My sisters and I practically grew up around a chessboard: we traveled to tournaments together, attended classes, and played on weekends. As we grew older, chess opened us to other opportunities: new friends, travel, and as my parents soon realized, improved memory and analytical thinking.
Nevertheless, my mother had trouble finding quality chess coaches at reasonable costs: coaches were either cheap and did not teach well, or vice versa. Furthermore, there were language and social barriers.
I (and my sister Elina) turned my hobby into work and took on students of my own. For the past 15 years, I have been building on a toolkit of behavioral psychology and professional development techniques, as I've refined my own teaching style. Today, my students range from 500 to 2000 rated, are aged 6 to 30, and have themselves won numerous state championships.
When the pandemic began, I was faced with more students than I could handle. For the students I could not access accept, I started looking for other qualified chess players that were:
Qualified
Passionate about chess
Had a growth mindset
Empathetic
Did not break the bank.
It was not an easy process. After months of interviews, I hand-selected a handful of coaches I wanted to work with, one of which, Zahar Efimenko, became my own coach. Not only were these coaches able to teach--they were also able to provide lessons in a multitude of languages (chess is an international community, after all).
As I continued to receive coaching requests, I realized that there was no concierge service matched qualified coaches to students, and worked with them to constantly improve. Thus, Mindful Masters Chess Academy was born.
If you’re a lifelong learner, just watched The Queen's Gambit, have wanted your kids to learn the game, or have always wanted to beat your dad, you now have a chance to improve.