Questions to Ask Before You Book Chess Coaching

Before you book chess coaching, ask six questions: will you watch me play, what would you fix first, what happens between sessions, how will we measure it, what does one session cost, and what is free. A coach who answers in specifics, and who asks to see your games before answering, is the one to book.

See session pricing and book a live coach, or keep reading first.

Will you watch me play, or talk about chess?

The first answer is coaching and the second is a lecture. A coach who watches you play a real game on a shared board sees the habit in the act and can stop the game at the move where it went wrong. That is how private coaching works here, live on a video call with the board between you. A coach who mainly explains ideas is offering a lesson, and the lessons on this site are free.

What would you fix first?

A coach who has seen your games answers straight away, in one sentence. A coach who has not should ask to see them before answering. Both are good signs. The bad answer is a general one about fundamentals or understanding, because it means the coach has a syllabus rather than a plan for you, and you will pay to work through the syllabus whether or not it is what you need.

What happens between sessions?

Listen for a number and a board. A number of slow games, a set of puzzles on a theme, the losses brought to the next session. The board should be one you can reach for free, so the practice never depends on the calendar. A coach who has no answer here expects the session to be the whole week's chess, and that is the most expensive way to improve.

How will we know it is working?

You want something you can check without the coach. The rating on the free board, a puzzle rating, a specific mistake that should disappear from your games within a month. Nobody can promise a number of rating points by a date, and a coach who does is guessing. A coach who names the mistake that should vanish is giving you a measure you can watch.

What does one session cost, and is there a pack?

You want a single session available at the normal rate, so the fit can be tested before anything larger. Here it is $60 for one and $180 for four, and the pack is only worth buying after the first hour. A coach who sells only in blocks is protecting their calendar rather than your money, and it is fair to say so.

What is already free that I should do first?

The best coaches point at the free material without being asked, because a student who arrives knowing the rules, the checkmate patterns and the basic tactics lets them spend the whole hour on habits. The 197 free lessons and the engine analysis of every game are where that preparation happens. A coach who wants to charge for material the board teaches free will do the same in every hour after.

What should you tell the coach before asking anything?

Three things, in a few sentences. Where the player is: the rating on the free board or in club play, and how long it has been there. What has been tried: which lessons are finished, how many slow games a week, whether the losses get analysed. And what you think is wrong, even if you are not sure. A coach given that opening will answer the six questions differently, and better, because the answers can be about this student rather than about coaching in general. It also shows the coach that the family will do the work between sessions, which is the thing a good coach most wants to know before agreeing to take someone on.

What do the answers add up to?

• Watches you play, names one target, sets specific practice: book.
• Asks to see your games first: the best sign there is.
• Talks in fundamentals, sells only packs, has no homework: keep looking.
• Points you at the free lessons before taking your money: book, and finish the lessons first.

Common questions

What should I ask a chess coach before booking?

Whether they will watch you play, what they would fix first, what happens between sessions, how progress is measured, what one session costs and what you should do for free first. Specific answers to all six are the sign of a coach who has thought about you rather than about coaching.

Should a chess coach see my games before the first session?

Ideally, yes. A coach who asks for your recent games is planning the hour around you rather than around a syllabus, and will spend the first session on your habits instead of on finding out what they are.

Is it a warning sign if a coach only sells packs?

It is a reason to ask for a single session first. A coach confident in the fit should be happy to offer one at the normal rate, and to say what the first session will look at.

How much does a first coaching session cost here?

$60 for a live one-to-one session on a shared board. The pack of four at $180 is for after the first hour has shown the fit is right and the coach has named something specific about the player in front of them.

Read next in this cluster

• How Long Does Chess Coaching Take to Show Results?
• Chess Coaching: Do It Yourself or Hire a Coach?

Where to go from here

Everything above is the practical layer, the part that decides whether a club survives, whether a child keeps playing, and whether a coaching business pays. It is also the part almost nobody writes about, because it is less interesting than opening theory and far more useful.

If you are teaching, the two things that move the needle fastest are structure and measurement: a session that has the same shape every week, and a number each student can watch go up. Neither requires you to be a strong player. Both require you to be organised, and organisation is the thing you can actually control.

The rest of this Library covers the chess itself: twenty-one openings written from both sides, seven complete guides to tactics, endgames, checkmate patterns and strategy, and twenty variants with a guide each. All of it is free, and all of it is playable on a live board, which matters more than reading it.

More on coaching and scholastic chess

• Questions to Ask Before You Pay for Chess Lessons
• Questions to Ask Before You Pay for Chess Puzzles
• Questions to Ask Before You Try Chess Variants