Instructors

Justin Morrison

Justin is the founder and owner of Kid Chess. He started playing chess in high school and has over four decades of experience. He was the 3-time Georgia High School Champion from 1976 through 1978, High School Champion of Southeastern United States in 1976, and Georgia Junior Champion in 1978. He is a current USCF-rated Expert, a certified USCF tournament director beginning in 1977, and has taught chess since 1976.

Kristi Morrison

Kristi received an Elementary Education Certification from Kennesaw State College after graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in Psychology. Before working for Kid Chess, Kristi taught 1st and 2nd grades for 10 years in Fulton County, Georgia. Kristi first learned how to play chess in a chess class taught at her elementary school in Michigan. Kristi loves being a part of the Kid Chess team because it allows her to continue to teach. Kristi is a co-owner of Kid Chess with her husband, Kid Chess founder Justin Morrison. Kristi and Justin have a son and she has spent the last several years raising him. Kristi enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga, exercising, and reading.

Gerald Stafford

Gerald joined Kid Chess in 2006. He majored in elementary education, and has worked with children in different capacities including youth minister, activities director, camp director, physical education teacher, and sports coach. Gerald’s aspiration is to teach children life skills and values through fun and innovative games. A father of three daughters, he encourages all children as if they were his own. Gerald brings an exuberant amount of energy to every class and interacts with the children in a relatable way. He aspires to be a role model and to show caring and a positive character at all times.

Dan Lucas

Dan came to Kid Chess in August 2024 after an 18-year career at the US Chess Federation. There, he had been the Senior Director of Strategic Communication and before that the editor of Chess Life and Chess Life Kids magazines. This is a homecoming of sorts for Dan, as he was working for Kid Chess when he took the US Chess job. His daughter Katie also worked at Kid Chess while she attended Kennesaw State University. He has played tournament chess for 30 years and currently carries a 1577 rating. Earlier in 2024, Dan was inducted into the Georgia Chess Association Hall of Fame for both his national and local chess journalism work.

Ratana Landry

(Shown here on the right) Ratana joined the Kid Chess team as Director of Operations in June of 2004. Ratana has been a casual chess player since her college days, and “hopes some of the chess talent currently surrounding her rubs off”. She is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She has an extensive background in Private Investigations having owned her own business in Louisiana. Ratana met our founder Justin Morrison when she first moved to Georgia in 1995 and has had the pleasure to work with him at various times over the last 20 years. When not engaged in the many facets of managing the Kid Chess operations, Ratana is likely out riding her Harley Davidson (fondly known as “Doux”) or enjoying the outdoors camping with family, friends, and her “four-legged” kids Nick, Chloe, and Chee Chee (the infamous Chocolate Chihuahua and his two “feline” sisters).

Michael Farris

Michael is originally from Park Forest, Illinois. He graduated from Morehouse College with a B.S. Psychology and is a certified English as a Second Language teacher. With over 15 years of teaching experience, Michael enjoys combining his love of teaching with his passion for chess. A casual player, he taught himself how to play at age 9 and continued to play on computers and at the Atlanta Chess Center. Michael believes that playing chess allows the mind a chance to relax, to explore ideas and share camaraderie with another mind, exploring the “truth” of a co-created story. In teaching chess, he enjoys seeing the excitement of building the understanding of the game and re-experiencing those discoveries. When not teaching chess, Michael’s hobbies include photography, poetry, and reading. A world traveler, he has taught students from more than 15 countries and one of his favorite experiences was flying over Cappadocia, Turkey in a hot-air balloon.

Wendy Rones

Wendy is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. She attended Louisiana State University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. She taught first grade for twelve years and working with children has always been her passion. She lives in Marietta with her husband and three sons. Wendy enjoys hiking, theater, movies, travel and spending time with her family. She loves teaching chess and seeing her students grow and flourish from all of the wonderful benefits chess provides.

Akiva Blaut

Following graduation from The Weber School, Akiva earned an associate degree in psychology from Georgia Perimeter College. He is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Georgia State University. His prior work experience includes being a teacher’s assistant, teaching a Microsoft Excel class, and tutoring students in math and science. Akiva’s family lives in Atlanta, Seattle, and he has two sisters who live in Israel. As a child, he was taught to play chess by his mother and plays weekly with the chess club at Georgia State. Akiva finds the game is not only a great mental exercise but also a terrific way to meet people and get to know them. Chess is only one of the many games he enjoys. Akiva also plays video games and many board other games, especially those that make you think. He also likes to draw and write.

Al Horton

Chess came into Al’s life at a fairly young age; however, he did not take the game seriously until his science teacher asked him to play on the school chess team at Boys High School (now Boys and Girls High School) in Brooklyn, New York.  With his guidance and coaching, Al eventually lead the team as captain for two years.  Al joined the Kingsmen Chess Club and rose to junior champion in local tournaments.  He participated at both local and national levels including three World Open tournaments, and, as a member of the Armed Services Chess Team, he represented the Marine Corps during the Sea Services Chess Tournament. Al is currently rated as an “A”player and a member of the United States Chess Federation.   He has been a chess teacher for several years and enjoys sharing his experience with children of all ages.

Grandmaster Alonso Zapata

Alonso is a Grand Master and FIDE Senior Trainer (currently one of only 52 people with that designation). He is a published chess author with extensive expertise as a presenter at conferences, lectures, and FIDE seminars. Alonso has trained many top players and was both the trainer and captain of several teams at Chess Olympiads. He obtained second place in the World Junior Chess Championship in Innsbruck, Austria in 1977 and has been ranked as one of the 50 best players worldwide numerous times since. He competed in several cycles for the World Chess Championship and competed 12 times at the World Chess Olympiad. He has been the Colombian National Champion 8 times.

Anthony Morse

Anthony has a BA in Linguistics from GSU, and a BS in Software Development from GGC. He has worked as a private tutor for over 10 years, including time as an English teacher in South Korea. Anthony has a passion for teaching and finds it rewarding and fulfilling to work with kids.

He has an equal passion for chess and has been playing since he was only 5 years old. Anthony’s USCF rating is 1750, and his online ratings are all above 2000. His other interests include learning languages, travel, music and music theory, teaching, and video games.

Agif Mammadov

At the age of 16, Agif Mammadov became a candidate for a master of sports in chess. He was a member of the Azerbaijan youth chess team and is a repeated champion of republican and all-union chess competitions in the former USSR. For over 15 years, he worked as a chess coach at the Dynamo Sports club. His love of chess is expressed through his teaching and skillfully instills this love of chess to his students.

Bella Belegradek

Bella has been playing chess for almost thirty years. She was a seasoned tournament player in Russia, where she acquired the title of Woman Chess Master’s Candidate at age 16. She earned Master’s degrees in Math and Computer Science, the latter from the University of Maryland. She was the university’s chess champion in 1994-95 and was a member of their chess team when they won two Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships. Bella started teaching chess while in elementary school and joined Kid Chess in 2005. In her spare time she enjoys photography, traveling, hiking, knitting and knitwear design.

Connor Clifton

Connor first learned chess in the first grade as a part of the Kid Chess program. He taught his sister to play chess and has always enjoyed teaching the game to others. He is pursuing a degree from Kennesaw State University in Theatre and Performance Studies and is an aspiring film director and comic book writer.

Dean Bowler

Dean was born in Roswell, Georgia. He completed an associate’s degree in computer science and is currently working on his bachelor’s degree at Georgia State University. Before he joined Kid Chess, Dean researched at the Rochester Institute of Technology for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Dean studies chess seriously and it shows! His ratings are 1865 USCF classical, 2180 and 2300 rapid chess.com and lichess.org, respectively. His goal is to achieve Expert (2000 USCF rating). Dean is a head coach at several schools. It puts a smile on his face to make a difference in kid’s lives and to see how they are improving. He loves playing and teaching chess because of the virtues and skills it teaches us, such as patience, humility, humbleness, community, and how to achieve our goals.

Doug Cox

Doug is a Georgia native; he moved to Atlanta in 1992 for college. He has a B.A. from Georgia State University, majoring in computer information systems. He has worked as a consultant as a lead developer, data architect and analyst for over twenty years, most recently with Microsoft. Doug started playing chess in earnest in 2003; he plays four to six USCF tournaments a year and has also played FIDE-rated tournaments in other countries, most recently in Bangkok and Medellin. He is currently rated 1892 by USCF. Doug enjoys teaching and playing chess because he feels it is one of the few subjects where different ideas and approaches can be applied with unbiased feedback. After all, checkmate is not subjective! Chess assists in the development of critical thinking, intellectual and emotional
intelligence, and rewards rationality and patience. He loves that kids act like enthusiastic sponges when learning chess and especially enjoys seeing their improvement and watching their development. Doug enjoys many things besides chess: playing piano, sports and sports analytics, gardening, spending time with his wife and two dogs, reading philosophy and science fiction and travel. Doug has been a vegetarian since 2011.

Francis Lisasi

Francis is originally from Congo Kinshasa and has lived in South Africa, Belgium and Sweden. He is married, with four adult children, two of whom live in South Africa and the other two live in the US. Francis holds degrees in law and criminology and a degree in business administration/marketing. He is fluent in both French and English.

Francis started playing chess at 8. In 2006, he took part in the national championships in the Congo, where he placed sixth! He continues to play online daily, from two to five games per day. He loves teaching chess, especially to kids because they have plenty of room for learning. He likens it to turning lead into gold

When not playing chess, Francis can be found teaching French to all levels, from beginner to advanced. He also translates professional documents from English to French. He enjoys reading detective novels and watching good movies.

Greg Barnum

Greg has been playing chess since he was 11 years old. He has played in several chess clubs in both Florida and Georgia. He is a Vietnam veteran and a graduate of the University of Florida with graduate hours in Humanities from Penn State University. Greg has had several vocations; he has been a community college instructor, a sales rep and a realtor. He has played the French horn in several orchestras as well as refereeing soccer and instructing junior golf players. Greg is a security guard for the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta and also finds time to volunteer for child advocacy. He has recently taken up oil and acrylic painting. He enjoys cooking and wine and playing chess.

Herman Jones

Herman Jones is a Sprayberry High School graduate with work experience in the fields of customer service, music production, and childcare. He began playing chess when he was 8 years old and likes to play with friends and online. Teaching children to play chess allows Herman to help them take each concept to the next level where there is always something new to discover. His hobbies include playing basketball, soccer, piano, trombone, singing, and songwriting. Herman has perfect pitch and auditioned twice for NBC’s The Voice.

Jared Radin

Jared has been playing chess for approximately 45 years. In the 70’s he was one of the top players in Georgia and won the State Championship in 1973. Jared is a former President of the Georgia Chess Association, and he has also directed and organized many chess tournaments. Jared is a computer programmer by trade and he created KCEasyChess and the interactive chess puzzles in the “fun house” section of the Kid Chess website.

Jeff Martinez

Originally from Queens, New York, Jeff earned an Associates in Engineering at Queens Borough Community College and a Diploma in Programming from Chattahoochee Technical College. He is also a Georgia certified interpreter; English-Spanish. Jeff’s work experience includes property management, computer technology, and junior web development. He enjoys chess since it is a game of skill and tactical prowess and plays about twice a week with a chess club. In his spare time, he enjoys HTML tutoring, computer technology, and sports forecasting.

Laura Mauter

Laura is originally from Addison, Illinois. She attended Southern New Hampshire University and received a BA in Creative Writing. She nannied children of all ages for eight years before transitioning to being a coach for Kid Chess.  While she considers herself a casual player, she loves learning more and more about the game every day. In addition to chess, she loves running, writing, and playing video games.

Kyle Hagen

Kyle graduated from Kennesaw State University with a degree in business management, as well as an MBA. He played chess competitively during middle and high school. In 8th Grade, Kyle won the Georgia State Level Championships. Kyle began his career at Kid Chess as a student; he has now coached with Kid Chess for well over a decade alongside his two brothers. His favorite part of working with kids, is seeing them learn new skills and interact with challenges. Kyle’s other hobbies include exercise, nutrition, photography, and brewing.

Leslie Nicodemus

Leslie hails from Baltimore, Maryland, though she spent most of her adult life in Florida and California before settling in Cobb County in early 2014. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland in Elementary Education. Leslie taught third grade for more than 20 years and then switched gears and became an Instructional Technology Specialist for fourth through eighth grade. She has presented at more than a dozen conferences on such subjects as how to engage students in learning and how children can learn to think and ask questions, rather than memorizing facts. Kid Chess is a natural extension to these skills, as chess playing has been scientifically proven to help build cognitive skills. 

 
Leslie has two grown children and lives in Marietta with her Lhasa Apso, Harpo. She considers herself a casual chess player and enjoys reading, traveling, movies and developing her chess skills on line and with family and friends. Working with kids is entertaining and satisfying. There is nothing quite like the “Eureka” moment when a child makes a discovery or learns something new. She enjoys the challenge of chess. 

Louis Alderman IV

Louis works in our office as well as being a chess coach. He was a member of the Milton High School Chess Club and president of the club from 2003 to 2005. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Southern Polytechnic State University. In his spare time, he also works with students of all ages at a martial arts school having earned his black belt in 2019. He also volunteered with Georgia BEST robotics in 2008 and 2009.

Maha Sikkander

Maha is originally from India and it was there, when she was twelve years old, that her cousin taught her to play chess.  Initially a casual player, Maha played a game that changed her perspective. Her queen was captured and Maha made the assumption that she would also lose the game.  However, she won that game with two rooks!  This experience increased Maha’s passion for chess. She now considers chess to be an art as it stimulates both concentration and imagination.  Maha plays frequently with friends and family, including her husband and daughter, as well as online. Maha has a Master’s degree in English Literature and a software testing certificate.  Her work experience is in this field, including database analysis, development, and testing. In her spare time, Maha enjoys learning new languages (she speaks three different Indian languages), cooking, and volunteering for the Girl Scouts.

Meredith Smiles

Meredith attended the University of Alabama and the University of South Carolina where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Management. She went on to receive her MBA from Kennesaw State University and then worked in the management field for several companies, most recently as a human resources/business consultant. She and her husband have two children. In her spare time, she loves to play tennis and read. She learned to play chess in elementary school and considers herself a casual chess player. She enjoys sharing the strategy of chess and seeing the children have fun while learning the game.

Myron Morgan

Myron was raised in a family of eight and is now married and the proud father of three young children. He attended Ball State University in early childhood education and has worked with children in a variety of areas, including Little League soccer and as a Sunday School teacher. He began to play chess at an early age and is excited to share his love of the game through Kid Chess.

Norman Stokes

Norman has been with Kid Chess since 2005. He learned to play chess s an elementary school student, improved throughout high school, and played in his first tournament in 1977. Norman has been interpreting for the deaf for more than 40 years and has taught many deaf people how to play chess. In 1984, Norman graduated from University of Alabama in Birmingham with a MA degree in Special Education. Norman taught in Cobb County Schools and used chess as a teaching tool with some of his students.

Rufus Natawidjaja

Rufus was born in Indonesia. He has an associate of art degree in business administration as well as certificates in automotive technology. He began playing chess in elementary school and now plays occasionally with friends. He likes playing because it is a challenging game, helping with decision making and problem solving. Rufus finds working with kids rewarding, and he enjoys sharing his knowledge with them to help the kids become better chess players.

Ryan Darling

Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He co-owned a family landscaping business with his dad for ten years in Chattanooga before moving to Atlanta in the winter of 2023. He worked in marketing and online outreach for 8 years with the lawn business and with independent comedy show production. His hobbies include writing music, playing in a band, telling jokes, playing chess, and running.

Ryan’s grandpa taught him to play chess at the age of 6. He likes playing chess because there’s always something to learn. Ryan is a lifelong student and no matter how often he plays chess, he always feels like he’s learning something new each time he plays. He is currently an unrated player but plans to change that as an adult improver.

Ryan likes working with kids because they are hilarious and give you real reactions. “They can’t really hide how they are feeling, so you know exactly where you stand with them,” he says. “They make him laugh a lot and it’s exciting to see their eyes light up when they finally understand what you have been trying to teach them.”

Sanjay Sen

Sanjay was born in India and grew up in Kenya. He moved to the United States for college, and completed an MBA in Bioinformatics. He learned chess at 7 years old from his grandfather. He has a USCF rating of 868. Sanjay loves to play chess because it helps his focus and stretches his brain to calculate a good move.

Sanjay enjoys working with kids because it helps with his leadership skills. It gives him a different perspective on what it means to be the leader of a team with different personalities, even under the toughest circumstances and environments. He believes kids can teach us a lot; we just have to be patient, listen and learn. In his spare time, Sanjay is a car enthusiast, painter, musician (drummer), and enjoys outdoor grilling / cooking, camping, and traveling. He has hiked Mt. Longonot in Kenya and camped on its crater for 3 nights!

TJ Bergquist

T.J. majored in Modern Language and Culture at Kennesaw State University and enjoys all things that deal with philosophy, wellbeing, and aesthetics. Though he enjoys pursuing artistic paths, whether digital art, music composition, or script writing, his guilty pleasure is playing video games and watching movies with his buddies. When T.J. is not coaching chess, he does academic as well as Spanish and English coaching.

Tom Kayma

Tom has been playing competitive chess for 47 years. He learned the game after Bobby Fischer won the World Championship in 1972. He is ranked as a National Master with the US Chess Federation and was also featured in the March 2022 Chess Life Magazine monthly feature article “My Best Move”. He is currently rated in the Top 20 chess players in Georgia.

He is an M&A advisor representing middle market companies in the sale of their business.  His chess experience has definitely helped his business career in negotiations, as anticipating your counterpart’s next move and being prepared for it is a critical business skill.

Tom firmly believes that chess provides critical thinking skills for children and also prepares them for the challenges of life by learning how to lose and bounce back from setbacks  and to never give up even when things look bleak. Chess also teaches children the consequences of their decisions and to think before making choices.

Trina Jackson

As a child, Trina was inspired to learn chess after years of watching her dad play with his military friends. She was a quick study and began to play in tournaments. Trina played scholastically in grades 6-12 and then collegiately. She received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology/English from Florida A&M University and went on to earn a BS in Hospitality Management/Travel & Tourism from Johnson & Wales University Miami and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Nova Southeastern. She is currently studying computer science in the pursuit of her Ph.D. In her spare time, she enjoys playing chess online with friends, reading a good book, watching superhero movies, or just relaxing. Her favorite things are NFL football, Mickey Mouse, and all things Disney. Sharing her love of chess with others is one of her greatest passions!

Yvonne Chavez

Yvonne comes to Kid Chess with extensive experience in the gaming industry, focusing on community management and game production. Before Kid Chess, she taught people online how to play video games, a skill she easily transferred to teaching children chess. Yvonne is a casual chess player, starting to play regularly in 2021, though she initially learned in elementary school. Besides chess, Yvonne enjoys cooking, dancing, gaming, and poetry.

Zac Bolton

Zac first learned to play chess as a teenager. He pursued his love of the game by volunteering at Kid Chess camps, and his game progressed from not knowing how to play to reaching a peak rating of 1836 in four years. He was ranked in the upper half of the top 100 scholastic players in the nation and an assistant instructor at Emory Castle Chess Camp. He loves regular, bullet, and bughouse chess. Zac graduated from The American School of Correspondence while dual enrolled at Chattahoochee Technical College. He then attended Furman University and worked in the area of food service management. In his spare time, Zac likes to paint, play guitar, and read, especially Ray Bradbury’s books.