Coaches vs analysing your own games

@DerReelle said ^

By the way, there is no law that requires you to pay another player money to be coached by them. Normally, as a beginner, you will also find a stronger player in a nearby chess club who will teach you a little something. But for that, one would have to accept that other players might actually know more about chess than one does, without them having to be GMs.

Good post, especially the quoted part. Books help, but it is time consuming -- some important insights are hidden in the variations, or written en passant, because they are so obvious for the author.

Anyway, as a young player, I was helped by several members of my club. We had a GM who coached us, but I learned much more from MCs. Even later, when I became a MC myself, half an hour with the first board of our little club (who was also a MC -- back then, 100 CHF for the title of FM seemed too much) and he explained me all the finesses of the Reti and Catalan, and helped me face them. Another FM showed me how to play the Be2 plan in the Sicilian -- what to avoid, what to try to do, when to switch plans, etc. Just analyzing together helped tremendously: simple moves, like cutting off the king from the pawns, or placing your rook behind the pawns, thing like this.

Of course, sitting face to face with somebody OTB is quite different than typing on your keyboard. You have to look somebody in the eyes before disrespecting him.

@Mindgames2026 said ^

Neither. It's speaking the truth because your progress will be stunted without the right coach. And I don't feel attached to my rating, so those of who have a problem with me being stuck in the 800s and below need to either take chill pills or do a coach search on my behalf. Your choice.

You need to take some pills, chill or not.

It is all about your choice. Coaches can show you the mistakes that you did not see, can be the best if you don't understand what the engines say. However, engines can analyze better than coaches, they can find more mistakes than the coaches do.

@khoigambit12345 said ^

It is all about your choice. Coaches can show you the mistakes that you did not see, can be the best if you don't understand what the engines say. However, engines can analyze better than coaches, they can find more mistakes than the coaches do.

That's a misunderstanding. The engine's evaluation always refers to the engine playing out the resulting positions. Sometimes these positions are so complex that a human player would likely make a mistake. The engine doesn't evaluate whether a position resulting from a move corresponds to the individual player's skill level.

An engine can change its strategy several times within just a few moves and thus "completely rethink" its approach. Amateur players typically don't possess this ability.