Finding good Coaches

A chess coach is not good when:

1- He spends all of your precious time playing with you. Unless you have specifically hired him for that, you won’t get much benefit if all your coach does is spend your time playing blitz with you. This is an essential characteristic of some strong players who are hired to coach, but they really have no idea what to do otherwise. This doesn’t do much other than provide you with practice, and even then, blitz is not the best way to leverage your time and money. In this situation, renegotiate your contract, call for a price cut, and play longer games with post game analysis. And look for another coach.

2- He does not analyze your games. The analysis of the student’s games is the most effective way for a coach to get into the head of his pupil and understand his strengths and weaknesses. If he doesn’t provide this, and dedicates his time elsewhere, then there is something wrong with his approach.

3- He likes to teach you his openings – not yours. This is closely related to analyzing your game – if he doesn’t do this and you have no established repertoire, he cannot help you with choosing openings and defenses that match your style. If you already have a repertoire (which you understand and feel comfortable with), then he is simply trying to convince you to play what is easy for him to teach and you may not be prepared to play.

4- On the other hand, the coach may be a scholar in terms of the opening, but to the exclusion of other critical aspects of the game. Of course, this can just as easily apply to endgames, tactics, or any other component. Obviously, it would be ideal to work with an interdisciplinary team on each specialty, but it is doubt that the average player possesses the financial resources to manage this. Find a trainer that is universal and not mono-themed.

5- He bombards you with a bunch of chess exercises (usually tactical) without a specific plan. That is, he takes out the first book he has and just hands you the diagrams, irrespective of your and the puzzle’s rating levels. Given that tactics are the easiest skills to teach and acquire in chess (and also the most prone to getting rusty) one should take into account other deeper exercises, including positional ones or endings. The only way to know what kinds of exercises you need is by analyzing your games.

6- If he analyzes your games and points out the mistakes but without explaining any reasoning behind them. He may point out errors such as “That’s a bad move,” and then provide a dizzying shower of variants. In the best case scenario, he may give you a brief positional explanation such as “because you give up the bishop pair.” If you are still in doubt about whether this applies to your situation or not, then you’re more than likely to be dealing with it now.

7- If he analyzes your game, but has no plan to eliminate the errors found in your game. The whole analysis may have been wonderful, and you may have understood what your mistakes were, but the coach should have a plan to address the flaws in your thought process and the gaps in your chess knowledge. You should both reach some consensus on what you should do when he is not with you: either to resolve certain exercises against the clock (no matter whether they are tactical, positional, or endgames), tips to apply in your future games, or writing a report about an opening line or a positional issue. In short, a plan is absolutely required to address your weaknesses and to take advantage of your strengths.

8- He does not provide you with extra-curricular study. The key word is “extra”. He may be a good coach, but he is human and can have lapses because he is focused more on a particular issue than with trying to increase your overall chess knowledge. Chess is vast subject, so if he hasn’t recommended any books to study beyond what you have planned, then ask. It doesn’t need to be on exactly the same subject. For example, you may be working on your middle game, but an endgame book may complement your study nicely.

9- If he does not help you solve your psychological chess problems. For example, you may always suffer from severe time trouble, but he has ignored the issue or offered a quick, ineffective “band-aid” solution which doesn’t address the root cause (such as playing blitz in our example). Or you may feel uncertain playing a particular opening variation, or you may always lose to the same weaker opponent. These issues may not arise in normal chess chat – your coach needs to know you intimately and some do not know how to develop this bond.

10- He does not push you to the limits of your abilities. This advice should not be abstract: “What? You can’t calculate more than five moves? Well, try six.” Or “You don’t think endings can win a game? Okay, next week be prepared to show me how to do rook and pawn versus rook endgames”.  Or “You think Karpov is boring? Ok, take these 5 (10, 15 …) games from Karpov, and I want you to explain me why he won.” You get the idea…