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GM Priyadharshan Kannappan

India's Highest FIDE(2553) & USCF(2632) rated Pro Coach - Reach out via contact form on chessgaja.com - 100+Students of all ages(5-60+) learning from 13+ countries

LocationBangalore India
Languagesதமிழ், हिन्दी, हिंदी, English (US)
RatingFIDE: 255327032577
AvailabilityAccepting students
Active

About me

- Lived in St.Louis, US, for six years (2012-18).
- Mentored by former Woman's World Chess Champion Susan Polgar at Webster University.
- Assistant Coach of Webster Team for the Final Four of Collegiate Chess in 2018.
- Coach of the Brazil National Team in the Chess Olympiad 2022 in Chennai. The team started in 28th rank and finished 21st!
- Winner of 11 international medals for India.
- Have made a draw against former World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana.
- 15+ academy students ranked in the top 100 in the US age category rankings
- Have worked with 6 age category national champions from 4 countries
- Coach of the Indian Sub-Junior team to the World Chess Olympiad in Turkey 2019. The team started 19th and finished 7th in the final rankings
- Champion of international events like Chicago Open, New York International, Mid-America Open, St.Louis Autumn Invitational, Thanksgiving Open etc.
- Founder of Chess Gaja (formerly known as Chess Gyaan) academy, where students from 13+ countries learn chess.
- Author of the best-selling "The Modernized Berlin Wall Defense" book.

Playing experience

I have been playing chess since I was 7 years old. My best performances have been

Member of the Webster-B team which finished 5th in the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Championship 2017

Member of the Webster Chess Team which won the Final Four of Collegiate Chess 2017

Member of the Webster-B team which won the Pan-Am Intercollegiate Championship 2016

Drew World #2 GM Fabiano Caruana with black pieces in a classical game.

Joint Champion of New York International 2016

Shared the first place with GM Gabriel Sargissian in 2014 Chicago Open

11 International Medals for India in age category championships

Mid American Open 2012 and 2013 champion

MVP of US Chess League in 2012, and also Rookie of the Year and Board 2, Team 1 All-star player in 2012.

Teaching experience

-Worked with 6 age category national champions.
- 15+ of our academy students are ranked in the top lists for their age category in the USCF rating.
-Working with students from 13 countries.
- Coached the Brazil Men's National Team for the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai. The team started 28th and finished 21st in the final rankings.
- A few notable students in the U.S - Vijay Anandh, Vaseegaran Nandhakumar etc
-Coach of the Indian team for the World Sub-junior Olympiad that finished 7th after starting as the 19th seed.
-I was awarded the FIDE Trainer title in March 2019.
-I have been actively training players since 2012, and have had the fine opportunity to work with many talented players from India and the U.S.A
-I have trained players from rating levels of 1000-2300, and all my students have shown an average of 100 rating point growth within six months of working with me regularly.
-I was the Assistant Coach of Webster University Team, which finished 2nd in the Final Four of Collegiate Chess 2018.

Other experiences

Corporate Role
Product Manager in nurtr(Sep 2018 – April 2019), an ed-tech platform located in Gurugram, India. Headed the Chess division, and brought in mentors from across the world, and created chess content on a daily basis, and was also involved in innovating new products, that helped the chess learning process easier and enjoyable.

League Commissioner
Indian Chess.com League(Apr 2020 - May 2020) India's 1st ever professional chess league
- Close to 50% of Indian Grand Masters participated in a league format
- 0.15 Million Rupees worth of sponsors brought onboard the league
- Ensured the league got the social and mainstream media coverage with articles in Times of India, Hindu, Fisto Sports etc

Media role
– Official commentator of Asia’s biggest chess event, the Delhi Open 2019.
– PRO Chess League commentator for Webster Windmills team.
– Have written articles for all the leading chess magazines.

Miscellaneous Roles
– USCF Club TD.
– Managed Webster Windmills (Dec 2016 – May 2018) in PRO Chess League.
– Have interacted with 1000s of kids and parents on how academics and chess can be balanced at the same time.

Corporate Chess Consultant
- Was the Olympic Torchbearer in 3 cities (Pune, Mumbai, Chennai) in the Tech Mahindra Office Campus as part of the Chess Olympiad Torch Relay

Best skills

I place more emphasis on the middlegames and the endgames than the openings when I coach my students, as I firmly believe that openings are based on latest trends and are ever-changing, but the concepts in the middle and end game are ideas that you will take with you throughout your chess career.

Teaching methodology

Analyzing your games and finding out the weaknesses. Follow that up with a training plan on how to fix those weaknesses, and then constantly monitor your improvement in the game, and also give homework on regular intervals related to the topics covered in the class.

Latest blog posts

Chess Gaja Demo Class by GM Priyadharshan

Free 1 hour Demo Chess Session - Appearance by GM Priyadharshan

Looking for an activity during the rest day of World Championship Match (April 22)