Private Lessons

Midwest Chess Academy offers opportunity for individual or small group lessons available in your home or remote locations. These types of lessons are designed for the serious tournament player, or those wanting the edge at their local club or those who have difficulty grasping certain concepts. Please contact us to find out about our instructor availability. Here is a list of supplemental services:

Individual

These lessons will focus on the student's weaknesses and overall play in all 3 sections of a game. Special attention will be devoted to tactical and positional understanding. You can arrange to have an instructor in your home or meet at an outside location. Currently prices are ranging from $25-$70.

Group

These lessons will focus on a small team of individuals. This is designed for tournament players wanting unity of thought on their team. We will primarily focus on reviewing student's games or games from the master level. Please contact us for pricing.

Online

These lessons can either be individual or small group. This format is designed for those tournaments players located in regions or cities where chess is not normally found or where there isn't access to chess professionals. If you email us we can send you instructions on how to facilitate and pricing this new and exciting format. Note: You will need high-speed internet access for this format.

Many times parents ask me what makes somebody a good instructor.  I always respond that it depends on the type of things they do.  But much like chess, it’s what you don’t do that will likely make or break your reputation as a chess instructor.  All of the instructors here at Midwest Chess Academy share the same core beliefs about how chess should be taught.  Here are a few items that you should watch out for when selecting an instructor.  I’m a big fan of the "You might be a redneck if..... ” sayings by Jeff Foxworthy, so here’s my attempt.

You might have a poor instructor if……

• they require compensation before services are rendered
• you are pressured or harassed about doing lessons from the instructor
• lessons are negotiated with “strings” attached
• they guarantee certain successes for your child at tournaments
• you are dropped because your child doesn’t perform well enough at tournaments
• they are focused solely on the tournament results and not on the pathway of learning
• they teach how to utilize and abuse the 4-move checkmate or Scholar’s mate
• they try to teach your child to memorize certain openings
• they fail to teach the endgame
• they do not show love to the student whatever the outcome at tournaments
• they attempt to promote themselves through your child’s successes
• they do not show up at tournaments in support of your child
• they do not teach proper etiquette of the game
• they do not teach the love of the game

In conclusion, we here at Midwest Chess Academy have prided ourselves on the fact that we form relationships with students and families through referrals.  People find out about our company because of our outstanding reputation and not the opinion of our staff.  We want you to know that private instruction can be a solid and reliable way of improving but we also know it does not guarantee success or mirror the sometimes misguided high expectations of parents.  We’ve seen far too many children quit playing chess because their instructor told them they won’t lose very much or that they would be the best.  Only the student has full control of how far they go, not the instructor.  One of the mottos of this company is that we don’t take credit for a child’s tournament success because in the end it’s the student that has to do the hard work to win.  We just show you the door, but you have to walk through it.