Our Coaches & Philosophy     
High Quality Coaches Wanted! Interested? Email coaching~at~bayareachess.com.

Excellent compensation & benefits including paid training, free entry to all 2008 BayAreaChess classic tournaments, and 10% discount on Kolty Chess Club membership..

Northern California is one of the richest areas in chess talent. Bay Area Chess has to be part of the effort to develop this talent. We want to do this by recruiting and training the best coaches in the area and enable them to make a living pursuing their passion of chess.

Our philisophy is that chess is an educational and developmental activity and the people who excel at this must be good teachers.

We also believe that keeping the children excited about chess is more important than anything else. There will be a time and place for some of them to become Masters, but as Chernev (a famous) said, "Every Chess Master was once a beginner."

See more about our approach an the Get Coaching page. Here are some of the coaches who are working with us:
Ted Castro, JP Donovan, Ricardo De Guzman.

Ted Castro: Coach Ted has the distinction of being the coach of State Kindergarten champion in 2006 and 2007 as well as the Grades 1-3 State Champion Team at Weibel. Coach Ted can work with children at their level regardless of their chess ability or age. Here is a testimonial from one of his students and his dad.
"Coach Ted is my favorite coach. I love him. He teaches us tactics and strategy to help us win. " (Yousef Azhar)
"Like Oscar Wilde, 'I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.' And Ted is the best. He first developed my son's interest in chess and now he has taken him to develop him into an excellent chess player." (Yousef's dad)

JP Donovan: Coach JP earned the "teacher of the year" award at Success Chess School. He has over 25 years of playing chess seriously and competing in tournaments and 15 years of teaching experience. He was the best player on the Gunderson High School Chess Team three years straight and won or tied for 1st place in the tournaments attended. He runs a chess center where students can play against their peers and recommends appropriate tournaments and coaches his students to compete in serious competitions. He works on individualized lesson plans daily, constantly reviewing chess media for new material.
Here is a testimonial from one of his students and his mom.
"JP is the best teacher I've ever had and I am learning great strategic moves and can not wait to compete in tournaments. I like how he teaches me in a relaxed way." (student)
"Wow! JP has made my son love chess. He is an amazing teacher who makes learning fun and challenging at the same time. It's very convenient having him come to my home." (mom)

Ricardo De Guzman: Coach Ricardo De Guzman is an International Master and the has won prizes for his performance in chess tournaments more times than anyone else! He has consistenly been one of the highest rated chess players in the area and finished 2007 at the rating of 2463. IM De Guzman continues to remind us that he considers himself a student of chess. In his younger days, he was paid by Bobby Fisher to be on his staff as a sparring partner. I am honored to have his talent and love of teaching to bring to the children.
Testimonial student and his dad.
"I hate to lose and Coach Ricardo has made me a better chess player ." (student)
"Coach Ricardo has a deep understanding of the game and conveys it in a very unassuming manner while encouraging kids." (Dad)