Hello,

So, I am beginning to think about spending an hour a week with an instructor. The problems is that there are just so many options with this new online world. I feel quite comfortable with the ICC and telecommunication options many instructors use today so geography is not a factor. Aside from the basics, money and language, how do you evaluate which teachers would be a good match without  trial and error?

Any experience with this?

M

*Cough* Valeri Lilov *cough*. 

A few points:

1. Slapping 70-150 bucks on the table to a famous IM/GM who retired from chess so long ago "tends" to be less efficient for your progress (IMHO) than a lesser rated teacher who actually has a lot of success with teaching.

3. Another "nice to have"  => Said player needs to have a students per teacher ratio low enough to be able to customize lesson plans and material to YOUR needs, not some generic cookie-cutter chess prescription that works out well for him but not so great for you.

4. Somebody who KNOWS what it's like to once be a Class E/D/C/B player.  The 1000-rating-points-in-one-year prodigies who broke Class A/Expert purely by their natural playing abilities may not be great teachers ... things come to them by intuition and they can't and often won't empathize with your inability to deal with certain concepts/problems you're struggling with.

5.The best coaches have also had great coaches.  I've seen this pattern too often to ignore.

lol; just as a side note, my friend's grandpa is a grandmaster who is a coach :) just throwing that out there......... lol

I'm unfamiliar with this... What exactly do you mean? This is pretty intriguing, and I'd like to know more. 

Getting or having a chess coach, period, has to be face to face. Any other option; internet is a waste of time and money for both sides!

- Face to face is important. I've actually had a coach on chess.com, who later got banned for cheating, apparently, he really wasn't 2100 live blitz... Yet somehow tried to teach a friend.

- Someone who has a recent rating, hopefully at least 200-300 points higher than you.

- Someone who knows more about the technical aspects of chess rather than someone who just plays a lot and has gotten good. Someone who can call the opening you just played against him.

- Someone who can articulate his strategy, get a free lesson first, and see if you understand him. The worst teacher is one who cannot communicate his ideas.'

#4 of Shivsky is a great point. You cannot have a teacher who has learned through intuition and inner-logic how to become a Class A / expert player. Someone may be rated 2100, but may not know how to play like a 2100. It needs to be someone who has worked for years to get to his level, through slow increments of learning. People like Magnus Carlsen would probably never be able to teach.

Not true.

I agree, it may be less somewhat less effective than face-to-face, but online coaching sessions can still bear fruit. As long as there's a board where you can move pieces around and talk to eachother, you're in business.

Many (well at least some!) teachers on the ICC will probably give you a free lesson if you ask them for it as a sample. Same thing here on chess.com. You can't know they'd be a good match unless you try them. Their self-crafted bio will only tell you so much.

Wow, and here I was going to say to stick with someone ideally rated about 200 points higher than yourself who enjoys teaching.  The idea is that he/she is better, but not to the extent that they speak way over what you comprehend.  It's that math thing where he/she is like a half a step ahead, and that you can much more easily catch up in half steps than by trying to jump two or three.  Oh well, hope this helps.  

Dan Heisman, who does coach on the ICC, wrote a Novice Nook column about how to pick a chess coach, so you may be interested in looking that up.

From this site, I can recommend FM Valeri Lilov. I am taking lessons from him (not as many as I wish I did, given my very busy schedule), but they are worth gold. He is a very talented teacher and always willing to walk the extra mile to come toward his students. 5 stars for me!

 Thanks for all the feedback. Many instructors now use the teacher options on the Internet Chess Club along with skype for verbal discussion during the lesson. It seems to work for many who do not have access to in person lessons. Some pretty famous teachers such as Dan Heisman use this technique now.

Thanks for this, I have actually enjoyed his novice nook articles. He is a bit expensive for me as a couch, but will look for this article.

Yup.  Former student of Dan's  and I can confirm that Phone + ICC is no different than face-to-face, if you have the "right" coach.  Unless you're a kid or easily distracted!

ID be willing to give you a free lesson and see how we go from there :O

Not true? You have experience in teaching via the internet? Trying to teach a game with so many esoteric nuances as chess over a virtual medium such as the internet is incredibly difficult. Most teachers who try this get burnout very fast. Finding just one interested and committed student(s) is a miracle. Most players who have passion will figure out the game on their own. Even Magnus C takes coaching lessons from GK but these are not virtual, they are f to f, the preferred method of learning. Virtual lessons, while not impossible are a more difficult avenue to learning this game.

last I checked, something was better than nothing ;)

As an alternative to Skype which is free by the way, teaching over the phone can be considered as long as you are not paying for a long distance call. You do have to send your games over the internet, which can be a hassle at times.

What to look for in a coach?

I will add to the already very goods suggestions made and not repeat them:

At the first session, which should be free or a minimal cost like $15 for one hour, ask for:

1. An assessment of your play, bring a few games you played. Try to bring a game that you have really blundered and do not know why or where you made the wrong position evaluation and/or moves, a game that you lost and could have won that where close and also bring a game that you won and are proud of because of the complexity of the game, so in total bring 3 games.

2. An improvement plan with an estimated timeframe to reach and realize your goal, do realize that you will hit a plateau at some point in the progression.

3. Cover how he goes about your detailed game analysis, especially those you lost and do ask for the cost to analyze.

4. To evaluate your chess library and chess aids and any additional suggestion aids he has for now and the frequency to use them.

5. How he can set your play move pace to have enough time to play your moves in regulated time and not loose because of time pressure, meaning not having enough time to analyze to play the next move.

6. Self study plan recommended. Books and games and time to dedicate on a weekly basis, based on your availability to dedicate your time to chess. In other words how much time to spend playing chess and studying theory.

7. How he or you will follow up on your chess progression towards your goal.

Last considerations on your first meeting, face to face must be, do you feel good about this coach? Is he listening to you or always interrupt you and try to anticipate and has the answer to all of your unasked questions?

He should never offer a guaranteed success as he is not you; he should offer psychological support and expertise.

Negotiate the price, you pay. At times a 2 hour session can be ½ the cost for the 2^nd hour.

Ask your coach in negotiating what price he can offer if you commit to 10 one hour or 2 hours lesson or etc.., use your bargaining power, but do not be ridiculous as everyone needs to make a living.

Yes I have. Doing it via Scype is actually really easy and just as effective as OTB.