Austin Instructor Louis Pratt was born and raised in Rockland County, New York. He is coached by our other incredible Austin Instructor Chad Ambrose. After his first tournament, organized by our 161st Podcast Guest National Master Jesse Lozano, he got a rating of 1398. Louis has a Bachelor of Arts in Music Industry from SUNY …
Orlando Instructor Chantz Delgado learned chess as a child at PS 70, which was featured in the film Knights of the South Bronx. Some of his claims to fame include tying for 5th place in the 2000 Elementary Chess Nationals K-3 U800 section, winning 4th place in the 2000 Greater New York City Scholastics Primary …
Long Island Instructor Benjamin Kolker has been playing in chess tournaments since he was a young child. He first got into the game through our 27th Podcast Guest National Master Elliot Neff’s organization Chess 4 Life in Seattle, Washington. He has played 48 Chess Ratings Northwest games. He has previously taught chess and Judaic studies. …
Manhattan Instructor Ben Davar grew up in Riverdale and was an integral member of the Bronx Science Chess Team. He is a rapidly improving active player himself, having already played five rated tournaments in 2023. His playing career highlights include tying for fifth place in the February 2022 Marshall Chess Club U-1800 tournament. He was …
Long Hill Instructor Mitch Polevoy is a member of Rutgers Chess Club and was referred to us by Arman Sandhu. We are lucky to have him on board to teach school programs and private lessons in Long Hill, New Jersey. At Rutgers, he is studying marketing and music technology. As you can tell from his …
Philadelphia Instructor Roman Nelson teaches some of our school programs and private lessons in and around the Philadelphia area. He has been teaching chess to children of all ages for 5 years now. He was a student of the legendary New Jersey Master Trainer Arkady Geller. When not teaching chess, he is busy as a …
Sacremento Manager Brandon Glover was previously responsible for boosting enrollment pipeline at K-8 schools across Santa Clara and Sacramento Counties for Academic Chess. We are lucky to have him on board to manage our school programs, corporate classes and private lessons in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. In addition to managing chess programs, Brandon serves as a …
Buffalo Instructor Owen Katz got serious in chess, while in high school at our program at Grace Church High School. He was one of six students who travelled with CEO National Master Evan Rabin to the 2022 High School Nationals in Memphis, TN. He tied for second place in the Championship section of our January 8th, …
Brooklyn Instructor National Master Alisher Podavonov was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he currently runs some of our middle and high school programs. He has played in over 500 tournament games and has played a lot of blindfold games like our 105th podcast guest Timur Garayev. He prioritizes understanding the position and give optional assignments …
New York Instructor Josh Oldmixon got into chess duirng the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and has been hooked ever since he got started. While he has been playing and studying chess for a few years, he recently played his first over-the-board tournament, our monthly blitz tournament at Indian Palace Restaurant. Josh is a Junior at Baruch …
