Sep 29, 20203 min read

World Teacher's Day - Dmitri Shevelev

Updated: Sep 30, 2020

This month on the 5th of October we will be celebrating World Teacher’s Day – so we decided to honor some of our more prominent Educators from across the Globe.

Currently in 2020, ChessMatec is being taught to more than 200,000 students in over 1000 Schools spread throughout the World! Our comprehensive curriculum provides teachers with prepared lessons for beginner and intermediate students, and the necessary tools to easily create classrooms, import students, and see helpful metrics.

Today – we are giving the stage to one of ChessMatec’s leading Chess Teachers – Dmitri Shevelev from the United States!

Dmitri is a Chess Coach that uses the ChessMatec platforms, and the founder of the MyChessFamily school in the U.S! We asked him a couple of questions so that you can get to know him too!

Where are you from? Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience in chess training.

My name is Dmitri Shevelev and I'm the owner and founder of MyChessFamily (chess school). We offer chess education to kids and adults in New York and New Jersey. I was born in Ukraine, in the city of Kharkiv. When I was 13 we moved to Israel, and now I currently reside in New Jersey. I've played in many chess tournaments all over the world and have a title of Fide Master.

How long have you been teaching Chess to kids?

I have been teaching chess and working with kids for many, many years. In 2007 I officially created and founded my chess school in New York City.

What tools do you use to teach chess to young kids?

I use ChessMatec.com, lichess.org and chess.com. Nowadays due to the pandemic all Chess lessons are held online in the virtual world. I use ChessMatec as an educational chess tool for my chess students. It is easy to use and fabulous in assigning homework.

What do you like about ChessMatec?

ChessMatec is a great tool for young chess players (beginners and intermediate) to use in order to get better at chess. It is an interactive platform organized in a smart and strategic way (topic by topic) that allows steady improvement. As a teacher I like to keep track of my students and their progress, and I have this great option with ChessMatec! I found that grown-ups also like to practice using the ChessMatec App - some of the parents happily start their own chess adventure from ChessMatec level 1 and so on.

What is your favorite theme to teach children?

My personal favorite theme is Discovery Attack and all Discoveries in general. There is a great chapter on this theme in the ChessMatec App.

What is the biggest challenge in teaching young kids?

The biggest challenge chess-wise is to develop critical thinking in children and to inspire them to analyze and take every move thoughtfully. I teach them to have reasoning behind every single move or decision. For younger players, the challenge is to teach them to pay attention to their opponents' threats so that they can stop blundering pieces.

What is your secret to being an awesome Chess Teacher?

Every child is unique. I would like to be their friend so that they feel really comfortable learning with me, trust is so important! Then I can guide them and share my knowledge. Kids are very sensitive and pure, and their mood can change so fast. I believe that a teacher should feel the moods of their kids and act/react accordingly -then they have a chance to have every single lesson as a huge happy celebration.

What is a piece of advice you can give to parents/teachers who are just starting to teach young kids chess?

Enjoy the process. Listen to your kids and try to understand how they are feeling. The key word in my opinion is joy! When a child loves the game and it makes him/her happy and secure, they trust the teacher and then, the sky is the limit!

In terms of Chess, I believe that solving a lot of tactics is the key. ChessMatec is very helpful to go over many different tactics in an organized and systematic way.