How to choose a chess coach for your child

If a coach does most of the talking, it is hard to know whether the child understands or is simply agreeing. A useful lesson includes questions such as 'What changed after that move?', 'What is your opponent threatening?' and 'Why did you choose this square?'.

The child's explanation does not need to be sophisticated. The point is that the coach can see the thinking process and correct it, rather than only correcting the final move.

Age and online rating are useful context, but neither is a complete placement test. A child can have a respectable rapid rating while missing basic endgames, or know tactical motifs but have no idea how to make a plan in a quiet position.

A coach should be able to show you what they noticed in the demo and why that leads to a particular starting level. 'Intermediate because they have played for two years' is not much of an assessment.

Textbook positions teach important patterns, but a child's repeated mistakes are often more valuable. Ask whether the coach reviews games the student actually played and how those games influence future lessons.

A coach who sees the same time-pressure mistake or undefended-piece error three times should change the training. Following a fixed slide deck regardless of what the child does is easier to deliver, but less personalised.

For online children's coaching, the parent should know who is teaching, how to contact the academy and how scheduling or progress updates are handled. Parents should be welcome to observe a lesson.

At Knightly, scheduling and progress communication goes through the parent rather than asking a child to manage personal contact details. Our child-safety page explains the approach in more detail.

No coach controls tournament pairings, a child's practice outside lessons or how quickly a rating system moves. Specific guarantees such as a promised rating increase by a fixed date should make you ask how that claim is being measured.

A better promise is about the process: clear lesson goals, honest feedback, appropriate practice and evidence that the child can demonstrate the skill before moving on.

Do not judge a demo only by whether your child smiled. Ask what the coach learned about them, what they would teach next and why. Then ask the child whether the explanation made sense and whether they felt comfortable asking questions.

Coach fit matters. A technically excellent coach can still be the wrong match for a particular child, and a good academy should be able to change the match without turning it into a confrontation.