Coach NEEDED

A friend of mine is in need of a chess coach for a child in the Syracuse, NY area.  Should be rated Expert or higher.  Reliable, in-person, consistent instruction needed.  Child has played one national tournament (Nashville, earlier this year) and did ok.  Having a difficult time finding opponents to challenge him.  5th-6th grade age level - he recognizes that chess could be a REAL future for him.  We all know how rare that is - let's help this kid.  Parents willing to pay reasonable rates.  Get in touch with me, and I will forward information accordingly.  Thank you, Everyone!

Eddie Sullivan

He's not an incredible player and he won't be able to meet in person. But he's an AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, and WONDERFUL teacher. mr.dr.b.

Hey bmfeher. I can mentor your friend in chess through Zoom or Skype (I perfer Zoom though). I am currently a 1965 USCF chess player (high Class A player). I live in Norristown, PA. I charge $35 an hour. My cellphone # is 610-812-5433. My email address is mathewmartello2@gmail.com. I prefer that you call me so that we can discuss this to see if this will work now. I will give you my full chess tutoring description in next comment.

Matt Martello’s Chess Tutoring

Profile: I am a 1968 USCF rating chess player. I am very close to becoming an expert level player (2000 or higher USCF chess rating). I started playing chess when I was 12 years old (I am 25 years old now). I love playing the game of chess. I will keep playing and learning the game for the rest of my life. My current goal is to become an expert level chess player in USCF, and then my next I will see if I can become a National Master in USCF (2200 or higher USCF chess rating) or even a higher rating than 2200 USCF rating.

Education:

College: Kutztown University of Pennsylvania                                                                   Kutztown, PA                                     

                B.S. Biology/Molecular/Micro/Cell                                                                  Class of 2013

                Dual Minor: Biochemistry and Mathematics                                                                          

                GPA: 3.29                 

High School: Norristown Area High School                                                                       Norristown, PA

                GPA: 3.57                                                                                                               Class of 2009

Chess Achievements:

-2012 Delaware State Championship U1600 Section: 2nd Place

-2013 Liberty Bell Open U1500 Section: 1st Place

-2013 Philadelphia Open U1600 Section: 4th Place

-2013 National Chess Congress U1800 Section: 1st Place

-2015 National Chess Congress U2000 Section: 4th Place

-Class A Chess Player (1800-1999 USCF Rating)

Objective: My objective is to teach a beginning to intermediate player (100-1500 USCF chess rated player) chess so they can improve on their chess skills. It doesn’t matter what age you are. I am willing to teach any age from 5-80+ years old. I would like to see my chess students improve on their chess game, to improve their USCF chess rating, and to improve their love of the game.                                                                                                           

Testimonials:

-I currently am tutoring a student in chess for about one and a half years. When he started chess, he was a 900 USCF rated player. But within one year, he went up over 200 USCF rating points near 1200 USCF rating. He had some victories against a couple of 1400 players, and a victory against a 1600 player.                                                                                                    

Goals: -To improve a chess player in their chess openings.

           -To improve a chess player with their middle-game tactics.

           -To improve a chess player with their end-game tactics.

           -To improve a chess player with their tactical thinking.

           -To improve a chess player with certain mating patterns.

           -To improve a chess player with patience during the game.

           -To improve a chess player in playing with time trouble.

           -To show a chess player the basic rules of the game.  

Rate of Charge: What I will charge my chess students for me to tutor them will be $35/hour. I can tutor through Zoom or Skype. But I prefer Zoom. How payment will work is that I can accept payment through either Venmo or PayPal.

Available: I am available throughout the week except on Tuesday nights around 7:30pm-11pm and Friday nights around 8:30pm-11pm. These are when my Business Meetings are. My cellphone # is 610-812-5433. My email address is mathewmartello2@gmail.com. You can even message me through chess.com.

Don't pay an A-player $35 an hour when you can find plenty of IM's on ICC for $30 an hour.  Message me and I'll let you know who my coach is.

He doesn't even have the software. You'll spend money waiting for him to fidget with it, while he figures out what he needs to do:

"Hi, my name is Matt Martello and I am a chess tutor. I am going to teach chess to students online soon. I was wondering how I am able to eliminate chess pieces so that I am able to make the lesson go faster. For example, I would like to show how a rook and king vs. king work. So I would have to eliminate/delete all of the other pieces so that I only have 2 kings and a rook. Does anyone know any good chess programs for that? 

Thank you for your advice zBorris. I guess that I have a lot to learn. I have to know more of the chess software and I have to learn more about chess tutoring. But one thing that you are wrong about is that I haven't been playing chess for only 3 years. I started playing when I was 12 years old and I am 25 years old now. So I've been playing for 13 years. I only have been playing exclusively on USCF chess play for about 3 years. I played mostly on the internet (like ICC, chess.com, etc.) for about 13 years. I got some advice from NMs and other higher rated chess players on how to play better. But I basically taught myself how to play better with implementing their tips.

And I guess I should have researched more about the prices. I will research the prices from NM, IM, GM, etc. and I will lower my chess tutoring prices.

Your tournament history shows that you were mostly inactive until 2013, when you received your first USCF standard rating. The fact that you claim such an extended history in spite of your own record ought to be a red flag for any student who is looking for a trustworthy coach.

Taking a closer look at your record reveals that you must have dedicated yourself to a year of chess, from March 2013 - 1638, to November 2014 - 1971. About 300 points in 600 days. That looks like a 7 circles diet, as you haven't improved in your chess since then -- as late as March 2016, your last tournament, 1965 -- a drop of 6 rating points since your peak in 2014.

In the COACHES section, Chess Coaches are arranged by rating, skill level, location, or how active they are on Chess.com. Many of them have posted their rates for students. Here is an example, a titled player 2300 FIDE rating, charging $25 per hour with a discount for 5 lessons at $110.

So look around in the COACHES section before you commit to someone.

COACH, FM Titled, 2300 FIDE

• 1 hour lesson with skype support.  $25.00
• 1 hour lesson(x5) with skype. $110.00
• 30min game w/coach, full analysis, strategic plans & mistakes (w/video) $15.00
• Turn-based game (3days/move) w/coach, I annotate game w/useful tips $10.00
• Send me a game, and I return video w/full analysis.  $15.00

Well zBorris, the thing is that over the 13 years, I have been playing exclusively on ICC as the username "doomerator" (I made up this username because I like the game Doom and Doom 2 when I was younger). Here is the link to my ICC account: https://www.chessclub.com/user/finger/doomerator. I have played over 15,000 games on ICC over the years (even before I started playing exclusively in USCF a few years ago). And before I started playing on USCF exclusively, in theory, I was about an 1800 USCF player while I was playing on ICC chess. I was basically just learning what mistakes I was doing without much instruction at all. During my years in Middle School and High School, I did not get a lot of chess coaching. I also did not know much about USCF in Middle School/High School, and even beginning of college. I did not know much about USCF chess clubs. And plus I was busy with other things/activities in Middle School/High School and College. I learn some things from my high school chess coach and I learn some things from my uncle. But I surpass my high school chess coach in high school and I surpass my uncle in high school/college. I did not get much chess instruction until the last few years (near my end of my college career). I met both NM Dan Hesiman and NM Peter Minear at chess clubs and they taught me some things on how to get better with my game. And then other people from the chess club show me some good websites where I could learn chess openings, tactics, etc and I got the Fritz '13 program. I implemented all of these lessons/training/tips into my own game and I gotten better. 

Mat- So you really haven't had any formal training for most of your chess history, just futzing about online, to give you around a 1450 USCF rating, which actually slumped just prior to your last few years when you received some coaching and played in tournaments on a regular basis. There's nothing in your explanation to challenge my assessment of your incredible lack of qualifications and experience to train students on a "one-on-one" hourly basis.

 I am a chess coach since 2008 and a chess expert with a standard chess.com rating of 2359 highest. My rate is a very reasonable $10 per hour rate. Here is my blog: http://learnchessbychessoptimist.blogspot.com/2012/11/learn-chess-online-by-chessoptimist.html

Current Promos: 

http://learnchessbychessoptimist.blogspot.com/2015/11/have-your-game-fully-analysed-in-pgn.html

http://learnchessbychessoptimist.blogspot.com/2017/01/super-promo-play-and-let-expert-train.html

 Lol standard 2359 is just from the rating boost that chess.com gave everyone a few years ago. I remember when I was a strong beginner, I was 1500 rapid and one day I was 2150 for no reason. 

You're not bad, but 2359 is a bit deceptive

Since computer-impossible is only 2100, it means you can beat computer-impossible most of the time!

Also, just realized this post was from a long time ago

Well in ICC, i do reached a rating of 2566 highest in blitz with 17,000 games. But i do understand what you mean. i only have 50 standard games, but with a best win against a 2228 player and with winning streak of 14 games in standard should not be bad.

Of course, if ANYONE bothered to read the original post, you would have all noticed that it says, "Reliable, IN-PERSON, consistent instruction needed."  Just to clarify, "in-person" means NOT via skype, internet connection, telephone, carrier pigeon, snail mail, smoke signal, morse code, pony express, or even drum beating.  IN OTHER WORDS, ARE YOU IN THE SYRACUSE, NY, AREA?  If not, then DO NOT BOTHER.