The original author hired three very different chess coaches over about a year: an online coach from the Philippines rated around 2000, a local coach in Norway rated around 2100 to 2200, and a grandmaster for one premium lesson. The least expensive regular coach produced the best overall experience because he was patient, prepared and skilled at teaching the author’s level.
That experience supports the central lesson of this guide: playing strength matters, but teaching fit matters more.
Online or in person?
| Online coaching | In-person coaching |
|---|---|
| Large choice across time zones | Stronger face-to-face connection |
| Easy screen sharing, studies and game databases | Natural over-the-board practice |
| No travel and often easier scheduling | Useful for young players or learners who focus better in person |
| Connection and audio quality can interrupt lessons | Local choice may be limited and travel adds time |
Chess works unusually well online because both people can inspect the same board, annotate variations and save the lesson. In-person coaching remains valuable when physical-board habits, concentration or local club connection are part of the goal.
Do you need a titled player?
A grandmaster can see more in a position, but that does not guarantee a better lesson for a beginner or club player. The author found the premium session interesting but less useful than repeated lessons with a patient coach who understood common beginner errors.
Choose enough playing strength for the problems you need to solve. Below expert level, clarity, preparation and experience teaching similar students usually matter more than the coach’s title.
Where to look
- Ask a local chess club or federation for coaches who work with your age group and rating range.
- Use the Chess.com coach directory to compare languages, ratings, profiles and lesson descriptions.
- Use the Lichess coach directory for another international pool of titled and experienced players.
- Ask players near your level who helped them improve and what the lessons actually involved.
Questions to ask before booking
- Which rating ranges and age groups do you teach most often?
- How will you assess my games and choose priorities?
- What should I prepare before each lesson?
- Will I receive annotated games, studies or a practice plan afterwards?
- How do you measure progress beyond rating alone?
- What happens if our schedules or connection fail?
Use a trial lesson as an audition
Send two recent slow games before the trial. A strong coach should identify patterns, explain one or two priorities and show how future lessons would address them. Be cautious if the lesson becomes a performance by the coach, a generic opening lecture or a sales pitch for a large package.
What good coaching looks like
- The coach asks how you reached a decision before showing the engine move.
- Explanations match your current level and avoid unnecessary variations.
- Homework is specific enough to complete and review.
- Your recurring mistakes shape the plan.
- The coach can disagree without making the lesson humiliating.
- After several sessions, you know what to practise between lessons.
Red flags
- Guaranteed rating gains or fixed timelines.
- Pressure to prepay for many lessons before a useful trial.
- No interest in your games, goals or available practice time.
- Using engine evaluations without explaining human decisions.
- A much stronger player who cannot translate knowledge into a clear plan.
A simple four-week test
Agree on one priority and one repeatable practice task. After four weeks, review whether you understand the issue better, recognise it during games and can complete the assigned work. Rating may lag behind genuine improvement, so judge the process as well as the result.
You can also browse the updated chess blogs and creators guide, compare Chess.com with Lichess, and use chess books to support the work between lessons.
Hi Amund – in the same boat as others and looking for a coach online. Would you mind sending me the contact info?
Thanks for taking the time to write this!
-Nick
Hi Nick! 🙂 I understand.
Sure, I’ll send you an e-mail with the coach CC’ed.
Thank you for your insights. Much obliged.
I would be grateful if you could send me the details regarding your coach’s info please.
Many thanks.
Hi Feld! yes, no problem – I’ll send you an e-mail.
Kind regards,
Amund
Hi Amund, enjoyed your article(s). I’d like to contact the online teacher you mentioned if I could get his info.
Many thanks,
Jim
Hi Jim. Sure, I”ll send you an e-mail! 🙂
Hey Amund,
could you please share your coach’s contact info? I would be glad to get several private lessons.
Thank you
Hey Georgii. Sure, I’ll do that! 🙂
Best,
Amund
Hi Amund,
Really appreciate the article. Feel like this is the conclusion I was coming to but finding someone good is the tricky part! May I ask for your coach’s details please?
Thanks,
DL
Hi DL, I understand. Yes, I’ll send you an e-mail! 🙂
Hi Amund,
Great article. Please could you send me the Fillipino coach’s details as well?
Thanks
Hi Andy.
Absolutely. I’m sending you an e-mail.
Kind regards,
Amund
Hi! I know I’m a little late to the party, but do you mind sending me the coach’s contact info? Thanks so much for the article, very informative 🙂
Hi Elliot! 🙂
Sure, no problem. I’ll send you an e-mail with him CC`ed right away.
My daughter has been learning chess for a while. She is now bored with the puzzles and disappointed with little improved ELO and the coaching here in Australia is not cheap. I haven’t thought to have the online lessons for better value of money and result. Thanks for your article and the recommendations! Your Filipino teacher sounds brilliant and we would love to try him. Would you able to give me your chess teachers’ name and email address? Thanks very much!
Hi Jin, that’s totally understandable! Before I hired this coach, I was also in that zone where I was between 950-1050 ELO for months. Puzzles didn’t work – and I didn’t improve in regards to Puzzle Rush either.
But when he took me literally from ~1000 to ~1200 in a couple of weeks (?), I was sold.
Of course – I will send you and e-mail with him CC`ed so you can meet.
Hi! Thanks for your article. It’s refreshing to hear someone actually talk about their experiences and not just try to sell you stuff. (Tbh the disclaimer in the beginning of the article actually made me more suspicious)
Anyway. I too would love the contact info for your teacher if possible!
Hehe, I’m sorry that the disclaimer might have been contra-productive. And thanks for saying such positive things about the article. I just want to help people to find a chess coach that they are happy with. There are loads of people that try to penetrate that market – and not all of them have honesty behind their strategy.
I’ll send you an e-mail with the contact information about the chess coach! 🙂
HI Amund,
Thank you for your article. Does your coach teach children? May I please have your coach’s contact details?
Hi Hannah. Yes, I believe he does. He is always very kind and patient when I do all my mistakes…. 😉
I have forwarded you his contact details by e-mail.
Kind regards,
Thank you for sharing this, I’m looking for a coach as well and I think you made good points.
This article comes as a saviour of time, energy and probably money too! ??
May I also ask the contact details of the coach you talk about?
Hello Luigi.
Of course – I’ll forward you the details by e-mail.
Kind regards,
Amund
Thank you for this wonderful and very informative article about finding a Good Chess Coach!
You are very correct , if you are beginner who are just starting to have fun exploring chess not necessarily you need to be trained by a Grandmaster right away. You must find a Coach that will suit your attitude and level of understanding on that way you will love and enjoy more learning chess.
Greetings from the Philippines!
Wish FM lang malakas ! ?
Loved it! 🙂 Well written and good points covered
Very informative article. Could you please send me the contact information for the teacher you mention? Thank you!
Hi Diane! 🙂 Sure. Thanks for your nice comment.
I’ve forwarded you his contact information by e-mail.
Kind regards,
Amund
Interesting stuff.
I picked up one of the books that you recommended. In order to progress even more, would you be able to send me the e-mail of your chess coach? 🙂
He seems like a great dude
Also, do you pay him by Paypal or what’s good in regards of payment methods?
Hi Safir. Sure – i’ll send you an e-mail introducing him.
He wants to be paid by Paypal up front.
I hired a chess teacher online, but the only thing he did was showing me puzzles.
And then he explained them when he saw that I didn’t managed to do them. Frankly, it was a bit of waste of time and money. I’m not too serious about my chess game, but I would love to become a bit better. And I see my best opportunity by having a decent chess coach.
Did you also ever experience that the chess coach just showed you a lot of puzzles?
Hi Brady.
I did spend a lot of time with my chess teacher doing puzzles. However, he always showed me puzzles from one type of “chess setting”. For instance, we would play like 50 different rook endgame puzzles. And then, he would play against me in the end with one rook while I had two rooks.
When he explained what I did wrong at the different times, I learned an awful lot from that.
But if your chess teacher only gives you “random chess puzzles”, I would probably find another coach. 😛
First of all: great story and article. I think this will help people to find their first chess teacher.
I picked the wrong online teacher the first time. That was quite painful. And I got some additional tips that you might would want to add into your article:
– Always find an online chess teacher first. You can always get rid of them if they are “bad”.
– Do not spend more than 25-30 USD per hour.
– Also, the chess teachers with the highest rating (2500+++) are not necessarily the best ones. They might be weird and are maybe not in the position to lecture someone who is struggling to become a 1500+ player.
Hi Kolo,
You are correct that you dont need the teaher with the rating of 2500++ but what you need is a coach you can make you a better player.
I think I’d rather find a chess coach at my local chess club. I’m just afraid that he doesnt know the weaknesses in my game.
What do you think I should tell him the first time I meet him? Im not as good as you… my rating is barely at 700 because I started playing chess two months ago
Hello Rakaj.
I am quite sure your chess coach doesn’t know your weaknesses before you played him. That’s the thing: good chess teachers are brilliant at recognizing weaknesses in your game just after seeing a couple of games with you.
This is one of the things I am most impressed with in regards to the online coach I used.
In other words: play a couple of games with him – and he will straight away tell you how to become a better chess player. If you’re 700 now, I can guarantee you that you will reach 1000 soon with a good chess coach. 😉
Hello Amund,
Thanks for the article. Could d you please send me the info for your cheers teacher?
Hello Matt, yes, I will have him send you an e-mail! 🙂
at least this is an honest article about finding a chess teacher. Most articles on this topic is, as you also wrote in the article, biased.
they’re written either by chess coaches (who desperately need students) or companies that have a lot of chess teachers among their staff.
This really gives me something to think of. I plan to spend my whole summer holiday next year to learn chess. My first idea was to actually travel to some third world country and hire a chess teacher full time. However, I guess that might be a bit lonely and boring after a while?
ALso, would you able to give me your chess teachers’ name and email address? Would love to try him
Hi Anton.
I’ve sent you an e-mail. 🙂
thank you amund ! appreciate it !