Getting a tutor

So, most of us here using this site are proper chess players, looking to always improve our games and kill more and more opponents as time goes on. But what would you say was the best way of improving? Books, videos? Interactive lessons on chess.com? A Tutor?

I have seen around the web, many courses offering a tutor to help improve, but they all seem pretty expensive ( £30 a month, but what you got was good). I would like to see more of a speedy progression in my improvement, and maybe having a tutor would be the right step for me, Im considering it, but would like to know what my fellow wood pushers think about it first.

If you do think a tutor would be the right way to go, would you have any recommendations of who might be good? Anyone who can offer any advice to improve my game is a legend, and i appreciate anytime you take to give me any feedback, thanks guys

I am not sure a tutor would be worth it. Today there is so much available for free (on youtube), in books, and on www.chess.com (if you can access the videos). And then you have members here who will analyse your games for free. 

A difference would be if you were very very young and had a serious chance of becoming a GM. That's different. But for most of us, if we are too lazy to learn using all the free resources that are out there, I doubt a tutor would help a great deal.

If one can afford to hire a tutor, go ahead. Not everyone can learn on his own.

Thanks Corum. I have checked loads of the free stuff on youtube and many other sites, and a lot of it is good, and has helped my games some what, I;m just slowly trying to incorporate what I have learned into my game, which seems to be taking a while. I see what you mean about there being a lot of resources online for us chess players to learn more and improve. I have many books, many videos, premium on here, I think the main reason I would like a tutor, or like the idea of it, is so they can point out to me exactly what I need to be working on, and what is the next best thing for me at the level im at. Just more of a personalised instruction based lesson. Maybe a couple is all I'd need, but it would help me figure out the best way for me to progress. 

Not like I expect to reach GM level, but I'm going to try lol. At least constantly improve on my game, its just figuring out the best way that is for me. I play in a club, and on a team in tournaments, and I want my game to improve for the good of the team more than anything. How would I go about finding someone on this site who may be willing to help me for free? Any ideas? 

I don't think there is a "best" way.  We each have to struggle to find what works for us as individuals.

A good tutor can be a great help, not so much for what they teach us explicitly, but by stopping us from wasting years in studying the wrong things or in the wrong way and so protecting us from developing misconceptions and bad habits.

The difficulty is that if you are strong enough to tell who is a good tutor and whio is not then you already know more than many self-styled chess tutors.

Being an IM or GM Is no guarantee that someone can teach anyone else to play well.  most GMs and IMs that I know cannot remember half of the things they studied, they don't know what was effective and what was not, don't know much about other ways of getting to the same end, and are often clueless about how people learn and the skills of teaching itself.  I include in that number more than a few that make a decent living giving chess lessons and making books videos and teaching programs.  

At the other extreme we have weaker players that have empathy, understanding, patience and good teaching skills.  Unfortunately they don't know chess well enough.

So you have to go on reputation, but not all reputations are well deserved.  Some chess teachers are well regarded not because they teach effectively, but because they pander to what relatively weak players want to hear!

Good luck.  At least you have the right intentions, and aren't deluded like so many of our fellow chess players on chess.com.

The best teachers are opponents strong enough to punish your mistakes, but not so far out of sight that they crush you and you don't have a clue what you did wrong.  And the best form of chess to learn from is one that gives you enough time to think, and where the quality of the moves is more important than how fast you play them. 

Thanks a lot ModestandPolite, thats some good input there, massively appreciated mate

Thanks Little puppy! Great link, Nice one

Based on my Google searches what you mostly find in the way of coaches is for "scholastic" chess and that's it. It's almost as if adults don't need or want coaches.

Sounds great mate!! Even a bit of your time would be massively appreciated! Thank you, Ill send yu an inbox, im between 1450 and 1500 ELO rating. But fluctuate too much, im down to 1400 right now.

If you are lazy or have restricted time, a tutor may be a good idea.  Otherwise you can learn a lot for free, I find tactics books very helpful.

One of my team mates gives lessons and he ranges from 200-210 ECF or over 2200. His name is Pavel Besedin.          Besedinp@yahoo.co.uk.     Otherwise, I would recommend looking for local IM's or GM's like Robert Bellin.

A word of caution though... I know a few players who have had a tutor and there has been very little grade improvement and some have gone backwards. A change is not always for best....you also dont have a grade yet,  what standard are you? 

If you're grade /standard is under 150...it might be difficult to learn too much from a IM or GM as a adult .  Hope it goes well! 

I don't know... even with a tutor, improvement comes down to the work you do yourself while alone.

Maybe get a coach / tutor for a month or two to find out how they would classify your strengths and weaknesses and the kinds of things they recommend you to work on. Once you've developed a solid study program then quit the lessons for a while (even for years) while you work to improve.

A conversation may go like this:

Student: "I'm no good at attacking"
Tutor: "____ GM has a lot of excellent games. You should check some out. Also this book is very good."

And boom, you already have a year's worth of work to do

Thanks for the input Kevin, what would you advise for me then mate? Im ranked 1450 ish in ELO, but dont play games online aswell as I do in comps, and yes I'm still working towards my ECF grade, I think, I'll be around 120, but I'm not sure really. 

Maybe you can teach me something Kevin? We could play at club sometime, and you could help guide me in the right direction?

This is all I need really, some guidance on where to go next, some good resources that might help me out, I work hard on my game, and willing to work harder, I wont be happy until im at least 1800 ELO lol

When a GM coach tells you to check out _____ player because their games are good.

What the student hears: Play over 1 or 2 of their famous games
What the tutor hopes you hear: Play over 5 to 10 games a day, every day
What the tutor himself has done in the past: Played over ALL of that player's games multiple times

Such hard work lol! But its made easier than ever to study the old games. Ill get on that too mate, it sounds like a plan, going to study Morphy I think, I like his style

Yeah, that's a good routine, going over some Morphy games every day for a few months (or longer if you're enjoying it).

It's overwhelming the amount of work professionals have done... the trickiest part for me is to find a routine that's easy or fun enough that I'm willing to do it most days of the week. I tend to try to overwhelm myself with "ok, today I'll study for 10 hours" or something silly like that, and I end up getting frustrated and quitting.

So my advice would be to keep it simple and fun and do a little every day.

This sounds like good advice. I'm also looking at hiring the services of a tutor in the New Year.

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