Chess Coach, Chess Engine, Chess Books, or Chess.com Premium Membership?

Hi,  I am looking to improve my chess game, and I think I have gotten as good as I can by just playing chess consistently and analyzing the game on my own.  So, I was wondering given a limited amount of money, like maybe enough for a premium membership for a year, one lesson a month with an NM, or a decent chess engine, where would my money be of the most use?  Or should I just get some free chess books from the library and study those? I've heard great things about premium memberships and how they improve your game, but I can't tell if its hype or real.  Similarly, I've heard people talk about how good a chess coach is for your game; however I don't know if one hour lesson a month is enough to get any real improvement.  Also, I've heard of gm's just using an engine to practice.  Is that something you need a lot of talent to do or just an effective strategy? Finally, chess books are good, but they are very time consuming and I don't know if I could get a bigger gain from some other method.

If it makes a difference, I believe for long time controls I am somewhere between 1300-1500 USFC otb.  I've never played in a rated event but when I play at my school club and online, I tend to beat the people around <1350 and lose to those >1550.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

What free books do you have access to? tia

First of all, a good engine and database is not something you should be paying for, some very good stuff are free, although it takes a little work to set up and learn to use effectively.

Library chess books? I think maybe yes, but if you find a book you like go out and buy it. It probably takes a year to work through a chess book properly.

Considering super-strong chess engines are free, and there are public libraries and the internet for tons of free lessons the choice of where to spend your money is obvious.

A chess coach can help to give your instruction direction. There are two more benefits to having a chess coach: a) by paying for lessons, you will be more willing to succumb to the discipline necessary for real improvement and b) you'll have someone who can actually answer your questions and give you an objective perspective of your strengths and weaknesses.

A caveat: Don't get a coach who only finds weaknesses in your game. Every human needs at least some positive reinforcement!

Thanks for the input guys. Seems the answer is all three, but 2 are free. The point about a coach giving discipline is something I never really thought about.  So any suggestions on which free engine to use, and who is a good coach for monthly lessons?

@JustinJ_Fairfield-Free engines and chess programmes are available on net.A good chess programme is Arena3.0.You could use the latest version of Stockfish, which I guess is Stockfish-231-64 ja(if you don't have 64 bit cpu processing then 32 is also good) which is very strong and can beat fritz 13.Hope this will help you.

@justin : if you have a budget of say 200$ for one year, I would use 60-70$ for an assessment of your game and some training recommendations by a coach (one-shot), 30$ for a couple of training books/software as recommended by your coach or a ChessTempo subscription, and the rest either to join a chess club or play in a couple of OTB tourneys.

@mishrashubham: Thanks! I just downloaded those programs. 

@hicetnunc:  Thanks a lot for the advice.   I messaged a coach about taking a lesson, no response yet.  I'll look into going to a real chess club, I live near Boston so there has to be a club somewhere near by. Thanks again

You could try a diamond membership here for one month and see if it's worthwhile for you or not. You get unlimited: tactics trainer, videos and chess mentor lessons all of which I highly recommend, although they may not be your cup of tea; but if they are I think you can do without a coach for quite awhile (or maybe forever, like most of your peers).

I agree with rooperi 's remarks about chess software and library books BTW

Check out these books, (click on the link in boldface below) several of them would still be very good for you IMHO (based on your est USCF rating) although they're labeled as "beginner" books; some are available as free downloads, while the rest can be purchased cheaply at amazon (if you don't mind used copies in good or better condition)

http://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/beginner-chess-book-recommendations

The link above is of no value.  First, they are pirated copies of books still under copyright (or whatever international protection they are afforded).  Second, since they are all illegal copies, they have been deleted from the mediafire web server.

Which link are you referring to? This one?

sites.google.com/site/.../home/books-in-chessbase-collection

@maldavis617-is that so,I never knew that.Safe for me that I haven't downloaded anything yet.I am deleting it right now.Thanks for alerting so quickly.

If you have the budget for it then go premium. But coming from a third world country, most of us learn through play and chess books. But mind you..books that are really worht the read and very informative.

i think premium membership is the best. Chessmentor is just like a coach or book.

@Nimzoroy-I think he refers to the same link which I had posted.I now have deleted it.No illegal work tolerated!!

Thanks for the input into this thread. I was very close to posting a super similar question on the forums tonight. now i don't need to. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.:)

Thanks Justin.

Again, thanks alot for the advice and resources guys. I started to go throught the Lasker book linked above, its well worth the effort.

Bumping an Old thread.

At what point of time does one look for a chess coach ?

I am into chess for just fun and relaxation. Want to improve enough to enjoy master games.

Haven't read much except here on chess.com, so should I just stick with chess.com premium membership or take a chess coach for consultation on a study plan.

Thanks