprisingly, the same guy who came completely unprepared for our very first lesson.

The student should be the one dictating the tempo of the lessons, not the coach. If they try to do so, there are big chances they are trying to extract as much cash in a short period of time as possible.

• Having too many students

A very common thing for chess coaches to do these days is to openly brag/advertise about the number of students they simultaneously have. I have read profiles of chess coaches who mentioned they have anywhere from 50-100 students from the entire world.

I also recently had a conversation with an established chess coach on Twitter who mentioned he has 30-40 hours of lessons per week and that he sometimes schedules 9 consecutive hours of lessons per day.

I think this is a bit problematic. As I mentioned in my reply to this coach, I think it is impossible to hold 9 hours of consecutive lessons and maintain the same level of energy, concentration and intensity.

Not only that – I also firmly believe having so many students/lessons leads to the overall quality of coaching service suffering. I don’t think it is viable to prepare for every lesson, tailor the material individually, keep track of the student’s progress and devote sufficient time to the students between lessons.

This was indirectly confirmed by that very coach since he admitted that he „cannot prepare specifically for each lesson“ and that he also doesn’t really analyze the students’ games in-between lessons.

In my mind, this is a clear sign someone is coaching primarily for the money.

That is not to say that you don’t get anything out of the lessons with someone like that.

But given the choice, I would personally always find a coach who has more time to devote to every individual student.

Note: It has to be said that I don’t know this coach’s target audience. But even under the assumption that they are working primarily with lower-rated players who benefit a lot from general instructional material and who don’t require deep analysis of these games, this amount of students seems quite excessive.

Note 2: I do think that 40 hours of full-time coaching shouldn’t include 40 hours of coaching, but X amount of coaching hours + Y amount of time preparing for lessons/doing other stuff. If that doesn’t generate satisfactory income, there are always options such as increasing the hourly rate, doing group lessons, or exploring other opportunities. Besides – I don’t think one should go into chess coaching with the expectation to earn 6-figures, to begin with.

• Keeping tab of the clock and never wish to prolong the lesson even by 2 minutes unless you pay for a new lesson

Another very clear sign that a coach is in it primarily for the money is „keeping you on the clock“. Ending the lesson exactly at the full hour and not wishing to prolong the lesson the slightest. I once had a very uncomfortable game analysis session with a coach where he interrupted me in the middle of my sentence and asked for more money if the lesson were to continue.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think this should be mandatory or expected. I also agree with the argument that the constant habit of doing so might signal that the coach has some organizational issues.

But I do think some minimum flexibility should be expected. I personally like to let the material dictate the time, not vice versa. I would never cut the lesson in the middle of an exercise or the conversation at the end of the lesson under the pretense that I „value my time too much“. ²⁰

• Charging ridiculous hourly rates

Last but not least – I think there is no better indication of greed than charging ridiculous hourly rates. It is very hard to say what is a ridiculous hourly rate, of course – and I have written another gargantuan article where I discussed this topic, so I will refrain from doing it here. Let me just say that I have seen people charge 250 USD – or even more – for a single lesson. I don’t think I would ever pay such an amount – even if more affordable alternatives didn’t exist.

A bad chess coach is not engaged/enthusiastic during lessons

As mentioned earlier, I consider enthusiasm to be one of the most important traits of a good coach. The absence of any, is, therefore, a major red flag. I would never work with a coach who doesn’t display any affection toward their job – or chess as a whole.

A bad chess coach does not come prepared for the lessons

Another major red flag that needs no further explanation at this point. Even if you are not a very strong chess player, you can tell if a coach comes prepared for a lesson or not. Sure, there can be some variance from one lesson to another, but if the lack of preparation becomes a pattern that keeps repeating, you are probably better off finding someone else.

As they say, fool me once…

A bad chess coach provides you only with pirated material

Previously in this article, I wrote in length about the origin of the material the coach provides you with. Even though my argument was that a coach should have their input visible, I did admit there is nothing principally wrong in taking examples from external resources.

What is principally wrong, though, is relying on external resources that were obtained illegally. These days, ²¹ it is very easy to get access to resources such as books or courses. Both in .pdf, but also in the .pgn format. Many coaches ²² have their hard disks full of pirated material. What’s even worse – many coaches are more than willing to share these illegally obtained resources directly with the students. ²³

Why is this so problematic? First of all, coaches who share pirated material basically take the lazy way out. Downloading and sharing an illegal source directly is much easier compared to taking just a few examples, combining them, annotating them, and preparing original lessons based on that source. To say nothing of coming up with your own original material altogether.

This means that the quality of service you are receiving for your buck is significantly lower. ²⁴ What extra value in hiring a coach is there if all you get is a book or a course you could have easily bought yourself?

Secondly, there is, of course, the ethical issue. Piracy is very prevalent within the chess world. By indulging in such practices, a coach – and indirectly the student – becomes a part of a larger problem.

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not a saint myself. I won’t pretend I don’t have a decent amount of GBs of pirated material. Nor that I have never consulted any of it while preparing a chess lesson myself.

But in recent times, I am trying to be more and more conscientious about this topic. ²⁵ I try to avoid using pirated material as much as I can. Even when I do so, I try to obtain the original resource after the lesson. I have completely stopped sharing this material and always urge the student to obtain a certain book or a course that I recommend to them.

I am not claiming this will solve the piracy problem altogether. But perhaps it can be „a small step“ in the right direction.

A bad chess coach relies on fake promises and false advertising

In my previous article, I wrote in some detail about the bad advertising techniques that are starting to plague the chess world. Chess coaching is one of those domains where these bad practices are the most prevalent.

When you look at chess coaching profiles, it is not uncommon to stumble on coaches using phrases such as „get your chess on the next level“, mentioning they have „the one and only chess learning method“ or promising enormous rating gains.

I am personally immediately put off when I read a profile like that one. Not only because I dislike that type of marketing per se. But because I also think I would have a hard time building trust and developing a relationship with a coach I dislike from the very start.

Additional Considerations

I hope the discussion about good and bad coaching practices above already gave you a clear idea of what to look for in a coach. With that being said, there are some additional considerations I was unable to quite fit into the discussion above, that could also be helpful when it comes to finding the chess coach.

These will be discussed here.

The rating of the coach?

So far in this article, I haven’t really discussed the relevance of the coach’s rating (or title)? Yet, these are often the very first factors being considered by perspective students. Quite a few people think there is a high correlation between a coach’s rating and quality of lessons. Many refuse to be coached by a non-titled player and there are even some elitists who think that nobody below a certain rating threshold should try to do coaching to begin with.

So, how relevant is a coach’s rating? I think it should be taken into consideration, but not overemphasized. I have deliberately avoided discussing it until very late of the article because I think other traits/qualities of a good (or a bad) coach are far more important.

To be fair, there is no denying that the rating of a coach does play a role. I do genuinely think that the coach should be higher rated than the potential student. ²⁶ I do think some level of knowledge/expertise/skill is required. How is an 1800-rated player supposed to explain concepts to a 2200 player if they have never obtained them or played at the level where these concepts become relevant? ²⁷

I also think it is very helpful if the coach has „been through the trenches“ and experienced the difficulties and challenges of your rating level. Say, if you are a 2200 player wishing to get to 2300, I do think it is beneficial if the coach has embarked on the same rating climb at the same point in the past, as they can relate to the struggles and problems much more personally. Even if it makes me an elitist, I would personally never take lessons from someone lower rated than me.

On the other hand, I do think that far too many students obsess over the coach’s rating too much. There is a point where the rating difference doesn’t really matter – or can even become counterproductive. If you are a 1300-rated player, you don’t necessarily need a 2500-level rated coach. On the contrary, such a coach might have trouble dropping down to your level and seeing things from your perspective. ²⁸ I genuinely think you can obtain a similar amount of value from lessons held by a coach in the lower (say 1800-2300) rating range. ²⁹

Especially since lessons from higher-rated players are usually ³⁰ more expensive than lessons from lower-rated players.

This leads me to the next point.

Price?

Since I have written an entire article devoted to the topic of money in chess and since I have already touched upon the pricing of chess lessons in this one, I will keep this brief. While I don’t think you should be guided purely by the price when considering hiring a chess coach, it is a very important ³¹ factor.

Fortunately, nowadays you can find even a fairly high-rated coach for a very reasonable price. Perhaps the best approach is to determine the budget/fee you consider appropriate even before you start your search. And then filter the potential coaches that fall into the given price range on the basis of the factors mentioned previously in this article.

A good coach vs. the right coach?

Last but not least – sometimes even if a coach is good, they might not be the right coach for you.

Different coaches specialize in working with students of different levels (beginners, intermediate, advanced) and specialize in different areas of the game (openings, middlegame, endgame). I would definitely inquire about their area of expertise before taking the very first lesson. Honest and good coaches are very likely to tell you this themselves, anyway.

For example, I have had at least two coaches mention to me fair and square that they primarily work with players in the 1200-2000 rating range and that they can’t devote sufficient attention and time to a „more demanding“ student like me in the 2200 rating range. In my own coaching practice, I have also realized I don’t really like to work with absolute beginners and always refer them to other coaches when they inquire about lessons with me.

Furthermore, even though there are a lot of „objective“ measures when judging the quality of the coach, a healthy dose of subjectivity still remains. Different coaches have different personalities, communication style,s and teaching methods that may appeal to different types of students. For example, I personally like to have lessons infused with humor and jokes, but I understand that many people prefer to keep them more formal and serious.

When I was looking for a psychotherapist, the main advice I got was to „click“ with them already at the first few sessions. I can only recommend the same approach in regard to hiring a chess coach.

Where to find a chess coach?

Okay, so you have decided that you need a coach and have a rough idea of what you are looking for in one. The next thing to know is – where exactly to look for one.

Fortunately, in the 21st century, this is not very difficult. Below, you will find a few places where you can easily start searching for a chess coach:

Major chess websites

Nowadays, lists with potential coaches can be found on almost every major chess website. The two biggest chess entities at the moment, lichess and chess.com both have one – while I was also able to dig the one on the Internet Chess Club. These are definitely a very good starting point as they not only provide you with a big list of potential coaches but also provide you with more information about their rates and methods.

Note: Note that lichess was very useful in that regard because they had the possibility to see the coaches’ reviews. However – as usual with reviews – one has to be really careful about them. I have heard stories of several coaches on lichess fabricating their reviews by creating fake accounts or asking their friends to post reviews in order to increase their legitimacy and visibility. Besides, if you look at them, they are almost always overwhelmingly positive, which is not surprising given that a coach has to approve a review for it to be visible on the coaching page.

Note 2: After I have written the thing above, lichess recently decided to cancel the whole reviewing system. Therefore, the good’ old’ „word of mouth“ is still the best review method out there.

Note 3: The downside of these lists is that they only accept applications by titled players, thus limiting the pool of potential coaches somewhat.

Note 4: In case you are wondering why I am not visible on the lichess list – your coaching profile is not visible when you get muted for bad behavior. Shame on me.

Online chess academies and schools

Coaching lists and individual coaching services are not only offered on major playing websites. Due to the proliferation of the chess coaching in the last few decades, nowadays it is possible to easily find numerous chess schools and academies offering different services related to individual and group coaching.

I have personally never used one to find a chess coach, but I know many people who have. I won’t name any specific one, but entering „Chess Academy“, „Chess School“ or „Chess Academy Online“ into Google should be more than enough to get you started.

Note: I do use Killer Chess Training which is a sort of chess academy. But since they don’t offer individual chess coaching, I have decided to refrain from mentioning them in this context, since we are focusing on individual coaching in this context.

Other online sources

Of course, there are also other places on the Internet where you can find a chess coach. For example, the website Fiverr has an extensive list of coaches offering their services. And one could make an argument that their entire system of reviewing and making transactions is more transparent.

Furthermore, you can also resort to more direct methods. Many chess coaches post (chess) content on social media such as Reddit, Twitter, Quora, Youtube or even their own personal websites/blogs.³² If there is one whose style and content appeals to you, you can always reach out to them and check whether they are available. ³³

Your own chess club/federation

Now, even though we live in the digital era, no online tool can replace the good old feeling of interacting with another person in real life and having a live training session. Despite the fact that the majority of chess coaching is nowadays happening on the Internet, quite a few chess clubs and/or federatons still do offer the possibility to have training sessions in person.

It is true that more often than not, these sessions are aimed at children/young players. It is also true that in many countries, chess coaches appointed by the federation don’t necessarily do their job or are used as the political tool. ³⁴

Nevertheless, in case online lessons are not really your thing, it doesn’t hurt to ask around your club, federation or city and investigate the possibility of having some training sessions in real life.

Conclusion: How To Get The Most Out Of Chess Coaching

Finally, we have arrived at the end of this lengthy article and I would like to thank you for sticking until the end. I hope it has provided you with a more clear idea – or at least rough guidelines – on how (and why) to find a chess coach.

Before I say goodbye, I would like to share one final paragraph from the book How To Study Chess On Your Own. This one is related to another very important question: How to get the most out of chess coaching? Even though it barely scratches the surface, I thought it would be a nice starting point and a good way to conclude this article:

I believe that every student should be actively asking their coach to help them with the improvement aspects mentioned above and then some.

Unfortunately, I see many students being passive in this sense, just waiting for the coach to provide some material for the session without coming to him with questions. […]

For me as a coach, there is nothing worse than asking a student if they have any questions and hearing an answer: „Uhmmmm….hmmmmm… No, I think that I am good for now.“ This tells me that the student does not think much about chess outside the lesson, which is not a good sign when it comes to their improvement.

When your coach asks you this question, it is not out of politeness; he actually expects you to raise your concerns about a problematic opening line or ask him to clarify an unusual idea that you saw in a recent top-level game.

References and further reading

https://chessmood.com/blog/find-the-right-chess-coach-guide

https://nextlevelchess.blog/find-your-chess-coach/

How To Study Chess On Your Own

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p3kYawJpO8

The post Everything You Need To Know About Chess Coaching: How (And Why) To Find A Chess Coach appeared first on Chessentials.

When Aiden reached out to me and asked me for an opportunity for a guest post, I was a little bit skeptical. As some of you might recall from my review of the Chess Experience Podcast, I am always a little bit careful in regard to the new products on the chess landscape – especially when they are accompanied by typical promising marketing slogans.

However, through my subsequent email exchange with Aiden, I very much got an impression of a very authentic person who is genuinely passionate about chess, learning and helping others improve. Rarely have I met someone who was so receptive to my initial – not very pleasant – email and with whom I have had such an open, honest and pleasant conversation about chess, chess improvement and other aspects of life.

I also realized there might be quite some value in his approach to chess learning focusing heavily on chess visualization. Even though it is not a skill that is typically emphasized when chess improvement is discussed, it can’t be denied that all strong chess players develop it to extreme heights.

I did enroll in his Don’t Move Training Program and have solved a few exercises and have to say that it is at the same time challenging ¹, yet very rewarding. Even though I still think there are “many paths that lead to Rome” and that the best improvement method is – having fun and enjoying the process, I do think that many people might find a lot of value in the method and the exercises Aiden offers.

Now, without further ado – I give it to Aiden!

Chess Visualization: The Master Skill

If there is one skill in chess that could be regarded as the game’s “Master Skill”, it would probably be the chess visualization. Without strong visualization skills, we limit our ability to make good decisions, avoid blunders, and seize the opportunities presented to us. To play our best, we need to take this key skill seriously.

Yet, even though it influences every aspect of our game, its importance is often overlooked and misunderstood. There aren’t many resources out there that allow you to train it specifically – and many chess players don’t even try to do it.

And while it is true that visualization indirectly gets improved via other forms of chess training, I believe that focusing on it can be even more effective.

So, what is it about visualization that makes it so important? And what should we do to train it?

We’ll get to that.

But first – let’s take a small detour through another favorite game of mine: Poker. 

Games of Hidden Information

What is it about Poker that captivates so many Chess players?

Grischuk, Vallejo Pons, and Jan Gustafsson were each serious poker players at some point. Magnus and Hikaru both spend quite a bit of time on it too.

One of the best chess players of the last two decades –  GM Alexander Grischuk – enjoying himself at the poker table (Image source: https://twitter.com/chess24com/status/1340324208681885696)

I also find myself drawn to the classic card game. I love the tension of it, the mathematics mixing with the bold bluffs and deduction. I often reflect on the two games, Chess and Poker. They always seemed linked in some way.

The link, after a great deal of pondering, came to me one night: Chess and Poker are BOTH about dealing with hidden information.

Poker’s clearly a game of hidden information. We can’t see what our opponents are holding or what’s still in the deck. We have to use the information we have to try and make the best decisions we can. The more information we have, the better the decision we can make.

Chess seems like a game with no hidden information. All the pieces are in front of us. There are no dice rolls. No one’s going to pull an ace on us.

But in reality, it’s full of hidden information. Fog rests over the board, stopping us from seeing it clearly, calculating into the future, and making decisions we can trust. Our success or failure depends on how well we deal with it all.

The Fog of Chess

Psychological studies have shown that the human brain can only hold between 5 and 9 pieces of information in short-term memory at once. (Most people get 7.) If we try to push beyond that limit, things get fuzzy.

Therein lies a problem: We can hold 7 things in our heads; there are 32 pieces on a Chessboard. One of those numbers is bigger than the other.

We experience mental fog when we start to hit that limit. For beginner players, that happens fast. Beginners hang their Queen in one move. Or miss simple mate-in-1 threats. Even when they’re looking right at the board, their limit of short-term memory is strained.

For more advanced players, the fog is often further back, the brain more adept at dealing with Chess information. But still, they feel its presence.

The fog, like face-down cards in poker, represents information that we don’t have access to.

Image source: Pexels

But unlike in poker, there’s a way we can get access to the hidden information in Chess.

Piercing through the Fog

We must train our brains to make better use of those 7 slots of short-term memory. If we’re going to have any hope of holding all that information in our heads, to see a board with clarity, explore variations deep into the future, we need to train our visualization skills.

Two-time world championship challenger Fabiano Caruana calls visualization “probably the most important skill in Chess.” He says that visualization errors are the bare essence of all mistakes and blunders.

That’s a lot of importance he’s giving to a skill that is largely ignored.

There isn’t much mainstream discussion on how to train visualization. Most experts believe that your visualization skills will improve passively as you do.

If Fabiano Caruana calls this the most important thing in Chess, why are we leaving this up to chance?

When we decide to train visualization actively, the impacts on the rest of our game are astounding.

Most of us are victims of this mental fog. It blocks us from accessing the information we need to make good decisions quickly. It causes us to make mistakes.

Training visualization is actually very simple. I’ll show you how. But first I need to explain something.

Identify, Isolate, Intensify

I love learning new skills. I love that moment when I realize I’ve learned something new. When it’s “clicked”. Over the years I created my own learning methodology. It’s strange, and gets me a lot of funny looks from the experts, but it’s never failed to yield me good results.

There’s one particular principle that literally changed the game for me with Chess. You’ll want to write this down somewhere.

Identify, Isolate, Intensify

For our purposes, this means we need to:

• identify the skill we’re trying to learn (in this case, visualization)
• isolate visualization from the rest of Chess so we can focus on it
• train visualization at an intensity higher than we would ever need in an actual game.

When we do this successfully, we rapidly improve our skills in the target area.

We’re going to achieve each of these goals using Chess audio. Recorded audio of games read aloud. It sounds simple, but you will feel the difference when you’ve done it.

Audio games isolate the skill of visualization. We don’t need to make any of the decisions that we would need to do in blindfold Chess. We don’t need to try and calculate a variation. All we are trying to do is build the raw visualization abilities required to track an entire game with no visual reference. It’s about visualization and nothing else.

Audio games also intensify visualization beyond what’s required in a regular game of Chess. After trying to keep track of a full game of Chess with no visual reference, your brain will feel stretched, perhaps a little overwhelmed. But when you return to a regular Chess game, you will have access to visualization powers you have not had before. After trying to keep an entire board and 32 pieces in your head for 12 moves, your brain will feel relieved that it only needs to remember that the knight, queen, and a couple pawns have moved.

Audio is the secret to the rapid improvement of chess visualization.

Image source: Pexels

How to Train Your Chess Visualization

For simplicity, I’ll break this section into two.

How to Record Your Chess Audio:

(In case you aren’t in a position to record anything right now, I’ve prepared an audio game for you to use here.)

1. Prepare an audio recording device of some kind (I started with the Voice Memos app on my iPhone)
2. Go to chessgames.com and find a game that lasts up to 15 moves (or longer if you’re more advanced). Here’s a filtered search I’ve prepared. Pick one of those games, but don’t spend much time looking at the game before the next step.
3. Record yourself reading the moves out loud one by one. Leave 1-3 seconds of silence between each move. The silences between moves will give your brain a chance to picture everything. Err on the side of longer silences than you might need. It’s better to have extra time between moves than to feel rushed in your training.

Note: be sure to include turn numbers and the extra details (like checks and promotions).

How to Train with Your Chess Audio:

When you have your Chess audio file recorded and ready to go (or you’re using my example one), it’s time to get to work! Set aside at least 10 minutes for this exercise.

We’re going to listen through the audio file, attempting to follow each move on our mental board as we hear it.

With each move made, we need to be able to answer the following questions:

• What did the last move do?
• Did the last move attack or defend anything?
• Did the last move open up any sightlines for other pieces?
• What are the threats in the position?

Make sure to take your time and work to see each position with total clarity in your mind. When you lose track of the position (and you probably will, there’s no shame in that), start the recording again from the beginning. Each time you repeat it, you’re creating a clearer picture and improving your skills.

Repeat this over and over until you either reach the end or at least 10 minutes have gone by.

Remember, this is hard. It’s meant to be hard. We’re isolating and intensifying the skill of visualization. This challenge is what will give you rapid results!

It’s not success that matters here, but effort. It’s not your goal to complete the exercise. Your goal is to keep trying to complete the exercise! Do you see the difference?

I’ll let you in on a secret. I failed a lot when I first did this. Like the optimist I am, I recorded a 25-move game for my first attempt. It seemed like a hard-but-doable number at the time for some reason. I lost track of the position before the end of move 2. But then I tried again, and managed to reach move 3! Then 4. Then 5. Then 7!

It felt like a failure because I couldn’t get to 25. But without realizing it I had more than tripled the number of moves I could track in my head!

And I felt the impact in my Chess immediately. It doesn’t matter if you get to the end, only that you keep improving.

Better Information for Better Decisions

When we train visualization, we get access to more information. Higher quality information. And, like in Poker, the more information you have the more likely you are to make a good decision.

We can see more clearly, deeper into the position than our opponents. We still need to play the right moves, and we may still miss things. But like a WFM who uses my method said: “I still make mistakes, but much less than I used to.”

This method works fast, but it’s not a magic trick. You won’t immediately become a visualization master from your first go at these techniques. They’ll take regular practice to create lasting improvement.

My recommendation is to spend 10 minutes per day doing this, right before any games or study for the day. This kind of training primes your brain to handle any other chess work far more easily.

Sitting Opposite a Mirror

Poker is a game of making the most of the limited information you have. The only way to get more information is to cheat. Maybe you get someone with binoculars in a building across the road eyeing off other players’ hands. Or you sit opposite a mirror and see your opponent’s cards in the reflection.

Image source: Pexels

In both of these cases, you better hope your opponents don’t work out what you’re doing.

In chess, we get more information by developing raw skills. It’s legal, and it’s straightforward. The better we are at visualization, the more information we have, and the more we can trust our decisions.

If we have better information than our opponent, much like in Poker, we have a powerful advantage.

When we no longer allow the fog to defeat us, we have a much better chance of defeating our opponent.

Visualization is the Master Skill of Chess.

And it’s gone ignored for far too long.

P.S. To go deeper into any of these ideas and learn about Don’t Move Until You See It, you can get my free Master Skill Series of newsletters here.

The post How To Improve Your Chess Visualization appeared first on Chessentials.

Yochanan Afek study

Yochanan Afek (1952.- ) is an Israeli chess player, composer, trainer and arbiter. He is the only person to possess international titles at five different facets of chess, being an International Master, International Grandmaster of chess composition,[1] International Arbiter, FIDE master in problem solving (2005), and International Judge for chess compositions.

The study is taken from book written by Mark Dvoretsky and Oleg Pervakov – Studies for Practical Players

   [Event "?"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "2019.03.06"]  [Round "?"]  [White "Yochanan Afek Study"]  [Black "White to play and win"]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "8/8/1p6/8/P4k1p/2PK3P/8/8 w - - 0 1"]  [PlyCount "13"]   1. Kc2 Kg3   (1... Ke4 2. Kb3 Ke5 3. Kb4 Kd6 4. Kb5 Kc7 5. Ka6 Kc6 6. c4 Kc7 7.  Ka7 Kc6 8. Kb8 Kd6 9. Kb7 Kc5 10. Kc7 Kxc4 11. Kxb6) 2. c4 Kxh3 3. c5 Kg2   (3...Kg3 4. cxb6 h3 5. b7 h2 6. b8=Q+)   (3... Kg4 4. c6 h3 5. c7 h2 6. c8=Q+)   (3...bxc5 4. a5 Kg3   (4... Kg2 5. a6 h3 6. a7 h2 7. a8=Q+ Kg1 8. Qg8+ Kf2 9. Qd5 Kg1  10. Qg5+ Kf1 11. Qf4+ Kg2 12. Qg4+ Kf2 13. Qh3 Kg1 14. Qg3+ Kh1 15. Qf2 c4 16.  Qf1#) 5. a6 h3 6. a7 h2 7. a8=Q) 4. cxb6 h3 5. b7 h2 6. b8=Q h1=Q 7. Qb7+ 1-0 

The post Chess study 39 appeared first on Chessentials.

The example is taken from book written by Yochanan Afek- Extreme Chess Tactics

   [Event "?"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "2019.02.27"]  [Round "?"]  [White "M. Tal- Ulski"]  [Black "White to play and win"]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r3qr1k/1b2bppp/1p2pn2/4N1BP/p2p4/3B2R1/PPP1QPP1/2K4R w - - 0 1"]  [PlyCount "17"]   1. Ng6+ fxg6 (1... Kg8 2. Nxe7+ Qxe7 3. Bh6 g6   (3... Ne8 4. Bxg7 Nxg7 5. h6) 4.hxg6 fxg6 5. Bxg6 hxg6 6. Rxg6+ Kf7 7. Rg7+)   (1... hxg6 2. hxg6+ Kg8 3. Bxf6 Bxf6   (3... fxg6 4. Qxe6+ Qf7 5. Qh3 Qxf6 6. Bc4+) 4. Rh8+ Kxh8 5. Qh5+ Kg8 6.  Qh7#) 2. hxg6 h6 3. Rxh6+ gxh6 4. g7+ Kg8   (4... Kxg7 5. Bxh6+ Kh8 6. Bg7+ Kg8  7. Qxe6+ Qf7   (7... Rf7 8. Bxf6+ Kf8 9. Bh7 Rxh7 10. Rg8#) 8. Bxf6#) 5. gxf8=Q+  Bxf8 6. Bxf6+ Kf7 7. Qe5 Qc8 8. Bg6+ Kg8 9. Qh5 1-0 

The post Chess tactics 110 appeared first on Chessentials.

The example is taken from book written by Yochanan Afek- Extreme Chess Tactics

   [Event "?"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "2019.02.21"]  [Round "?"]  [White "A. Karpov - J. Timman"]  [Black "White to play and win"]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "2r4r/pp4k1/1n2q1p1/1B5p/3Pp1bQ/B1P5/p1P4P/K3RR2 w - - 0 1"]  [PlyCount "11"]   1. Rxe4 Qxe4 2. Qf6+ Kh7 3. Qf7+ Kh6 4. Bc1+ g5 5. Rf6+ Qg6 6. Qxg6# 1-0 

The post Chess tactics 109 appeared first on Chessentials.

The example is taken from book written by Yochanan Afek- Extreme Chess Tactics

   [Event "?"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "2019.02.10"]  [Round "?"]  [White "A. Viswanathan - G. Kasparov "]  [Black "Black to play and win"]  [Result "0-1"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "2r5/4ppk1/1N1pb1p1/1p5p/1r2P2P/K4P2/2PR2P1/4R3 b - - 0 1"]  [PlyCount "7"]   1... Rxc2 2. Rxc2   (2. Kxb4 Rxd2 3. Kxb5 Rxg2) 2... Rb3+ 3. Ka2 Re3+ 4. Kb2 Rxe1  0-1   

The post Chess tactics 108 appeared first on Chessentials.