Private Chess Lessons

I'm going to see a GM twice a month starting by at latest December.

first coach was a 2600 Russian GM via ICC - the positives was that he had the Soviet school/Dvoretsky training so he had pretty much a never ending compilation of classical examples etc that I could look at. I went straight to class B when I played in my first OTB so it was a good use of my time I think.

The downside was that I just prefer to work with  a regular board and at that time typing was very slow.

2nd coach - Local IM with a strength in positional play. Face to face lessons are much more usefull when the issues on the board are my subtle. In about 7 months of lessons my rating has gone up about 200 points with a recent peak in the mid 1900s.

I think having a strong player as a sounding board for what you are working through in your games etc. is an invaluable resource.

I also have an ICC membership. What was the interval between lessons, once a week, bi-monthly...? What do I click on over at ICC to learn more about private chess lessons with an IM/GM over the internet? Thanks!

I unfortunately for financial reasons was not able to take lessons longer.  I think I got 2 months or so weekly from a very good player locally here (no title, probably ready for a CM title though)

If I could afford to do it on a consistent basis, I'd love to keep taking lessons.  I went from playing at around a 1050 level to about 1300 from him and the tactics trainer on here.

Where he really helped was guiding my reading and study.  I had gotten a couple of Silman's books which were way too advanced for me.  I still think they are but dang it, I'm trying.  Same with Nimzowitch. 

He turned me on to a book that I'm really enjoying because it's very cursory and opens my eyes without dragging me down.  I will outgrow some of it but it's helped a lot.

In hindsight, he was more of a coach than teacher in that I would bring him a handful of games, he'd look them over and spot thematic challenges.  I would be able to name openings but have absolutely no concept as to what to do after I got out of book.  Showed me the thematic ideas behind a few but more importantly, showed me how to learn the rest of them.

If I hit a big paycheck here in the future, I'll set aside enough money to do it consistently for a while.  At $40/hour, I found it reasonable but ultimately, outside of my means.  I charge $30/hour for guitar lessons but there are a lot more good guitar teachers available than chess teachers.

I think he wound up saving me some money in that I quit buying books at random hoping to find something helpful and instead pointed me towards a whole mess of learning.  I still hate studying the game though, with my iPhone, I'm at least able to remove the need for a physical board and read from my recliner.

I may have to call him and sit down with a bunch of my games...

Thanks for the response.

"guiding my reading and study".

That makes sense, since there is so much chess information at one's fingertips, hearing from a chess pro/strong player who knows your game what is best to study and in what order would be of great value.

"I charge $30/hour for guitar lessons but there are a lot more good guitar teachers available than chess teachers."

Guitar is an extremely popular instrument, much more so than the traditional band instruments, i.e. trumpet and saxophone. I taught private guitar lessons in the past, and I had to turn students away.

Where are all of the professional chess teachers?

I started seeing a coach here at the St. Louis Chess Club about a couple of weeks ago and my rating was staying in the low to mid 1100's, my blitz rating has now increased and stays in the high 1200's and peaks over 1300. I find it extremely useful as he goes over all my games, etc. I hope to bring my standard rating up as well as I will begin to slow down my games to 15 - 30 minutes. So I would say it's pretty useful, I pay $20 per lesson, he is rated 1700's and I will continue to go.