My problem with chess coaches

I am a mid to low range player.. maybe 1200... on a good day . In an effort to improve I have hired at least four coaches. Two claimed to be able to speak English but I could not understand much of what they were saying and I have lived in the US all my life.

But the most serious problem i have had with coaches is that they play games with me and tell me what to watch out for as the game progresses and give a few hints here and there but no one has ever taught me how to develop a winning plan, or how to spot weaknesses in the other player's side, or how to do more than just push pieces around and look for a tactical move.

Yes they say to develop all my pieces and protect each piece but I feel they are just being paid to play a game with me and not really teaching me some underlying strategy or concepts

It's hard to explain but something is missing on a fundamental level in my games.

Any thoughts on this? Am I making sense? Any coaches reading this?

The key question here is, how much money were you paying these chess coaches?

In general in life, you get what you pay for, the more expensive the coach, the higher the quality of coaching, with so much free resources online, you shouldn't really need a chess coach unless you planning on being a professional.

A tennis coach. Teaches group classes. $20 per person, of a 10 people class.

A lady took lessons for years. When she joined my tennis Meetup club, I beat her 21-3, something like that.

And I taught myself against the wall.

It's all nonsense. It's all a money making scheme.

You want to learn. Simple. It was already invented. Karate. I know from the video games Karate Champ and Budokan. There's kata (form), randori (sparring), and kumite (real fight).

I would teach kata. Logical Chess, Chernev.

Randori. Sparring against the computer at the lowest level up, book moves turned off. 1 ply. Tag team wrestling. I'll make half of the moves of the students, alternating. We'll be tag teaming against the computer.

Then student sparring against the computer himself.

Then, the "kumite". A real game online. 60 minutes.

Then we go over the game.

Tennis same thing. The wall is the kata. Doubles tennis is tag team. Kumite is a real game against another beginner.

The formula was already invented. I know from the video games.

That's hilarious! If it's intentionally hilarious is hard to say

Something else. Same thing.

Relearning Vietnamese.

kata: I'll watch American movies with Vietnamese subtitles. Let's say the movie is 2 hours. I'll pick 5 random spots (random from 0 to 1 x duration of the movie). And read 30 seconds of the subtitles off the screen 5 times.

randori: I'll pick a random word from a dictionary (random from 0 to 1 x pages. flip a coin for left or right side of the page, random x the length of the page in centi and mili meters. Pick a word and make a sentence out of the word, 5 times. 1 time a day is enough.

kumite: When I have to translate live for a parent-teacher conference. That's done 4 times a year.

Same thing. The formula was already invented in Karate.

How's your formula working out in chess. Are you a master yet

I'm semi-retired in chess. I"m focusing on tennis.

I once beat a 1700 USCF in a 90 minutes for 40 moves + 60 minutes game.

Think.

It is real and it is logical.

It being hilarious is my skill in the delivery. It is not a joke. That is the root meaning of "entertaining".

tain is to hold as in obtain, contain, detain, retain

to enter + tain is to enter to into somebody's mind and make your idea stick.

enter + tain = to hold in the mind.

Kata: you practice the form.

Randori: you spar in school, the "dojo" with the other classmates.

Kumite: to go to "the kumite" and fight on TV.

Kata, form.

Plan for training. Step 1. Do endgame training and work backwards (use the endgame practice and tutorials here). Plan Step 2, learn how to force trades of pieces and pawns you want off the board to get the endgame you want (use custom position and make the endgames you know slightly more complex by adding a piece or pawn on one or both sides). Step 3, learn how to develop your pieces so they are protected in the opening. Step 4, pawn structures identify which structures are in what openings and how they effect endings, play your custom positions in them. Step 5, select your opening repetoir based on your pawn structures and endgames. Learn the openings and the reason behind why the moves and good or bad. Step 6, you have a target, survive to the end game by not blundering, then reach a position you can convert. Step 7, midgame wins. As part of your study of the endgame you should learn the all the possible basic checkmates , as part of your study on the mid game maneauvers and trades you should look at how to construct mating nets. This is so you can recognise blunders on both sides. TLDR. Play for an endgame you can win, blunder check for both sides, punish blunders by mate or trade down and convert.

Some questions to ask a coach before hiring them:

What is your teaching style? What are some of the things we’d be doing when we have a session?

Will you review and analyze my games that I send you? If so, how many per week/month? Can we talk through these during our sessions?

Can you give me one or two examples of the kind of homework you assign?

What would you do differently when teaching a 1700 compared to teaching a 1200?

You are making total sense. I'm a coach as well, but I'm teaching my students exactly how to think during the game (I even made some algorithms for them). Then, even when I'm not there, they have a crystal clear plan on what to do during each stage of the game. My role is to help them be completely independent and teach them how to apply algorithms correctly.

?? What is this

English is my first language.

Occasionally, I’ll play a game with a student, but that strikes me as an uncommon way of teaching and not particularly effective. Going over games you have played with others, on the other hand, would be one way we would use our time together. We would identify themes that reveal something you can improve. I would have you work on your tactics, too. Endgames would be a recurring focus.

Try Toufighi Hoomyani. Best chess coach I've ever had. He taught me how to calculate and properly visualize the board among other things. He's only $40/hr and he's a GM.

I never had a chess coach. I taught myself chess. Myself is the best chess coach in the world. Bwahahaha.

Had you tried to ask a lot of questions or talk to them the purpose of your moves?

I suggest studying with your own pace.

Try to play a game first.

After that look for the things that you don't understand.

In those scenario, try to play against a computer until you give up.

If you haven't learned anything, try to look lessons on other sources that describes those scenarios.

After that, try to play against the computer again to test if you learned something from those lessons.

If you succeeded, try next problem.

If not, try to seek out help from other players or a coach is better.

If you can't. Try to study GM games with the same opening of your game. (You can imitate their moves, if you want. I know for sure you can learn a lot from them.)

If you ran out of inspiration or feel that your game is going stale, try to Watch Computer Championship and try to predict all of one of the engines moves or watch Chess Recap from World Chess Championship.

You can also try to listen to music while playing if you are bored playing chess.

If you already have a coach to begin with... talk to them the purpose of each move you are doing and ask them why that move works or not... You can also ask them general tips while playing... If things became too serious, you can lighten up things by making small talk... The more interactive the learning, the better... You can also ask the diversity of the moves on the board, the pieces strength and weaknesses, the fundamentals, the things that are hard for you to digest... Your strength and weaknesses... The openings that you are comfortable at playing and also the ones that you are having a hard time... You can also offer snacks and such to make them comfortable in teaching you... The more they do, the more you see things clearly... You can also talk to your coach the best chess books to buy and also the books you are considering to buy... If you are having a hard time, you can play to other player with the same level while they accompany you by giving you tips along the way (But you must have your opponent's consent before doing it).