CM Javier Izuzquiza

Hello! My name is Javier, and I am a FIDE Candidate Master from Puerto Rico currently living in Florida, USA. Chess has been a part of my life for over 20 years, both as a competitive player and as a student of the game.

Outside of playing and teaching, I enjoy creating chess content and, above all, continuing to study and improve my own game. I strongly believe that chess improvement never really ends. There is always something new to learn and understand, regardless of your level.

I offer lessons in both English and Spanish and enjoy working with motivated players who want to take a structured approach to improving their chess.

I am a FIDE Candidate Master with a current FIDE rating of 2020 and a peak live rating of 2090. Online, I currently hold a rating of 2400 on Chess.com.

Throughout my competitive career, I have earned over-the-board victories against International Masters (IMs), FIDE Masters (FMs), Candidate Masters (CMs), and National Masters (NMs), as well as online victories against Grandmasters (GMs).

As a student of the game, I have also had the opportunity to train under both a Grandmaster and an International Master. Those experiences have had a major influence on the way I approach chess improvement, particularly in areas such as game analysis, structured training, identifying weaknesses, and developing effective study habits.

I remain an active student of chess myself and continue working toward improving my own competitive level.

I work primarily with developing and intermediate players who are looking to build a stronger foundation and progress toward the 1800–2000 level.

My coaching experience includes individual lessons, game analysis, identifying recurring weaknesses, creating personalized training plans, assigning targeted exercises, and providing students with study material to continue their development between lessons.

I particularly enjoy working with motivated students who want to understand the reasons behind their mistakes rather than simply being given the correct moves. My goal as a coach is to help students develop stronger decision-making skills and a deeper understanding of the game that they can apply independently.

My coaching is centered around one principle: your chess is unique, so your training should be too.

I don't believe in using the same training program for every student. I begin by studying a player's games to identify their individual strengths, weaknesses, recurring mistakes, and areas with the greatest potential for improvement. From there, I build our lessons and training around what that particular student actually needs.

An important part of my methodology is teaching students how to train effectively on their own. Improvement shouldn't stop when our lesson ends. I create a personalized self-study program that gives each student a clear structure for what to work on between sessions, how to work on it, and why we are focusing on those particular areas.

I also provide most of the study material and resources I recommend for this independent training. Depending on the student's needs, this can include targeted exercises, games and positions to study, tactical and calculation work, endgame material, opening study, and other resources selected specifically for their development.

My own experience training under a Grandmaster and an International Master has strongly influenced this approach. I try to take the structured training and study methods I have experienced as a student and adapt them into practical, understandable training for developing players.

Ultimately, my goal is not to make students dependent on lessons. I want to teach them how to become better students of chess themselves — giving them the knowledge, resources, and training habits they need to continue improving independently.