Points To Be Remembered While Hiring an Online Chess Coach

Posted by IchessU on March 4th, 2015

Hiring a chess coach can help improve your skills in playing chess and in understanding the game.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, there is one effective and low-cost way to learn from real masters—and that is by getting an online chess coach. You just need to find a coach that you feel comfortable with and who can help you hone your skills and challenge your playing style.

One way to determine the worthiness and the skills of a chess coach is to actually sign up for a couple of sessions. You can also contact previous and existing students to verify the coach’s skills and expertise.

Your skill level is crucial in determining the best chess coach to hire. There are online chess schools that have coaches for every skill level and age group—and they can provide private lessons and virtual classroom experience with other students. Choose a coach with experience and a good record of successfully coaching students in your age and skill level. Some of the best online chess schools have coaches that cater to people with special needs, as well as students below the 1400 rating.

Look for a chess coach with experience in competing too. Joining competitions can help hone skills and credentials. By working with a coach who has a lot of competition experience, you can gain a lot of insight. They know and understand how competitions go and can tailor lesson plans that can effectively train you for a competition someday.

You also want to hire a chess coach who can point you to extra-curricular study materials that can help improve your overall chess knowledge. Your coach should recommend books and other similar materials that will complement what you are currently studying. If you are currently working on your middle game, for example, a good online chess coach might recommend an endgame book to supplement your study nicely.

A good chess coach must introduce you to and help you interact with other players of other levels, so you can learn chess better. At the same time, the coach should provide you with expert guidance to help you recognize and analyze your moves. You should be able to learn and see chess openings and other chess moves, and be able to apply them in actual games. A good chess coach is a mentor that does not just provide answers and problems for you to analyze and solve. The best chess coaches can give you efficient and helpful feedback on every move you make, so you can completely improve your game play and skills.

About the author:

Albert Fishman has been involved in teaching chess since 1996 and is part of the IchessU coaching staff.