On the pros side, the benefits of private lessons are very great and sometimes just a few sessions can make a huge difference in filling in gaps of knowledge, breaking bad habits, obtaining invaluable one-on-one personal mentoring on unique individual weak spots, and providing mental and psychological preparedness for competition.
On the cons side, private lessons are expensive, possibly prohibitively so. The range usually runs from $40 to over $100 for each session, normally running 2 hours. Also, private lessons will help build interest and excitement in playing chess, however a certain amount of interest is needed to start with, especially for a young child to be able to sit and learn for two hours at a time.
Every parent will have to decide for themselves both when and if this is the right choice for their child. The two most popular reasons for getting private lessons are:
- The child, already at an advanced level, decides to pursue competition at a higher and more intense level. Normally these kids have shown a great level of talent and interest
- The child is really starting to love chess, yet struggling to get to the top of the heap in their peer group. The parents and students are often concerned the child will fall behind and without the encouragement of enough won games, may lose their interest and give up on chess.
Both of these are very good reasons, and the effect of high-quality coaching on the young individual can not be overstated. In the first case, private coaching is really the only way to go. For the second case, you may also consider hiring a private coach for a small focus group of 4-6 kids, which is a nice balance between lots of one-on-one coach time with all the nice things a group of motivated, talented peers can bring.