This chess club is all about improving your skills, engaging in friendly competition and enjoying some epic games of chess! My fondest memories of my childhood revolve around chess tournaments. I played competitively in chess tournaments beginning at the age of 11 until I began running my own chess clubs as a middle school teacher. I owe the game of chess for teaching me patience, good sportsmanship and self-confidence. As a scholastic player in Florida in the 1990's I had the honor of being named Florida Elementary Chess Champion two times and hold a chess rating of approximately 1800. I love offering that same excitement that I found as a child, to the students in my chess club.

I am excited to announce that starting in January 2022 we will begin using my new chess website, CohenChessClub.com. This website is exclusive for my OutSchool students and does not require students to register for an account. I began development of this website in 2021 to provide a more secure website for my chess students as well as allow me to customize the website to better fit my student's needs. One of the newest features is the winner of each week's tournament being given the title of honorary Grandmaster with the GM title being placed next to their name for the following week. With the help of student feedback and suggestions, additional new features will be added throughout the year. All account login information will be provided by me through the OutSchool platform. This allows me to ensure that no email or other personal information will be collected.

The greatest thing about this style of chess club competition is that tournament pairings virtually guarantee you will paired with a student of equivalent strength as the tournament progresses. Stronger tournament results reflect growth in a student's chess ability and lead to new more challenging opponents. Students do not need any tournament experience to be in our club, but should have a firm grasp on the rules of game. For those who have had tournament experience, I would like to limit this club to students under the rating of 1400. If you are higher rated, please contact me and as soon as we have enough players I will set up an advanced club for those students. Our weekly matches will use 7 minute per side time control/limit with a 2 second increment added for each move. We will need at least six players to start our club, but please contact me if you are interested in 1 to 1 or small group chess lessons.