FM Jonathan Blackburn

I'm a professional chess coach living in England but playing for Wales. I played a lot of chess as a junior being very successful at county and national level, therefore I got some amazing opportunities to travel around competing in the World. I realised I wanted to become a full-time chess coach when I was teaching mathematics at secondary school due to the popularity of the chess club I was running.

Fide Master title gained at the 2018 Olympiad in Batumi
Welsh online champion 2021
Winner of numerous Open competitions in the U.K.
Former Welsh under 21 and younger age category champion where I regularly played in World youth championships.

Full time chess coaching since 2017 having coached on an adhoc basis for over 20 years
Current coach of English and Welsh international junior players as well as taking players from complete beginners to county champions.
Any age, any ability, 1-2-1 or as a group.

Postgraduate degree in education - mathematics at secondary
Coaching, presenting, management training at former employer
Dog owner!

I use my previous experience as a sales coach and teacher in my chess coaching. Listening skills are absolutely vital, more so we can find what your real goals are!

My chess skills are well-rounded but I do prefer 7 hours grinding games for some strange reason! Proper chess!

This depends hugely on the student, what their goals are and how much time you have to devote to becoming the best possible chess player you can be.

Initially I will be assessing what you know on the basics and more advanced concepts to see what your intuition is like. Combine this with game analysis we can form a picture of your strengths and weaknesses and set work accordingly.