coach

@Tangelo777 I think 6-7 games are too few to draw any conclusion, but of course books also can help.

I give an example: In my former club from time to time they pay a GM for 2 hours of training. What does the GM do? Tactical exercises, because he knows this is very important. Now imagine a group of 20 or 30 people solving the positions on the big demonstration board. Some are already done, others are not. For some it's too difficult, for others too easy. Wouldn't it be much better to take this money (about 100 dollars) and by some puzzle books for various levels? People could work for months with these. So I really think no one needs a coach for this kind of training.

but having a real live person to point out your mistakes when you make them so you understand them seems useful to me @Iceman1point1

@rookie_gto
I think an engine can do this as well. And you can play and go back and forth for as long as you want and it costs you nothing.

@rookie_gto any player in a local chess club who is stronger than you and is observing your game can point out your mistakes after the game for free. Your opponent can also point out your mistakes. And of course you can post your games in the lichess forum for the community to analyze them. All these options are free.

good points @Tangelo777 and @Iceman1point1 , I hadn't thought of that (obviously). Thanks for pointing it out.

@Tangelo777
I agree very much with you that only players working hard on their own maybe need a coach. Some players asked me for training, but they do absolutely no training on their own. I told them it's necessary to do a lot of puzzles and they could do it without a trainer. I would give them very good puzzles exactly for their level and for free. Guess what, they didn't do just a single one. This kind of people don't need a coach. Maybe they need someone to sit with them and keep their concentration.

@Iceman1point1

Virtually each world class sportler has a coach. The coach is absolutely necessary from some point on. He is the other point of view, he sees all the specific things about you, which you and your books wont.

I agree with @SelfmateMan.

So we all agree, the average player doesn't really need one. It's for the players who already worked a lot on their own and cannot improve further by doing so.