Our Coaches
Coach CJ
President and Founder, C.J. has taught chess for 11 years. His goofy performance style and passion for teaching has helped thousands of students become life-long chess lovers. Some of his students have even gone on to reach ratings over 2200. New students and beginner classes are his specialty. He finds Kinders - 3rd grade are best at understanding his silly jokes. Along with chess he loves board games, music, and hiking.
Coach Jeff
Coach Jeff has been playing chess for over 20 years and teaching for about 10 years. He’s passionate about all sorts of games including board games, puzzles and video games. He was born and raised in San Diego but has lived in Austin for the past 2 years.
Coach Nick
Coach Nick is born and raised in San Diego, but has recently moved to Los Angeles to help spread our chess education. He has a huge passion for teaching students of all ages and loves to work with advanced-level students to bring their chess skills to the max.
Coach Shiny
Self-taught before joining Kings and Queens Chess Club in Chicago, Shiny quickly rose to one of the top Scholastic Chess Players in the nation. In high school she ranked #2 in the U.S Girls Scholastic under the tutelage of GM Yuri Shulman and Leonid Bondar (teacher of top 100 worldwide, GM Boris Gelfund). She is proud to be a woman in what archaically has been referred to as a "man's-sport" and has a special passion for empowering other girls. She is an avid animal lover and advocate for animal rights.
Coach Vic
Coach Vic is an International Chess Master with a FIDE ELO of 2402. He’s played more than 100 tournaments and also professionally in the German team championship where he played for Frankfurt for about 7 years. Vic has been coaching students on how to play chess for over 20 years.
Coach Dimitry
Coach Dimitry is a National Chess Master with a peak ELO of 2248 and is one of the highest rated active players in the San Diego Chess Club. Earning his National Master certificate in 2004, he has since taken a love for teaching the game and helping students achieve their goals of rising through the ranks. With over 6 years of working in the After School Enrichment capacity and doing private lessons he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to his weekly virtual classrooms.
Coach Roger
Coach Roger has been teaching chess for over 11 years and earned the nickname of "The Chess Encyclopedia" amongst his colleagues for his seemingly endless knowledge of historical chess facts and games. Never wanting to repeat a lesson twice, Coach Roger has developed a robust curriculum of game analysis, tactical practice, and end game theory. Along with learning, teaching, and playing chess, he is a professional photographer, lover of punk music, and, in a pre-covid world, avid concert goer.