Coach GM Aleksandr Lenderman has more than 15 years of experience playing chess and over 10 years of experience in teaching chess to students of different ages and backgrounds. Here are some highlights in his professional chess career: • Won the 2005 World Youth Under-16 Championship in Belfort, France • Won the USCF Grand Prix in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013 • Won Marshall Chess Club Championships in 2009 and 2013 • Became Grandmaster in 2010 • Won third place in the US Chess Championship in 2014 • Played for the USA chess team in the 2015 World Team Chess Championship inTsaghkadzor, Armenia and won the gold medal on the second board • Won many open tournaments in the USA and worldwide, including the 2015 World Open and the 2017 US Open • Was on the cover of Chess Life magazine several times Coach Lenderman has a passion for coaching students’ chess and extensive chess coaching experience. He has been working as a chess teacher, chess Olympiad coach, private chess coach, chess club coach as well as a chess teacher in K-12 school. He has been actively teaching chess lectures at the Internet Chess Club and played simultaneous exhibitions. His chess sample video lesson can be found in YouTube. 

GM Yaro Zherebukh was born in July 1993 in Lviv, Ukraine, and became a Grand Master before his 16th birthday in January 2009.  Some of his best achievements are qualification to 1/8 of the World Cup 2011 (eliminated current and former top 10 GMs Mamedyarov and Eljanov) and a spectacular win over the world’s #2 Fabiano Caruana in the 2017 US Championship. Yaro moved permanently to the United States in 2013 and has shifted his focus to chess coaching and academics. He has been coaching a plethora of talented American youths, including world-class GM Jeffery Xiong, GM-elect Hans Niemann, 10-year-old NM Andy Woodward, World Champion Under 8 Raj Chennareddy, WIM Rochelle Wu, and many others. Yaro holds a Master of Science degree in financial economics from Saint Louis University and has experience working for private equity firms in New York City. He got married in 2020 and currently lives in Chicago.

Coach GM Yuniesky Quesada (FIDE 2583) has over 25 years of chess experience and over 10 years of teaching chess to students of all ages and backgrounds. He was awarded the title of GM by FIDE in 2005. His peak FIDE rating is 2655 (July 2014). He is currently ranked 22nd among all active US chess players. His significant chess achievements include: winning the Cuban Chess Championship in 2008 and 2011; winning the Philadelphia Open, edging out Ioan-Cristian Chirila on a tiebreak score; winning a gold medal on the 3rd board in the 2015 Armenian Team Championship; and winning the Winter Chess Classic Invitational in Saint Louis in 2018. He has been dedicated to training chess players at various levels for more than 10 years, via online or onsite, including chess training summer camps, and has trained many young kids to excel in their chess skills.

Steven Zierk is an American Grandmaster (GM) from California best known for winning the World Under-18 championship in 2010. Steven learned the game at age six and climbed to 1500 before spending five years away from serious chess. After returning in 2007, Steven gained six hundred rating points in a year with rating gains in twenty-four consecutive tournaments. Steven’s climb culminated in victory at the 2010 World Under 18 Championships, winning by a full point with 9.5/11. After that, Steven would begin a new break from chess, this time for undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated in 2015 with a degree in Math with Computer Science. He has since returned to chess and recently earned the GM title in June at the 2018 Charlotte Summer GM Invitational. Steven now lives in California and aside from playing and teaching chess enjoys exercises and reading whatever he gets his hands on.

As a chess coach with over 20 years of chess coaching experience, Coach GM Vladimir Georgiev has trained and helped many world-class chess players. His most prominent student is GM Jeffery Xiong - World Champion U20 (2016) and recent winner of World Open (2019). He also coached GM Antoaneta Stefanova (former Women's World Champion), GM Aryan Tari (former World Junior Champion). Coach GM Georgiev has been a coach of the USA chess team in 2017.

He played 9 Olympic Games with a Silver medal on Board 3 in Calvia 2004 and played the World Cup 2007 in Khanty Mansijsk. Over the years,he won many tournaments around the World. His goal is to inspire more young chess players to improve their chess thinking and achieve better results. You can find one of his video lessons from YouTube.

Coach Joseph is a National Master (NM) with a current USCF rating of 2268. He is one of the top ten players in the State of Minnesota and some of his best tournament victories include winning the Washington Open 2020, tying for 2nd in the US Junior Open in 2018 and 2019, and being the Washington Junior Champion. You can find one of his video lessons from YouTube.

Coach Epiphany grew up in Michigan. She has played tournament chess for over 15 years. She currently ranks 39^th in the US for Women (8 in Blitz, 13^th in Quick). Her current USCF rating is 2123. She has many accomplishments in chess. Her notable chess awards include the followings:

• 2008 and 2009 US Junior Chess Congress Champion (10 & Under, 12 & Under respectively)
• 2010 and 2011 Michigan Women’s Champion
• 2012 Japan Women’s Champion
• 2014 Nashville High School City Champion
• 2019 U.S. Amateur South Champion

Coach Epiphany also likes to teach kids chess and has over 6 years of Scholastic Chess Coaching experience. She has been teaching K-6 students’ chess in schools through the Nashville Chess Center (NCC) since August 2013. During the period, her school teams finished 2^nd statewide in 2014, 4^th statewide in 2018, and 1^st statewide in 2019. She has been worked as Scholastic Chess Club manager since August 2016. Coach Epiphany teaches K-12 students a group lesson each week at NCC. She also coaches many student her private chess lessons. She analyzed games for ChessKid.com at every K-6 Nationals since 2015 (including SuperNationals VI and the 2016 K-12 National Grade Championships).  In addition to this, Coach Epiphany has been the president of the Vanderbilt University Chess Club for 2+ years and organized several tournaments. You can find one of her video lessons from YouTube.

Coach Benjamin is a National Master in the triangle area of North Carolina. He is currently one of the top 15 players in NC and his best tournament performances are winning the 2019 NC Open and tying for 2nd in the 2016 NC Scholastic Championship. Ben has 5 years of coaching experience across a wide range of ages & abilities - from beginner to expert. Many of his students have gone on to have great success in tournaments, with his strongest students placing top 3 in their grade level in the NC scholastic championship.

 

 

 

Carlos Mena is a Fide Master with two International Master norms and a Fide peak rating of 2413 (2491 USCF). Coach FM Mena has been played chess and coached kids for chess for many years. He is a dedicated chess coach currently residing in New York City.

Working with kids from so many different cultures has provided me with the tools to adapt my teaching style to the student's specific needs. He has rich chess coaching experience assisting his students in achieving chess skill level advances and success in playing tournaments.