And I absolutely love playing and teaching chess

My son learnt to play chess on one of those big chess boards (with large movable pieces) that some parks/hotels have and we enjoyed playing chess often while we were parked/waiting in our car’s chess app. I wanted to trial lessons with Coach Ryan to see if Adi would be responsive to playing someone else besides his father. Adi was playing too much Minecraft and Pokemon and we were worried it might be turning his brain to mush! We figured that chess lessons might be the perfect thing to replace time spent playing video games with something more conducive to his brain development.

Ryan turned out to be the perfect fit. He connects with my son really well, they have a lot of fun during class time. Ryan gives Adi homework and holds him accountable for following through. Ryan asks engaging questions and helps stoke a fire to keep Adi’s interest in chess alive and well. Whenever he plays with his classmates he wins all his games and reports to me with a beaming grin on his face. My son absolutely benefits a great deal. After just a few weeks, we were sure this was a great fit. We’ve been taking lessons for 4 months and things are going strong. I’d highly recommend Coach Ryan to other families interested in chess lessons for their child.

Niranjan 

Father

Our son has always loved chess, and during the pandemic we realized our child needed something stimulating to look forward to. Ryan’s approach gave Nolan that and so much more. Our child’s chess game improved while his enthusiasm, as well as his willingness to take risks and make mistakes, also developed. However, that’s not all that changed. We watched with delight as remote learning became engaging. Ryan has the unique ability to meet kids where they are at with curiosity, humor, skill, direction, patience, and he doesn’t miss a beat. Children lost many things during the pandemic including normalcy, structure, social interactions, and the chance to just be kids. With Ryan, our child got all these things back, while improving his chess game. To this day, I’ve never won a match against Nolan. And his dad, who plays multiple times a day, almost never does. I can’t recommend his services enough.

Abigail

Mother

We noticed Maadhav liked chess when he tried it out during after school enrichment classes.

During the pandemic, when all the other activities came to a halt, I was looking for a chess coach to help provide some structure to our son’s routine, keep his interest in chess alive, not lose touch with listening to directions and also a person he can build a rapport with. After trying a different coach first, I am glad I found Ryan who was a great fit for our son and checked all the boxes we were looking for in a chess coach.

What I appreciate the most is his ability to bond with kids.

Ryan is also proactive about sharing his observations, feedback and chess lesson summary notes with parents. He’s good at listening to kids and giving them choices about the kind of activity they would like to do during class.

When Maadhav’s proud of a game he won on chesskid.com, he loves sending an email to Coach Ryan and joyfully analyzes it with Ryan during class. My son watches the clock to be sure he is not late for his chess class with Coach Ryan. We’re happy he’s has found a great coach and friend!

Sandy

Mother