Learn chess from YouTube videos or books?

@Rogue_Berserker My point is that if you don't act like a serious coach and interview each and every potential student, similar to the process for finding the right personal trainer, then you will not get serious people because they will know that the coach will not treat them like they're the only client, even if the coach has 50 of them. Trials are moot if you weed out the people you believe are not a fit before even offering one lesson.

The right coach WILL interview you first about your goals are, how much time you can commit, and a lot of other things. They have their questions ready to go before a potential student even reaches out. So to say real coaches don't know how to go through that process is bullshit.

@jovana51796 It's what I told @DerReelle earlier. It's called acting like a professional. You should try it. And don't come crying to me when the article I shared with you makes you look in the mirror.

To clear up any misunderstandings:
The first lesson in online training is very stressful for the coach because you simply don't know who will show up. It doesn't matter how much you've written beforehand. I'll spare you the examples. Furthermore, there's no established routine with the new student, especially if they've never had a coach before (e.g., for a musical instrument).
All of this is part of the process, but no coach wants to intentionally recruit new students constantly just to have a failed first lesson.

@Mindgames2026 said ^

The right coach WILL interview you first about your goals are, how much time you can commit, and a lot of other things.

You might be right about that, but I don't think that needs to take much time. These things can be sorted out while coaching, and questions like this may be something to always talk a little about, even after coaching for a long time. If you are looking for something special to do or something special to learn, I suggest you bring that up, simply ask about it before coaching.

You seem to believe that a coach and a chess player (the student) must fit together, that you must find the right one. I'm not so sure about that. You might have a point, but on the other hand, I think I could use any coach as my coach, provided that the coach is significantly higher rated than me. I think they all have something to offer. They are different, but they should all be useful.

It seems to me that you have an idea of what you want to learn, or what you want to do or achieve. I think that's good. Perhaps you could explain that and simply ask the coach if he/she can help you with that.

@Rogue_Berserker You're what I call a low-information sheep. I'm leaving it at that.

@Mindgames2026 said ^

@Rogue_Berserker You're what I call a low-information sheep. I'm leaving it at that.

Do you mean that some coaches are fake, bad or charlatans? Do you want an interview to sort out the useless coaches? Or do you mean that the coach and the student must fit together, almost like a magic wand chooses its owner?

@Rogue_Berserker said ^

@Rogue_Berserker You're what I call a low-information sheep. I'm leaving it at that.

Do you mean that some coaches are fake, bad or charlatans? Do you want an interview to sort out the useless coaches? Or do you mean that the coach and the student must fit together, almost like a magic wand chooses its owner?

Yup, on both counts! Finding the right coach means the coach chooses you as much as you choose them. Without the right fit, you're wasting your time and money....AND the coach's too.

@DerReelle said ^

To clear up any misunderstandings:
The first lesson in online training is very stressful for the coach because you simply don't know who will show up. It doesn't matter how much you've written beforehand. I'll spare you the examples. Furthermore, there's no established routine with the new student, especially if they've never had a coach before (e.g., for a musical instrument).
All of this is part of the process, but no coach wants to intentionally recruit new students constantly just to have a failed first lesson.

Welcome to the Low Information Sheep Club, @DerReelle . You clearly don't know how to conduct an interview to weed out the potential students who wouldn't be a fit.

@jovana51796 If you extensively interviewed every last query like a real coach would, you wouldn't have to worry about getting serious players because you would be able to weed out those who didn't fit. I'm not saying I would have been a fit but I knew you were unwilling to do your end of the homework. Kapish?

@Mindgames2026 said ^

Yup, on both counts!

Well, let's talk about one thing at a time then. When it comes to fake coaches, there are several ways to be fake. One way is that the coach pretends to be someone else (using another person's name). I don't think that happens often. Another way is to somehow cheat. There are people who are rated 2100, and cheat themselves up to 2600 on the Internet, just to earn money as a coach. We could also talk about other ways of being fake, like letting you believe that you will go from 1000 to 2000 in a month if you just pay them enough. That would also be a fake coach, but fake in another way. I think it would be very difficult to find out if a coach is fake by an interview. I would trust FIDE rating and FIDE titles, even though you can never be 100% sure about anything.

When it comes to a magic wand choosing its owner, that's Harry Potter and not the real world if you ask me, but it's not necessarily wrong. Some people go well together. I think that if you are rated 1000 and simply want to get better and achieve better rating (and I say IF because you might have totally different things in mind), then it might be that a coach rated 2000 knows better than you what you need to learn and what you need to do to reach 2000. Therefore, I think you should be somewhat flexible and think that any chess player rated 2000 can be interesting to listen to. Whoever disagree with you, about whatever, are more important to listen to than those who agree with you.

I think it would be hard to find out if the coach is the right one by an interview. How long time do you think such an extensive interview wold take? Are we talking about 20 minutes or 3 hours?

I learn from videos.