I'm a rated rapid chess player with a background in high-level competitive gaming. Long before I was serious about chess, I was a top player in Heroes of the Storm — a team-based strategy game where reading your opponent, managing resources under pressure, and thinking multiple moves ahead are survival skills. Chess sharpened those instincts into something more precise.
I've spent years studying openings, pattern recognition, endgames, and the mental side of competition. As a teacher, I lean practical: less memorization, more understanding of why moves work — so what you learn holds up when a game leaves your preparation. And I genuinely love teaching. There's nothing quite like the moment a student sees a position differently than they did before.
Who I work with
From a first-ever game to breaking through a rating ceiling, the work changes with the player:
Complete Beginners
Never played before? Perfect. We start with how the pieces move and build from there — with real games from the first session, not just drills.
Intermediate Players
Stuck around 800–1400? We'll diagnose where your games are actually being lost — usually not where you think — and fix that specifically.
Strategic Thinkers
Chess is one of the best tools I know for building patience, focus, and the ability to think several steps ahead. Great for professionals, students, and anyone wanting a sharper mind.
What lessons look like
There's no fixed curriculum — every lesson is shaped by your specific gaps and goals. Most sessions draw on a mix of:
- Game review — We go through your recent games and find the patterns in your mistakes. Most improvement comes from here.
- Opening preparation — Building a reliable, principled opening repertoire suited to your style.
- Tactical training — Pattern recognition drills: forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks. These are the building blocks of middle-game play.
- Endgame fundamentals — Often the most neglected area. Knowing basic endings saves games that look lost.
- Live play & analysis — Playing games together with real-time commentary, then breaking them down afterward.
Format & logistics
Lessons are one-on-one, either in person in San Francisco (Duboce Triangle) or online via screen share. Sessions are typically 60–90 minutes. Frequency is flexible — weekly is ideal for steady improvement, but bi-weekly or one-off deep dives work too.
You don't need to bring anything but curiosity — no equipment, no prior study, no minimum rating. And as with everything at Wallace & Friends, accessibility for diverse communities, including neurodiverse individuals, is built in: pacing, format, and materials all adapt to how you learn best.
Chess taught me how to lose well — which turns out to be one of the most useful skills in any domain. I try to pass that on to every student.
Tell me where you are with the game and what you'd like to get from it — we'll figure out the right starting point together.