IM Kim Steven Yap

My name is Kim Steven Yap and I am an International Master and a FIDE trainer. My best achievement in Chess is when I played in the Asian Chess Clubs League in 2014 in Al, Ain, UAE for team Philippines. I won the gold medal in board 2 but I played the board 1 players in almost all the games, I beat 3 GMs in the tournament including Sasikiran Krishnan of India. Our team, team Philippines - Tagaytay finished 2nd ahead of China.

In 2018, I traveled around the United States to coach players in different Chess Schools, in the same year I grabbed a Grand Master norm.

I have been playing Chess since I was 7 and became a National Kiddies Chess champion when I was 12. I sealed the International Master title when I was 20 after grabbing my final norm in Singapore Mixed-Masters Open. I won the Gold Medal in ASEAN Chess Clubs League in Al Ain, UAE in 2014. During the Berkeley Masters Invitational 2018, I scored 7 pts out of 9 in the IM event to secure first place. In the GM event, I scored 6.5pts to grab a GM norm and went on to snatch second place in the tournament.

Right after I became IM, I worked as a Chess Coach for the University of Cebu. After finishing college, I have worked in Singapore under ASEAN Chess Academy from 2011 to 2014. In 2014, I founded my own Chess School, the Cebu School of Chess, with the goal of producing future masters. Most of my young students have already received numerous awards. One of whom is Jerish Velarde, who grabbed a silver medal during the Asian Chess Schools in Singapore in 2014, thus coming out as a Candidate Master when he was only 8 years old. In 2018, I traveled around the United States to coach players in different Chess Schools, in the same year I grabbed a Grand Master norm. I worked with Megan Paragua when she was only 7 years old during the pandemic and now she is a Woman FIDE Master with 2100+ rating and a World Champion for the 12-U in both Rapid and Blitz section.

My best record as a Chess coach now is producing a WFM at 9years old through WFM Allyson Yu, the youngest in Chess history, who won the gold medal in the 15th Pan American Chess Championships at El Salvador. We have been working seriously since she was almost 7 years old and we were generously rewarded.

I have been successful against a number of Grand Masters such as GM Wesley So, GM Zhao Jun, GM Sasikiran Krishnan, GM Conrad Holt and so on.

Students
8yr old Allyson Yu - The youngest WFM in history by winning Pan American Chess Championships 2026 at 9yrs old, achieved 2000+ USCF at 9 years old after working for 3 years
Have been working as a second for Christian Gian Arca - Eastern Asia Youth 2025 Runaway Champion (1.5 lead over the 2nd place) with an outright IM title
Sean Aldrich Obado - Multiple Championships in UAE
Worked for Megan Paragua for around 2 years when she started Chess - World Cadet 12u Rapid Champion 2024, World Cadet 12u Rapid Blitz Champion 2024
10yrs old Phuwin Louwakul - Thailand National Champion 10u, 12u, 14u
12yrs old Austin Lin - Canadian Youth 12u 2nd place, been coaching since he was only a beginner
10yrs old Boaz Liu - achieved 700+ points rating in 10 months, won numerous tournaments in Michigan
8yrs old Gracie Yan - All-state Girls 8u National Champion
18yrs old Dave Lavandero - Asean Age Group 18under gold medalist
18 yrs old Edelyn Vosotros - Palarong Pambansa Champion

I usually try to understand a player according to the way he understands a position and I focus on finding solutions to move him to the next level. I am a specialist in endgames and e4 openings for White. As Black, I have a repertoire for the Grunfeld system, the Nimzo Indian, the King's Indian Defense, the Caro-Kann and the Sicilian defense. My greatest strength lies in preparation.

I provide holistic training programs for my students that includes tournament and psychological preparation. Each player has a different weakness and strength and as a coach I work on how I could correct the player's bad habits and enhance his strength much further.