Six Reasons You Need A Chess Coach
Why invest in a chess coach? Most professional chess players have them – with some notable exceptions including Bobby Fischer, who never had a coach. They are also popular for children, beginners, and adult improvers. But are they really worth it?
As with coaches and trainers in any other sport, their purpose is to streamline improvement, support training, and do anything they can to make you a better player.
If your goal is to master the game of chess to the best of your abilities, a chess coach could be a key part of your development. Let's take a look at 6 reasons they are worth your time.
What is the Role of a Chess Coach?
Chess coaches are available for every level of player. For beginners, they offer training, education, and study through chess lessons to help new players get to grips with the game. For intermediate and advanced players, they aim to support a player's improvement journey and perhaps prepare them for competitive play.
At the competitive level, it is more common for players to have a coach. From club players to world championship contenders, coaches provide unique training regimens, tailored study materials, tournament preparation, advice, and psychological support. As with sportspeople and athletes, the relationship a player has with their coach is one of the most important. In many instances, it can shape their career and the heights they reach in chess.
Today, many chess coaches operate online. While there are downsides to online coaching, it does give you access to a huge range of coaches catering for different budgets and levels. Chess.com offers a list of online coaches that is a helpful starting point.
What Should You Consider When Looking for a Chess Coach?
The role, cost, and availability of chess coaches varies. The kind of coach you should choose will largely depend on your goals.
Whether you are a club player, aiming for a title, or a casual player simply wanting to up your game, a chess coach is a viable option. However, you should consider closely how much time and money you want to commit and what you want to achieve.
Your coaching may mean occasional lessons and study recommendations, or intensive, regular meetings and lots of communication. Lessons vary significantly in price with coaches charging anywhere from $10 to $150 dollars an hour. A full-time, dedicated coach would be a serious investment and is likely only recommendable for professional players. For others, a weekly lesson can make a surprising difference to the pace and quality of your improvement.
Let's take a look at some reasons anyone could benefit from a chess coach.
Six Reasons
Here are six reasons a chess coach can take your chess to the next level. These reasons apply to competitive players, beginners, and adult improvers. The only prerequisite is taking chess seriously.
Personalized Chess Improvement
Every chess player is unique, with their own strengths, weaknesses, and playing style. You may struggle in the opening but never miss a tactic in the middle game. Or be a master of pawn endgames, but often struggle when bishops and knights are involved. Whatever the case, a good chess coach will aim to build on your strengths and eliminate weaknesses in your game.
Through analyzing your games, they can come to understand your style and see where work needs to be done. Coaches have many different methods and their approach will also depend on your level. Nevertheless, one of the fundamental benefits of a chess coach is receiving advice that is designed specifically for you.
Expertise and Experience
Your coach may or may not be a better player than you. The important thing is that they have a special set of skills that can help you win more games.
As well as an in-depth knowledge of chess, good coaches will have experience. For a professional chess player, a coach will likely have played at a similar competitive level; often they will be strong retired players often with titles of their own. The experience of competitive play is challenging and rewarding, and the expertise provided by a chess coach is invaluable help for players looking to enter that world.
For less advanced players, chess coaches will likely be strong active players who coach while pursuing their own chess goals. With approximately 17,000 FIDE titled players in the world, you have a good chance of finding a strong player with proven credentials.
Fundamentally, a coach provides knowledge and experience that can translate into streamlined study, advice tailored to your unique abilities, and focused preparation for competitive play.
Accountability and Motivation
Whatever your level, you likely won't consider a chess coach unless you take the game seriously. One of their key benefits is that they will hold you to your chess goals whatever they may be.
As we all know, chess can be an incredibly frustrating game. Just about every player at one time or another considers quitting altogether. A chess coach provides an external motivator that ensures you are always working towards your goals. These days of frustration are often barriers you need to push through to take your game to the next level, so it is invaluable to have someone supporting you during these key moments.
By working closely with a coach you can set specific targets for ratings, study, and even titles. This focused approach to the game is key for competitive players.
A Unique Training Routine
A lot of what goes into chess training is planning your routine – how often do you study theory? How much time should I spend doing puzzles or calculation training? Where do you source your material?
The extra labor that goes into answering these questions is where a chess coach can be extremely helpful. By designing specialized training routines, finding and creating study materials, and offering advice during lessons/meetings they can support your chess development.
This may take the form of:
- Recommending chess books
- Sourcing puzzles and calculation exercises
- Scheduling meetings and lessons
- Preparing for specific opponents
- Providing analysis and critiques of past games
Depending on your level and the specific type of coaching, the depth and intensity of the training will vary. Some coaches may simply provide weekly lessons, reading, and exercises. However, at a higher level they are likely to offer daily support to your training.
Psychological Support and Training
Chess is famous for not only being an ultimate test of strategy, calculation, and creativity but of mental toughness as well. Even casual games can be tense and stressful, but at the competitive level, the psychological component is arguably one of the most critical.
Experienced coaches are well aware of this and will dedicate training to chess psychology. This may involve practicing staying calm under time pressure, learning to convert winning positions into wins without overconfidence, and understanding how to put pressure on your opponent. Overall, working with a chess coach will help you develop the psychological skills necessary to succeed in challenging situations.
Related: The Imparable Logic and Psychology in Chess
Tournament Preparation
For competitive players, tournaments are key moments where you show your abilities as a chess player. If you are aiming to reach a certain official FIDE or national federation rating or even looking for a title, a chess tournament will be the arena where you achieve your goals. For more casual players, open and online tournaments provide other opportunities to test your skills.
Chess coaches can provide vital support when preparing for a chess tournament. Tournament preparation involves close opening study, psychological training, and honing your calculations; it may even include preparing for specific opponents. Whatever the case, your chess coach will help to schedule your tournament preparation, assist with researching important details about the competition, and help you develop in focus areas.
Related: Rules of Chess: 10 to Know Before Your Next Tournament
Conclusion: Is A Chess Coach Really Worth It?
If you are serious about chess then a chess coach is a way to speed up your development and take your game to the next level. There are loads of chess coaches offering their services. Many are specifically focused on helping beginners and intermediates.
Chess coaches are an investment and may not work for absolutely everyone. Considering some of the points we've looked at today, do you think a chess coach is right for you?