About me

I was born in Amstelveen, The Netherlands (1988), being taught the rules of chess by my father at the age of 7 and ever since then I have been captivated by the game! Already then I enjoyed the competitive element as well as the intellectual challenges the game has to offer and hence I decided to join local chess club Zukertort Amstelveen. First successes were achieved quickly and in my first participation at the Dutch Youth Championship I finished 2nd in the U10 category.

For many years I belonged to the top players of my country in my age category and managed to qualify for various international competitions. Particularly, the participation in three European Youth Championships (2x U14 & 1x U16) stimulated me to work harder to improve my game.

At the age of 18 I obtained the title of International Master (IM). After graduating from high-school I decided to take a year off and travel the world playing tournaments (in the end it took a bit longer than planned, no regrets though!). I have been in over 35 countries, mainly for chess-related activities. Quite a number of times I missed a good chance for scoring a grandmaster norm, but so far I haven't managed to get one yet. Moreover the critical 2500 barrier still needs to be reached, so there is still plenty of work left to reach my goal obtaining the official title. Nowadays my own active playing activities have been minimized to playing league games in weekends in various countries. I have always enjoyed the social aspect of playing in a team and I have played for clubs in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, England, Iceland and Greece. I'm currently at my peak with a FIDE-rating of 2464 (April 2020).

At the age of 15 I also started teaching in primary schools, earning my first pocket money. I really enjoyed sharing my passion and knowledge and soon extended my activities by organizing lessons in chess clubs, private classes and online teaching. In 2014 I founded the Amsterdam Chess Academy, with the aim of supporting talented youngsters in this region with extra classes besides the regular lessons they attend in the chess clubs. Most of them obtained excellent results, won nice trophies and made further progress in their chess career. Among my students are national youth champions and other talents who have participated in European and/or World Youth Championships. I'm a certified Schaaktrainer 3 (2012) and FIDE-Trainer (2019) and I'm trying to keep my trainining/coaching methods fresh by following coaches in other fields (particularly sports) as well.

I feel I'm very privileged to do what I like the most and be everyday involved with chess in various roles. I'm of course still very motivated reaching my goal to become a grandmaster, though sharing my experiences with my students is at least as enjoyable and rewarding!

About me

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I feel I'm very privileged to do what I like the most and be everyday involved with chess in various roles. I'm of course still very motivated reaching my goal to become a grandmaster, though sharing my experiences with my students is at least as enjoyable and rewarding!