Coaches
GMÂ Pravin Thipsay (Mentor)
A household name, Arjuna Awardee Pravin Thipsay is the third Grand Master from India after Vishy Anand and Dibyendu Barua. A great force to reckon with from the eighties till the late nineties, Thipsay has several accolades to his name. He has won tournaments in several parts of the world, and has been a very successful trainer. Following are his main achievements:
- FIDE Senior Trainer
- Represented India for over 25 years from 1975 till 2003 in various international events including the Chess Olympiad.
- Seven times National Champion
- Chairman of All India Chess Federation’s Trainers’ Commission 2021.
Â
Main Students:
- Grandmaster M. R. Lalith Babu from 2008 to 2012
- Grandmaster S L Narayanan from 2013 to 2015 Â
- Grandmaster Ankit Rajpara from 2012 to 2015          Â
- Grandmaster Anurag Mhamal from 2010 to 2012Â
- Woman Grandmaster and IM Nisha Mohota since 2006
- Woman Grandmaster Kruttika Nadig from 2004 to 2008.
- International Master Aditya Udeshi 2008 to 2012.  Â
GM Abhijeet Gupta (Mentor)
GM Abhijeet Gupta will be mentoring the students along with the esteemed coaches and GM Thipsay.
Abhijeet is a famous player having won tournaments in four continents. A five times Commonwealth Champion, Arjuna Awardee, Individual silver medalist in Chess Olympiad, former India Champion, former Asian medalist, member of Indian team for several years – GM Abhijeet Gupta is one of the finest talents of the country. Thankfully he has started to share his knowledge recently and has been immensely successful with few young talents he has worked with.Â
Abhijeet is also a famous commentator and is known the world over for his high quality analytical work that has made him an author too. His courses on Chessable and Modern Chess and his opening analysis on New In Chess show his great depth as a theoretician.
IM Vishal Sareen (Head Coach, FIDE Senior Trainer)
Vishal Sareen took up chess at the age of ten in 1983. In 1986 he became the National Sub Junior Champion and represented the country for the first time in 1987 in the World Under-16 chess championship at Innsbruck in Austria.
Representing India on a few occasions thereafter and making a few International Master norms, he noticed the need for professional chess trainers in the country at an early age of 25 years and started working in the direction of learning the process which will improve the chess knowledge and skills of young and budding chess players.
From 2004 onwards, some of the best talents who would bring glory to the nation in the future, started getting trained under his methods and in just a few years’ time he emerged as one of the better trainers that the country has produced.
He tutored Parimarjan Negi when he was not yet an International Master and became a Grandmaster under his training. Abhijeet Gupta was next to become a Grandmaster and then Sahaj Grover and Tania Sachdev followed suit.
He has trained several Indian teams in the past two decades including Cadets, Youth, Sub-Junior, Junior and Women. He is the trainer of several Indian Grandmasters. A personal trainer of Abhijeet Gupta for over 15 years now, Vishal is one of the few FIDE Senior Trainers in the country and a Councilor in FIDE Trainers’ Commission.
IM Hemant Sharma (Coach)
- International Master and FIDE Trainer based in New Delhi, India.
- Over 20 years of experience in playing chess, with notable achievements, including winning India’s Under-25 Championship in 2010 and securing the Best Rating Category Prize at Gibraltar Masters 2018.
- Passionate traveler with visits to 17 countries, always eager to explore new places.
- Enthusiastic about computer games, particularly a fan of FIFA and Call of Duty.
- Versatile athlete, also engaging in Football (Soccer), Table Tennis (Ping Pong), and Pool (Snooker).
- Early success with a Bronze Medal at the Dubai Junior Chess Championship in 2005 and winning India’s Under-25 Championship at the age of 18 in 2010.
- Participation in prestigious international tournaments, including 91st Paris Open 2016, Gibraltar Masters 2018, Isle Of Man Masters Championship, and 36th Zalakaros International Chess Championship.
- Consistent performer with achievements such as 5th prize at Paris Open 2016, Best Rating Prize at Gibraltar Masters 2018, and earning IM norms at Isle Of Man and Zalakaros.
IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra (Coach)
Apart from being an International Master, Mishra is the only Indian who holds the title of FIDE Trainer and International Arbiter. A multi-faceted personality, Mishra was the youngest professional player back in 1980’s. A contemporary of GM Vishwanathan Anand and GM Dibyendu Barua, he won the National Sub Junior Championship in 1981 & 1982 and National Junior Championship in 1985.
Mishra has trained and worked with many players during their grooming stage who are now popular faces in the chess world. Some of the names of his trainees include:
Grand Masters
- Deep Sengupta
- Debashish Das
- Vidit Gujrathi
- Swapnil Dhopade
- Shardul Gagare
- Swayams Mishra
- Mitrabha Guha
- Koustav Chatterjee
International Masters:
- Padmini Rout
- Anwesh Upadhyay
- Bitan Banerjee
- Aronyak Ghosh
Women Grand Masters:
- Mary Ann Gomes
- Kiran Manisha Mohanty
Women International Masters:
- Lakshmi Sahiti
- Shalmali Gagre
- Arpita Mukherjee
- Chandrayee Hazra
IM Sharad Tilak (Coach)
One of the most experienced trainers in the country, IM Sharad Tilak was a member of the Indian team on several occasions. His major achievements are:
- Represented India in several International Tournaments
- Silver medalist in Asian Zonal Championship – Qatar 1987
- Twice member of the Indian Team in the Chess Olympiad 1986 & 1994
- Awarded International Master title by FIDE in 1987
Achievements as a Chess Coach
- Awarded the title of FIDE Trainer by FIDE in 2020
- Parnali Dharia: won the Gold in Asian Under 18 in 2014
- Om Kadam: won the Gold medal in the Asian U 10 in 2018
- Aditya Udeshi: Gold medal in the National Sub-junior 2008
- Shiven Khosla: Gold medal in the National under 11 Chess 2007
- Bhavik Bharambe: Gold medal in National under 13 in 2015
- Aditya Udeshi and Shiven Khosla awarded the IM title
- Parnali Dharia awarded the International Woman Master title
- Nubairshah Shaikh awarded the International Master title by the
- World Chess Federation in 2016.
Â
IM Akshat Khamparia (Coach)
Madhya Pradesh’s best player for a long time. IM Khamparia is a great adviser on practical aspects of the game. Being an active player himself his assessment of a players’ skills and planning. Following are his major achievements as a player:
- Fide Master 2008
- International Master 2011
- Fide Trainer 2021
- One Grand Master Norm
- Commonwealth Silver Medalist
- Sydney International Open Champion
- Multiple Times champion in Budapest GM tournament
- Winner of Many International Open Chess tournament around the world
Fide Master Harshal Shahi
- Â FIDE profile link
National Instructor Amit Sharma (Coach)
GENERAL SNAPSHOT
Amit Sharma is one of the friendliest coaches around for young children. He holds an exceptional ability to clearly communicate, learn and adapt to systems/students in quick time. Sharma possesses the right attitude and is an effective team player with creative thinking and excellent interpersonal skills.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION
- National Instructor: 2012
- Presently working as a Chess Trainer at Vasant Valley School, Vasant Kunj.
- Taking After School Activity at The Shri Ram School (All Branches)
- Taking After School Activity at The British School, Chanakya Puri.
Girish Chandra Gupta (Coach)
Girish is another coach who specializes in training young guns to become champions.
- Represented University Team 5 times in a row from 2002-2006
- 3rd  position in UP STATE RAPID CHESS TOURNAMENT – 2006
- 2nd  position in UP STATE U-25 CHESS TOURNAMENT- 2008
- 2nd position in UP STATE RANKING CHESS TOURNAMENT – 2010
- Working as a personal coach of many young players across NCR.
- Coach at the British School. Â