This is quite an old thread so I don't know if a reply now would benefit anybody, but here it is. I think a professional coach in the US has to charge between $50-$100/hr to make a comfortable living. Assuming they are at least National Masters, they absolutely deserve that. If you have a kid who is taking ANY kind of private lessons, you know $1/min is the norm in ANY activity, be it tennis, swimming, piano, and the teachers who charge the $1/min certainly wouldn't be the equivalent of NM in their field. However, if the coach is already living a comfortable life from other means, they may charge less out of passion for the game and to supplement their income. Also, you have to factor in living standards. There is some competition from East Europe where there are many strong players. But there is a language and culture barrier which you may or may not feel is a problem. Heisman is famous so his lesson is deservedly offered at a price premium. And you know you won't go wrong with him if you can afford it. There is probably better quality/price ratio out there but you may have to find by trial and error. My son has been taking lessons from bmcc333 at $30/hour for more than a year. He has a regular day job so doesn't solely rely on the tuition which made the $30/hr rate possible. My son went from 1300 to 1800 in 15 months. To be perfectly clear, this is not all because of the lesson (no doubt hard work and some self study is needed on the end of the pupil), but since I am a very weak player, there are things that a (former) 2400 player can really guide you to fuel the improvement. bmcc333 also makes a good point on correlation of improvement to lesson time. With a cheaper coach, if the student has the time, he can afford to increase the lesson time. My son enjoys the lesson so much, when he fails to finish my assignments to earn the lesson--I won't tell you how old he is--he is willing to pay from his own pocket (chess prize money) for the lesson. And there are too many interesting games to cover in the weekly one hour already; if he didn't have school work and sports, I'd already be considering going to 2 hours/week because it will still be affordable.
Dan Heisman vs other coaches. high prices worth it?
I took 6 lessons from dan heisman and I would say that it really wasnt worth it. I would get criticism for this, but I honestly would say that he just didnt fit my style of lessons. I wouldnt say that he would be a bad coach to everyone, but just in my lessons we didnt do anything that was really beneficial. I didnt feel that i learnt anything and we just did things that I do at home by myself. First lesson I did tactics problems with him. Second lesson I did another tactics problem with him. Btw this is 1 hour lessons and I solved 3-4 indepth tactics the whole time. I do these kinds of things at home bymyself. On the third lesson he decided to do tactics again so I asked him if we can do positional study or some sort of game analysis of players. He said that tactics are important and that I should do tactics for the third lesson so I agreed. 4th lesson and 5th lesson he wanted to do tactics again and by this time I was tired of this because my friends that had lessons with other coaches had lessons where they analysed professional games and had their own games analysed. Thus, improving quite quickly because they fixed their weaknesses. On the other hand I didnt really have that experience till the 6th lesson which was my last lesson with him because I was so deeply disappointed with his lessons. I expected him to actually explain the moves played in the analysis and the flaws. We looked at a positional game from bobby fischer and this one other player. Mr. Heisman just told me the move order than told me what the computer analysed and thats about it. When I asked him why bobby moved where and why there were some positional errors in some of his moves, Dan couldnt really tell me anything. Towards the end of the hour about 15 minutes left. He ran through a game of mine with a chess engine and told me what the engine thought was correct, but didnt identify my weaknesses or why the moves made by the computer were much better. Other than that he didnt really seem to be interested in me as a student and his homework was really bad. He just told me to solve tactics problems and thats about it.
I took 6 lessons from dan heisman and I would say that it really wasnt worth it. I would get criticism for this, but I honestly would say that he just didnt fit my style of lessons. I wouldnt say that he would be a bad coach to everyone, but just in my lessons we didnt do anything that was really beneficial. I didnt feel that i learnt anything and we just did things that I do at home by myself. First lesson I did tactics problems with him. Second lesson I did another tactics problem with him. Btw this is 1 hour lessons and I solved 3-4 indepth tactics the whole time. I do these kinds of things at home bymyself. On the third lesson he decided to do tactics again so I asked him if we can do positional study or some sort of game analysis of players. He said that tactics are important and that I should do tactics for the third lesson so I agreed. 4th lesson and 5th lesson he wanted to do tactics again and by this time I was tired of this because my friends that had lessons with other coaches had lessons where they analysed professional games and had their own games analysed. Thus, improving quite quickly because they fixed their weaknesses. On the other hand I didnt really have that experience till the 6th lesson which was my last lesson with him because I was so deeply disappointed with his lessons. I expected him to actually explain the moves played in the analysis and the flaws. We looked at a positional game from bobby fischer and this one other player. Mr. Heisman just told me the move order than told me what the computer analysed and thats about it. When I asked him why bobby moved where and why there were some positional errors in some of his moves, Dan couldnt really tell me anything. Towards the end of the hour about 15 minutes left. He ran through a game of mine with a chess engine and told me what the engine thought was correct, but didnt identify my weaknesses or why the moves made by the computer were much better. Other than that he didnt really seem to be interested in me as a student and his homework was really bad. He just told me to solve tactics problems and thats about it.
If that was merchindise you could return it for a refund.
What a good coach suppose to do for below 2200 level that we cant do by ourself?
What a good coach suppose to do for below 2200 level that we cant do by ourself?
Speed up identification of weakness and design better study plans.
I have a friend who has been playing chess for less than two years. He is in high school and started taking lessons from a well known IM who lives two hours away. The IM charges $45 an hour but my friend is now Class A USCF. The free market drives the prices I'm sure but without the personal drive no teacher will make you a great chess player.
What a good coach suppose to do for below 2200 level that we cant do by ourself?
Speed up identification of weakness and design better study plans.
Agreed but his analysis will never be better than latest engine considering one know how to learn from engine lines.Study plan.Well I would follow capablanca's advice and just learn as many endgames.
Not being jealous as I can afford even 20 bucks an hour fro a coach now and it's some people's profession but the total value of trainer assistance over dedicated self study is thing of debate.
Sure. But nobody can learn from engines as efficiently as from a human. Our minds aren't wired that way. And you can't discuss with an engine and have things explained.
I'm fairly sure just studying endgames isn't the most efficient course for everyone (or anyone).
But if you feel you are making good progress and don't want to pay for a coach, don't. It's just a game.
I think Dan is an excellent communicator, teacher and for the average club player, he or she can most certainly expect to improve.
The only caveat I would add is that once you get above 2,000 to the 2200 range, you are starting to look at diminishing returns.
If its worth $85.00 or not is up to the individual.
@Elite_Spartan
Sorry to hear that. I've studied under him for a few years and I've not had any disappointing lesson that I can remember. Though you're right ... you have to click with the right personality type. I spent years doing things "at home" on my own and hit a plateau. Tried a few coaches ... but finally switching to him helped me (w/a USCF rating boost by a few class levels until I stopped playing tournaments/competitively).
I guess I walked into his lessons with expectations far different from your own.
In a way, I'd almost compare it it giving "in" to a psychotherapist/hypnotist who is trying to dig deep into your mind and figure out why the heck it is making the chess errors it is making.
The same "going over tactics puzzle " drills you've had a problem with were probably Dan trying to really get to the heart of how muddled my thinking was, so yeah. I probably enjoyed that experience a whole lot more than you did.
After a few months of sessions, I started experiencing extreme clarity about my defective thought process (be it tactics or any other aspect of the game) and this had me coming back to him for more lessons.
Hope you find a coach who clicks with you! Good luck!
I can't afford Dan's private lessons but I have been going over his videos on ICC and by just taking the advice he gives on his videos my game has improved!
From what I have read in Dan's books, probably. However, it depends on the individual who is learning. Try him out and see if you click with his style. If I find, for example, a foreign language teacher who is awesome (for me) and they charge 2x what another teacher charges, I will still pay for the one who clicks and is expensive...even if I decide to hire that teacher on a less frequent basis. Same goes for tennis instructors, etc. Also, do you want PGN files of the lessons to review later? Does he provide those? Does he share your feelings about whether opening study is important before 2000 OTB etc. Lots to consider.
The success stories can be more or less convincing if people are more specific about their old and current USCF rating and in what time span. Also, how much time is invested to study chess and student's age helps too. Junior players can improve fairly easily 100-200 points a year until 2000-2200 following any decent coach in $30-$100/hour range.
MOST COACHES ARE JUST BIG JERKS!!!!
I understand why people would charge 80$ per hour or more.
would you work for 30$ per hour and give up your free time.
I work with IT and some people think I want to help them for a few dollars but I value my own time too much. I want run and play chess and so on instead.
I think starting with 80$/hour I would consider giving up watching a tv show one hour.
the most imortant task as an IT pro is to say not helping other in your free time otherwise you have no free time. I guess it is the same with being a chess coach. Nobody see it as work. and most people see it as our calling to help all because we can - pro bono.
Does not have to be a GM though...unless you are an Expert or CM or something...
The success stories can be more or less convincing if people are more specific about their old and current USCF rating and in what time span. Also, how much time is invested to study chess and student's age helps too. Junior players can improve fairly easily 100-200 points a year until 2000-2200 following any decent coach in $30-$100/hour range.
Well, here's my stats:
- Adult male in the in the late 20s with a 60-hrs a week engineering job when I started to relax and play chess in the weekends. Used to play when I was a kid but could barely hold my own against my friends and school mates.
- Did not have any natural God-Given talent to bring to the board; I wiped out 0/5 in my first tourney in 2004. :)
Regretted not reading as many annotated + instructional game books as Dan kept asking me to. Just liked to play wild and crazy gambits, solve puzzles and enjoyed weaseling my way out of bad positions to scalp players one rating class higher than me when it was my lucky day. I'd say Dan removed more of my "bad chess" habits than boost my "good chess" habits ... but hey, I still got stronger as a result.
Hi Mr Heisman,
It is known throughout the chess community that you are a gentleman, a scholar, and an excellent teacher. I would be honored to take lessons with you and to honor your price. After all, you have dedicated your life to this art and it shows. My question is: Should one try to max out their rating as best as they can through independent study, your books, and videos before taking lessons? In this way, they are prepared to understand the depth of your teaching.