Even 1900, which is really good, is too low for a coach in my book. Wait until at least 2000 or preferably NM.
Whats with all of the low rated coaches on Chess.com???
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lol, I have noticed this too! I was thinking about becoming a coach on here just so people wouldn't fall into the traps of the 900s trying to coach. What do you think, would that be a good idea?
900 rated is just silly for coach but I think a beginner might learn a lot from a, let's say, class B player or something.
It's just an ego thing. Browse around the nontitled coach listings and you can find some astoundingly bad players proudly offering their services. Last time I looked there was a kid rated 650. Admittedly he was only asking $5 an hour...
Yes, that's the ticket: "the rating DIFFERENCE".
So, if you're 1501 you can coach anyone under 1100.
sftac
It is not just rating; nor is it just rating difference.
Why someone would hire anyone below NM/FM level, I do not understand? 
To master chess, you need to master many concepts. That requires years of education and experience. That's where rating becomes important, since it demonstrates profieciency at translating chess concepts into actual practice.
Being technically proficient does not by itself make someone an effective coach/instructor. You also need to be able to explain important chess concepts in an intuitive way. Lots of masters and GMs are not effective teachers.
Effective coaches also care about teaching. Not just to make a living, but because they want to teach. IOW, they have to care about the students. There are many masters and GMs who are so wrapped up in themselves and their own ambitions, that they cannot empathize with students.
Good coaches also have to be objective about their teaching ability. They cannot get defensive when their explanations confuse a student. Instead, they have to be able to think of a different way of trying to explain the lesson.
Club level players and even experts do not generally have enough demonstrated mastery of critical chess knowledge and skills, IMO. An expert may be widely read in chess. That's chess knowledge and it does not automatically translate into chess strength. It is one thing to "know" positional concepts, for example. It's quite another to be able to integrate them into one's play. And yet something else entirely to be able to teach those concepts to others.
When weaker players coach, two things happen, IMO. One, their ego is ahead of their ability, which is never a good thing. The other is that they are more likely to pass along misunderstandings and bad habits.
If they had effective chess habits and really understood the most important chess concepts, why would they still be a class A/B player or expert instead of a master or GM?
The other advantage that most masters and GMS have is that they were also successfully coached for years by masters and GMs. Effective coaches and teachers are not born. They are nurtured.
As one of my coaches said repeated, to become a master or GM, you need others to help raise you up to that level.
If your ultimate goal is to be a C/D player, then be coached by an A/B player. It's hard to "unlearn" bad habits.
Simply put, you can learn just from playing. You can learn faster by playing opponents who are somewhat (up to say, 200 points) stronger then you, then review your losses from time to time. For free.
sftac
Then you got those wanna-be coaches who fake their credentials.
Like that Canadian kid who said he was 1500 FIDE but actually never played in even a CFC or USCF rated event. He still lists his FIDE 1500 in his profile.
I wouldn't send a kid to him to learn how to set up the pieces. He hasn't figured it out yet but integrity is important for a teacher to have.
goldendog wrote:
Then you got those wanna-be coaches who fake their credentials.
Like that Canadian kid who said he was 1500 FIDE but actually never played in even a CFC or USCF rated event. He still lists his FIDE 1500 in his profile.
I wouldn't send a kid to him to learn how to set up the pieces. He hasn't figured it out yet but integrity is important for a teacher to have.
Yep-that's probably what inspired this thread. 
I disagree that rating is the sole determinant as to whether one can be a competent coach. I also disagree that it is not possible to be an effective coach for someone having a higher rating. Indeed, in many sports (e.g., tennis), coaches of the very top players cannot beat their students. However, this does not mean they cannot help their students improve. Often, the best coaches were not the best players at the sport or game that they coach. Being able to evaluate a student's weaknesses, understanding how to develop training regimens personalized for particular students and communicating/explaining concepts well are attributes of a good coach/teacher. Top players do not necessarily have these traits.
LongIslandMark wrote:
I don't pretend to be a coach, and you can see I'm not high-rated, but I play unrated games with 1200's (at their request) just so they can learn something, and give them comments on the game if they want them. I do warn them I'm mostly clueless, but they are often still falling for unnoticed mates-in-one, going for the cheap mate-in-two attacks in the opening, etc. I think of it as paying forward the advice I've gotten since I've joined this site. I suppose that's way different than asking for money.
That's a little like what I consider my responses to game analysis requests are like, though I try to stick to people lower rated than I, plus I think I learn something too.
goldendog wrote:
Then you got those wanna-be coaches who fake their credentials.
Like that Canadian kid who said he was 1500 FIDE but actually never played in even a CFC or USCF rated event. He still lists his FIDE 1500 in his profile.
I wouldn't send a kid to him to learn how to set up the pieces. He hasn't figured it out yet but integrity is important for a teacher to have.
lol ya he blocked me =)
lol, me too, he blocks anyone that posts on that forum and doesn't want his teaching
cjt33 wrote:
goldendog wrote:
Then you got those wanna-be coaches who fake their credentials.
Like that Canadian kid who said he was 1500 FIDE but actually never played in even a CFC or USCF rated event. He still lists his FIDE 1500 in his profile.
I wouldn't send a kid to him to learn how to set up the pieces. He hasn't figured it out yet but integrity is important for a teacher to have.
lol ya he blocked me =)
Ditto. The kid was shucking and jiving and dissembling and trying to distract from the apparent facts surrounding his lack of a genuine rating, and in the end he hides by blocking.
He said that maybe I spelled his name wrong when I looked it up on CFC, but I copy and pasted his spelling. You think he can spell his own name?
I suggested that he do his own search and link his results, as I had done.
No response.
The kid isn't interested in being honest. That much is clear.
goldendog wrote:
cjt33 wrote:
goldendog wrote:
Then you got those wanna-be coaches who fake their credentials.
Like that Canadian kid who said he was 1500 FIDE but actually never played in even a CFC or USCF rated event. He still lists his FIDE 1500 in his profile.
I wouldn't send a kid to him to learn how to set up the pieces. He hasn't figured it out yet but integrity is important for a teacher to have.
lol ya he blocked me =)
Ditto. The kid was shucking and jiving and dissembling and trying to distract from the apparent facts surrounding his lack of a genuine rating, and in the end he hides by blocking.
He said that Maybe I spelled his name wrong when I looked it up on CFC, but I copy and pasted his spelling. You think he can spell his own name?
I suggested that he do his own search and link his results, as I had done.
No response.
The kid isn't interested in being honest. That much is clear.
ya... maybe we should post a forum called SEBLEB THE BLOCKER AND LIER...
kco wrote:
Don't forget he did it for free you know.
ya but he spammed my messages...
I have seen lots of very low rated players posting forums about how they want to coach!! I wont name names, but its really annoying seeing so many forums with people rated 900 asking to coach...