How to select a Chess Coach.

Before we look into this subject, lets see how a Coach and a trainer interact to get a better perspective. Their relationship revolves around a goal agreed between the Coach and the player. The trainer is the fountain of technical knowledge but it is the Coach that helps the player to unblock his mind and to reach for the stars ie the goal.

You know that mere knowledge is not enough. You may have the knowledge but you may lack the courage, the commitment, the drive. You need to have more than technical knowledge to compete succesfully in a tough field. You need to also know how to win relative to the goal you have set.

So if you agree with what I have said above, then the Coach will relate to the trainer in this way. He will engage the correct trainer to fill the knowledge gap that the player needs in order to achieve the goal agreed.

Look at it this way. You have limited resources and you have limited time. So without a realistic goal you are not going to get anywhere. Merely increasing your technical knowledge is not going to get you anywhere. Merely going to tournament after tournament is not going to get you anywhere if you do not have a clear goal; if you do not work on your weaknesses; if you do not manage your time well etc.

So when you look for a Coach, ask him/her this. What is the roadmap? What do I need to put in to arrive at my goal? What would I need to learn? Ref: Here.

An aside. Actually this is the very big problem we have in Malaysian chess. We have no goal. So we do not see how others are moving ahead of us at a very rapid pace. We celebrate a victory where the opponents sent their weakest players for exposure where we have fielded our veterans. Without a goal we will be still at the same place 30 years from now. But I have to admit that setting a goal can be frightening. It means our progress is measured. It means we have milestones and it means questions can be asked if the milestones are not reached. And so we harp on technical knowledge without a goal.

Then you can pay and pay and not get anywhere. And then they will tell you that your children haven't got the talent; that they haven't got what it takes. That is not true. It is the trainers who have been telling you this that are the ones who do not know what they are doing.

Ref: Here and here.