GM Bryan Garrett Smith

I am the first and only ever Grandmaster from Alaska. I started playing chess at the late age of 13 and was entirely self-taught. So I know how it is, trying to improve on one's own!

Sometimes I live in the U.S. and sometimes in Germany. I adjust my time schedule to do lessons at your convenience. Currently, I am living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

When I left Alaska at age 18 I was only rated around 2100 USCF and had never played a FIDE rated tournament. In Alaska, there were only a handful of tournaments per year with very low-rated players.

Eventually, I became an IM and then a GM. At age 28 I made a big jump in strength, so I know it is possible to improve as an adult.

Some of my biggest accomplishments are winning clear first in the U.S. National Chess Congress in 2008 and 2017 (and a tie for first in 2009). In 2006 I tied for first in the U.S. Masters. 2010 I won the Philadelphia International. In 2011 I won the Limpedea Cup, a category 8 closed tournament in Romania. And in 2025 I won the championship of the Württemberg region of Germany. I play frequently and have won many other weekend tournaments in both the U.S. and in Europe.

I have over 20 years of experience teaching private lessons. I have also taught many chess camps and group lectures.

I have written one book "The Najdorf in Black and White" and published one Chessable course ("The Nimzo-Indian Inside and Out"). Another Chessable course is set to be released soon.

I wrote a weekly column for Chess.com from 2011 until 2015.

I also have recorded instructional videos for a number of publishers, e.g. Ichess, TheChessWorld, and others.

The most important thing about chess lessons is that the student have a good experience. You never improve in something you do not find fun.

If you play a bad or unlucky game, it might be painful to look at it alone. But showing the game to someone else is the best way to learn, and it might make you feel better as well. So you can always bring your bad games to me and I won't judge.

In other words, I try to be empathetic. I know how upsetting chess can be - oh I most definitely know - and yet we continue wanting to play, do we not?

I speak English fluently, so no problems there.

I have worked as a trainer for players from beginner up to GM. Probably those who would get the most out of lessons with me would be between about 1200-2200.

The basic principle is that in order to improve in chess, you must change something in your way of thinking. This goes for anyone who wants to improve, from a beginner up to the top players.

So the key is to identify what aspect of your thinking is inefficient or otherwise not ideal, and improve it.

To some extent it is possible to do this on your own, but it is much harder. The help of a strong player who can look on objectively is invaluable.

So this is my methodology. I try to identify weaknesses in your method of thinking. Then I use thematic examples to work on improving it. We work through the solution and not only examine whether it was right or wrong, but also how you reached your conclusion.