Getting a Teacher

[Dusk Eagle]

Lately I've started to think about getting a teacher to review some of the games I lose. Sometimes I can clearly identify areas where I played poorly, but other times I feel as if I am missing things even when reviewing a game. However, I have a few questions I would like to ask you all before I go down this road.

• Do you think it's best to focus on getting one's games against others reviewed, playing teaching games against the teacher, or a combination of both?
• Do you feel you can get a lot out of online teaching games? Is sticking to in-person teaching better if you can get it?
• What do you feel are some qualities one should look for in a teacher?
• Do you have any teachers in particular that you would recommend?

Even if you can only answer some of these questions, I'm still interested in knowing what you think.

[Solomon]

Do you think it's best to focus on getting one's games against others reviewed, playing teaching games against the teacher, or a combination of both?

Both.

Do you feel you can get a lot out of online teaching games? Is sticking to in-person teaching better if you can get it?

You can get tons out of online teaching games; I've had lessons in both scenarios and never found one to be necessarily better than the other.

What do you feel are some qualities one should look for in a teacher?

Strength, experience, and communication skills (is his English good?).

Do you have any teachers in particular that you would recommend?

Nope. Not because the teachers I've had sucked, but because I've had only a few, and the few I've had lessons from are not teaching anymore.

[RobertJasiek]

What do you feel are some qualities one should look for in a teacher?

He must quickly identify and explain well to you in particular your currently most important mistakes and weaknesses.

Do you have any teachers in particular that you would recommend?

If you ask me...
http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/teach.html
... I do possess the ability mentioned above.

[Magicwand]

i have had many game reviews from strong amatures but it was not what helped me improve.
best thing is to read the review of the professional games.
if you do enough then you will learn to think like them.

many claim that they are good teachers but IMO they are not.

you dont even need to speak english well to teach. (ex: black good, white good, even result, complicated fight, etc.)
all i read is the variations professionals drew and make my own judgement of the variations.

this advice is for all levels (ddk, sdk, and dan).
just because you are weak it doesnt mean that you will not understand high level plays.

[RobertJasiek]

many claim that they are good teachers but IMO they are not.

I agree. - Of hundreds of different teachers or fellow players, none could identify more than one of my major weaknesses and two of four major weaknesses were overlooked by all of them. There is a correlation between the identified versus not identified types and the types described versus not described in literature: Only the described types in literature were identified at all by some.

[rubin427]

I agree with:

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewto ... 646#p47646