Bad experience with a coach

No shaming and naming!

I’ve put off writing this email for some time because I felt that it would come off as petty. But for the sake of contributing back something to the community I’ve decided to go ahead and do it. 
Towards the end of last year I decided to hire a coach from the forum here on chess.com. I settled on one. It was $250 for a group of 10 lessons. 

The first lesson consisted of him doing a some puzzles in front of me (presumably to demonstrate his prowess. He was doing them rapid fire without any explanation). He recommended a book. He showed me some some chess databases so I could watch classic matches. He “evaluated” some of my recent games.  Which consisted of “you shouldn’t have done that, you should have done this.”  No explanation. 

Then we skipped 2 weeks because it was the holidays and he was unavailable. 
I believe the next lesson we skipped because he was ill. Which is completely understandable. The next lesson we had was very similar to the first. He showed me websites. He watched me play a game. But he had me play a 10 minute game (I usually play 60). It flustered me. I know a 10 minute game is not really a time crunch but it got in my head. Nothing productive came from that. He didn’t really get to see how I play and he had no useful advice. 

I believe I skipped the next lesson. Then I wrote him an email saying that I was going to terminate our relationship and just eat the money I had paid and I told him the reasons for my decision. I never heard from him again. 

In the two lessons we had, he never prepared by watching any of my recent games in advance (maybe I’m wrong, but I thought maybe a good coach would do that). Never recommended any openings I should study. Never spoke of chess theory. The closest he came to coaching was explaining what the “middle of the board” was and why it’s important. Any advice I did receive was to visit certain websites, start a database of your played games, and you shouldn’t have done that, you should have done this.  

He might very well be an excellent player. And maybe for advanced players he would be a fine coach. My understanding of the game is not at a level where I can make that determination. You can look at my profile and tell that I’m barely at beginner level. And I was clear with him before I hired him that I was noob. 

What I do know is I spent $250 on 10 lessons and I have no regrets about terminating after two of them. And I’m not a rich person. That’s how disappointed I was. 

Like I said, I hope this doesn’t come off as petty. But perhaps it will help others when searching for a coach. 

For the record, the coach’s name was Charles Galofre. 

Sorry to hear and to know you were treated this way, OP.  You sound like a reasonable and an ethical person.  Sadly, people like you in the world of chess are few.

I appreciate the kind words and while I think I’m a reasonable person, I certainly don’t see myself as more ethical than the “average” person in the chess world. At least I hope not! 😂 

While it is unfortunate, there are some things I would recommend to help you if you decide to hire a coach in the future.

When hiring a new coach, do not pay for bulk lessons.  Pay for the first few lessons individually to ensure the working relationship is going to be fruitful before you commit to a significant amount of time and money.

Most of the time, a coach with several students is not going to have time to pull up your online games.  Rather, you should save games you want to go over and send them beforehand.

At your level, a good coach is not going to recommend you study any specific openings nor opening theory right now.  Rather, he would teach you the opening principles.

What you are describing sounds like someone who simply is not a good coach.  Coaching is a skill in and of itself, and just because someone is a strong player does not mean they have the ability to teach it.

Assuming you are in the US, I would urge you to find your local Chess club and visit it.  Most clubs will have several players who would be able to coach a beginner properly.

I’ve put off writing this email for some time because I felt that it would come off as petty. But for the sake of contributing back something to the community I’ve decided to go ahead and do it. 
Towards the end of last year I decided to hire a coach from the forum here on chess.com. I settled on one. It was $250 for a group of 10 lessons. 

The first lesson consisted of him doing a some puzzles in front of me (presumably to demonstrate his prowess. He was doing them rapid fire without any explanation). He recommended a book. He showed me some some chess databases so I could watch classic matches. He “evaluated” some of my recent games.  Which consisted of “you shouldn’t have done that, you should have done this.”  No explanation. 

Then we skipped 2 weeks because it was the holidays and he was unavailable. 
I believe the next lesson we skipped because he was ill. Which is completely understandable. The next lesson we had was very similar to the first. He showed me websites. He watched me play a game. But he had me play a 10 minute game (I usually play 60). It flustered me. I know a 10 minute game is not really a time crunch but it got in my head. Nothing productive came from that. He didn’t really get to see how I play and he had no useful advice. 

I believe I skipped the next lesson. Then I wrote him an email saying that I was going to terminate our relationship and just eat the money I had paid and I told him the reasons for my decision. I never heard from him again. 

In the two lessons we had, he never prepared by watching any of my recent games in advance (maybe I’m wrong, but I thought maybe a good coach would do that). Never recommended any openings I should study. Never spoke of chess theory. The closest he came to coaching was explaining what the “middle of the board” was and why it’s important. Any advice I did receive was to visit certain websites, start a database of your played games, and you shouldn’t have done that, you should have done this.  

He might very well be an excellent player. And maybe for advanced players he would be a fine coach. My understanding of the game is not at a level where I can make that determination. You can look at my profile and tell that I’m barely at beginner level. And I was clear with him before I hired him that I was noob. 

What I do know is I spent $250 on 10 lessons and I have no regrets about terminating after two of them. And I’m not a rich person. That’s how disappointed I was. 

Like I said, I hope this doesn’t come off as petty. But perhaps it will help others when searching for a coach. 

For the record, the coach’s name was Charles Galofre. 

I improved without a coach. Improvement comes from everyday hard work. In my case I am alone. Having a chess coach is an advantage he or she will tell you what to do in your practice. I managed to discover it myself. With chess books. I never used online lessons and online tactics trainers.

Would someone be kind enough and have that game I just played analyzed? (I already used my one analysis/day on here)

https://www.chess.com/game/live/72763971549

Lol, I missed a mate in one, at move 43. Hahaha!

Thanks for the input. I suppose there was a couple of reasons I purchased a group of lessons. One being they were more affordable that way. And secondly, it was a commitment. A commitment that would help ensure I continue the pursuit. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. 

Perhaps my expectations were inappropriate. I thought I had an idea of what coaching would entail. This is why I detailed my experiences. This way people could tell me if I was in the wrong or not. I didn’t want to be the guy who just says “my coach sucked”. 

With regards to a local chess club…I live in rural part of the Midwest. Not a lot of chess clubs in my area. 😉

Again, I appreciate the input. 

As long as the review is honest and isn't claiming a TOS breach, having the coach named should be fine.

You would never buy a car without first test driving it. Why commit to 10 lessons only to have the first couple lessons be bad?