GM Nick de Firmian
Nick de Firmian was born in California. He became a Grandmaster in 1985 and is a three time US Champion (1987,95,98). He played eight times on the US Olympic team and is the author of several chess books including Modern Chess Openings, the standard opening reference for tournament chess players. De Firmain is a graduate of UC Berkeley, and worked with IBM's Deep Blue team in the historic 1997 victory over World Champion Kasparov. Now he coaches chess in the New York area. Several of his scholastic teams have won National championships.
GM Varuzhan Akobian
Born in Armenia, currently resides in Los Angeles. Featured on the cover of "Chess Life" magazine in April 2008 with the title "America's Next Top GM?" For a complete bio, results, and games, see www.akobian.com
GM Alejandro Ramirez
Alejandro Ramírez was inspired by the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer when he was four years old. Alejandro became a FIDE Master at the age of 9, an International Master at the age of 13 and a Grandmaster at the age of 15. Currently, he is studying at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) pursuing a Masters degree in Arts & Technology. In 2010, Ramirez won the U.S. Open Chess Championship.
GM Greg Serper
GM Greg Serper (peak USCF rating 2713) has a collection of all major US titles- World Open Champion, US Action Champion, US Class Champion, National Open co-Champion. He currently lives in Bellevue, WA where he teaches chess using the methods learned when he was a student of the famous Botvinnik-Kasparov Chess School in Moscow.
GM John Fedorowicz
GM Fedorowicz learned to play chess in 1972, inspired by the Fischer-Spassky Wolrd Championship match coverage on TV. In 1977, he tied for the US Junior Championship. The following year he won the title outright. He earned his Grandmaster title while representing the US in the 1986 Chess Olympiad in Dubai. His notable career victories are too numerous to list here. He has won the US Open, the World Open, and the New York Open as well as the prestigious events at Cannes and Wijk Aan Zee. Fedorowicz has captained the US Olympiad team twice, and has acted as a second to World Championship candidate Gata Kamsky. In 2008 and in 2009, he was chosen by the USCF as a coach for the US delegation to the World Youth Champiopnships.
GM Julio Beccera
The Cuban National Champion in 1995 and 1998, GM Becerra decided to come to the US after attending the 1999 World Championships in Las Vegas. These days, Becerra is first board for the Miami Sharks, a professional chess team in the US Chess League. In 2006, he was named the league MVP.
IM Daniel Ludwig
Ludwig learned to play chess when he was 7 and won his first national championship at 10. He began coaching privately at the age of 13 and became a master at 14 by winning US Cadets. Shortly thereafter he placed 4th in World Youth Boys 14 and under, earning his first IM norm in the process. In 2006 at the age of 15 he became the youngest US Masters champion. In 2008 he qualified for the US Championship, and ultimately tied for 15th in the event. In February of 2009 he earned his final IM norm and first GM norm by winning First Saturday GM section by a full point.
IM Carlos Perdomo
Perdomo is a two-time Georgia State Champion (2001, 2002). As a scholastic coach in Atlanta, his students have won many Individual and Team Championship titles at the Local, Regional, State and National levels. He has more than 25 years of national and international playing experience and he's been teaching chess for over a decade. Perdomo played in the World Championships in the Under 14 and the Under 20 age groups.
FM Alex Dunne
Instructor at Castle Chess Camps since 1983, Director of USCF Correspondence Chess, author of numerous chess books, member of the Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists, Editor of the online "The Check Is in the Mail," #4 rated among US players over 65, Correspondence Master, Life Master, and FIDE Master.
FM Mike Klein
Mike is a full-time chess teacher living in Charlotte, NC. He began playing chess at four and during his scholastic career, made the All-America Chess Team eight times. He won one national scholastic title and is the 5-time N.C. High School Champion and former N.C. Open Champion. In 2001 he received a degree in Journalism from the University of North Carolina. Afterward he went to work in New York City with Chess-in-the-Schools, and was named Instructor if the Year two years later. He has now been teaching for nine years, has begun the Young Master Chess organization, and he has also written dozens of chess articles, most recently the cover stories for the December, January and February issues of Chess Life.
Expert Jim Mundy
Jim Mundy has been teaching chess professionally for over a decade. His list of coaching accomplishments include over twenty State (GA) and National Titles (five) in individual and team categories. He is also very active in promoting, and playing, our game. Personally, he was the first Emory Castle Chess Camp Champion in 2001, and more recently the 2008 GA State Champion for Class A, and the 2008 Castle Grand Prix Champion for Class A. Having achieved an Expert rating he competed in the 2009 GA State Championships where he posted a top 10 finish (7th) with a performance rating of 2300.
Other Past Instructors
GM Sam Palatnik
GM Yuri Shulman
IM/WGM Anna Zatonskih
IM/WGM Irina Krush
IM Jonathan Schroer
LM Robert Tanner
WIM Carolina Blanco
IM/WGM Martha Fierro
NM Chris Mabe