Justin Morrison

Justin Morrison is the founder and owner of Kid Chess™. With over 3 decades worth of chess playing experience, he started playing in high school. 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 teaching for Kid Chess™, Kristi taught 1st and 2nd grades for 10 years in Fulton County, Georgia. Kristi first learned how to play chess when she was 8 years old 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 teach children. 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.

Bella Belagradek

Bella has been playing chess for almost thirty years. She was a seasoned tournament player in Russia, where she aquired a title of Woman Chess Master's Candidate at age 16. She has two Masters degrees (in Math and Computer Science), the later one was from University of Maryland Baltimore County, the winner of six Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship. She's been a member of UMBC team for three years and won UMBC Championship in 1994-95. Bella started teaching chess while she was an elementary school student. Recently she resumed this demanding and delightful career.

Ratana Landry

Ratana joined the Kid Chess™ team as Operations Manager 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 10 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 with family, friends, and her “four legged” canine kid “Put-Two”.

Lee Miller

Lee is a graduate of Berry College with a BA in English Literature. He began playing chess as a sophomore in high school, but did not play in his first tournament until four years later, in the 1994 Tennessee Open. Since then he has been active ( more than 600 rated games at standard time controls ) and successful, establishing a Class B ( 1600 ) rating floor. Founder and president of the chess club at Berry, Lee has taught chess formally and informally for years.

"A good professor's passion for and knowledge of his subject can challenge his students to the point of intimidation. A great professor's patience and knowledge of human nature makes those same students believe they can meet that challenge, to the point of inspiration. For children, just playing the game thoughtfully teaches engagement and achievement. One of a chess teacher's main goals is to instill and encourage that thoughtfulness."

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 our website.

Fred Judson

Fred began playing at chess over 60 years ago in Milford Connecticut. Fred initiated his chess career by reading Capablanca's "A Primer of Chess" and Reuben Fine's "Chess the Easy Way". Fred played regularly against family members and high school classmates until 1953. Later, Fred was recognized as "All Campus Champion" at the University of Connecticut in 1954. He graduated with a BSME from Bridgeport Engineering Institute, now part of Fairfield Univ., in 1963. His accomplishments also includes two time Club "Blitz Champion", holding Grandmaster Pal Benko to a draw in a simul, defeating a Master at the Connecticut Blitz Championship, and sharing 1st place with a blind player at the 1990 Hartford Open. Fred began teaching chess in 1970. Fred is a registered Chess Coach with the United States Chess Federation.

Ben Vinyard

Ben's cousin taught him how to play chess when he was a child but he didn't start playing seriously until the age of 29. He attended Southeast Missouri State University and majored in Communications. His occupational experience involves years of film and television employment including a position as the studio producer for the Kansas City Royals and freelance assignments for ESPN, CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS and Entertainment Tonight. Ben is a certified tournament director and, since his participation with Kid Chess™, has had an opportunity to become a more active tournament player, at one point gaining 150 ratings points in the span of a single year. In the Spring of 2006, he coached four Kid Chess™ teams that qualified for the State Team Championship.

Keith Kuntz

Keith Kuntz began playing chess about thirteen years ago. About that time, he also began playing other strategy games, and this soon became his favorite hobby. Throughout college, he played chess and wargames with his friends and classmates. In 2002, Keith obtained a degree in Education from Kennesaw State University. Joining Kid Chess™ in September 2005, Keith is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine his love of chess and his skills in teaching.

Eric Holmes

Eric learned how to play chess when he was 7 years old from his father. He attends Kennesaw State University, where he is pursuing a degree in International Business. Eric has two younger brothers (Kyle and Kevin) that are also both active tournament chess players, and his brother Kyle was the 2004 8th Grade State Chess Champion. Growing up as the oldest child in his family, Eric is very experienced working with and teaching children. He loves the interaction with the students, and working with the kids is his favorite part of coaching. In his free time, he enjoys playing baseball, guitar, and reading.

Norman Stokes

Norman Stokes learned to play chess in the early 60’s as an elementary student. He improved throughout high school and played in his first tournament in 1977. Norman has been interpreting for the Deaf for more than 30 years and has taught many Deaf people how to play chess. In 1984, Norman graduated from University of Alabama – Birmingham with a MA degree in Special Education. Norman has taught in Cobb County Schools and used chess as a teaching tool with some of his students. Norman is currently working part-time at Staples.

Joey Weigel

Joey Weigel was taught how to play chess by his father when he was very young. He became greatly absorbed in the game and started reading chess books in an attempt to better himself. Joey attended Justin Morrison's very first chess camp (based out of Justin's home!) and won the outstanding player trophy. Presently, Joey is an active musician and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor.

Gerald Stafford

Gerald hails from Trenton, New Jersey. Gerald's love for strategic games enticed his future brother-in-law to teach him the game of chess while he was in middle school. Gerald has been working with children for 16 years in different capacities such as, Camp Director, Physical Education Teacher, and Sports Coach. Gerald's motivation is to teach children life skills and values through fun and innovative games. "Like chess, life is full of options and choices, if you take time analyze your options, your choice will have higher percentage of success."

Lisa Hong

Josh Latta

Josh is a Kid Chess™ Cartoonist. As a professional freelance illustrator, Josh designs, draws and animates memorable characters, backgrounds and storylines for lessons viewed by the students. Josh's other notable clients include Creative Loafing, Mellow Mushroom, Bellsouth and Cox Communications. When he's not drawing, Josh enjoys reading comics and nonfiction, watching cartoons, collecting vintage toys and memoribilia, and entertaining kids and animals.

Joyce Doering

Joyce has been with Kid Chess since April 2007 and has enjoyed working with the kids. By working with kids, Joyce has realized that she wants to become an elementary teacher. Therefore, she is working towards an early childhood education degree at Kennesaw State University. With 13 years of management experience, Joyce enjoys working with the staff and motivating the team to reach our goals. Joyce is a casual chess player who learns more about the game every class period and realizes how chess can teach children the importance of good sportsmanship and achievement. She loves the interaction with children and helping them succeed. In Joyce’s spare time, she loves fitness including running 5K’s, 10K’s and marathons. Also, she loves spending time with her husband, newborn child, and family and friends.

Chuck Narucki

Charles Narucki (Chuck) was born 1934 in Newark, N.J. He played many card and board games with family and friends. His hobbies were performing magic and competitive roller-skating. A graduate of a Technical High School, he retired, self-taught as a Senior Aircraft Engineer from Lockheed Aircraft Co. Learned chess in 1963 during lunch at work. Chuck with other’s formed a Chess Club at work in 1964 and was “1966” Lockheed Chess Champion. In 1967 he stopped playing chess to concentrate on increasing his job knowledge and family. In 2006 he re-opened his old chess books when his granddaughter started taking lessons at Kid’s Chess. She insisted that Granddad take her to Thursday evening chess instead of her mother. Chuck seeing the Joy, Excitement and Enthusiasm the children have for the game, decided that with all his spare time, why not teach children. Chuck believes chess is an excellent tool to improve memory recall, teach decision-making, analyzing of problems and perseverance, either in a game or life, there are always options. Chuck insists that the children have a friendly attitude and show good sportsmanship at all times.

Kyle Holmes

Kyle began playing chess with family members when he was seven years old. He started formal chess classes with Kid Chess at age eleven. He has competed and placed in many chess tournaments. His first tournament was the Nationals, in which he placed second in the 6th grade unrated section. In 8th grade Kyle won the Georgia State Championship for his grade level. He has both a younger brother and an older brother; Kevin who is an active chess player and Eric who is also a coach at Kid Chess.

Kyle graduated high school two years early and is attending Chattahoochee Tech for his first year of college. Having worked for Kid Chess for three years now, Kyle’s favorite part of his job is working with and playing chess with the kids. He also loves to play soccer, guitar and read.

Tom Chow

Tim Chow was born in Taiwan, and Went to high school and college near Philadelhia, PA. He has a a B.S. in math, and has been playing chess since 7th grade. In 1979, Tom became the Delaware State Champion and had a rating of 2025. As well as being a classroom instructor, Tom works with Coach Keith Kuntz on our series of Kid Chess video lessons.

Mary Margaret Hill

Mary Margaret Hill MS, LPC, learned to play chess as a child. She resumed playing as an adult and is considered a casual chess player; she plays only for fun! Ms. Hill is also a licensed counselor / psychotherapist with 20 years of experience working with children, adolescents and families. She currently consults as a corporate trainer throughout the US and Canada and, as a Kid Chess instructor, teaches chess at Sweet Apple and Greater Atlanta Christian Academy.

Lawrence Matthews

Lawrence Matthews was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His expeditions in the world of chess began when he was 9 years old, when his uncle taught him how to play chess. He has been in the field of elementary education since 2003, and has taught in elementary schools, youth summer camps and various community centers. Lawrence's hobbies include listening to music, traveling, watching movies, spending time with his wife and learning foreign languages. Lawrence speaks and reads Spanish and is currently learning the Croatian language.

John Austin

John began playing chess at the age of 12 and has been a Class A player since he was a teenager. He was president of the Atlanta Chess Club in the early 1960s. A CPA, he rose to the presidency of three different banks in three different states. Owing to the demands of family and business, his chess career was interrupted by several long periods of inactivity but he never lost his love of the game. In 1995, after a ten-year period of inactivity, he fulfilled a lifetime goal by becoming the Georgia State Chess Champion. Nine years later, in 2004, he came out of retirement to play in the first Georgia Senior Championship where he finished third, behind two masters, and reached his highest USCF rating of 1943. John joined Kid Chess in 2007 and loves teaching and sharing his experience with the kids.

Jon Hochberg

Jon is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a BS in Marketing. Growing up in New York, his father taught him many games including chess at a very early age. After college, his interest in all types of games evolved into the development of "gaming theory." One of the projects he is most proud of is a instructional video he wrote for a ccg(collectable card game.) Recently, Jon has had a renewed passion for backgammon. In his only 2 ABT (American Backgammon Tour) events, he has made it to the finals and earned pro tour points. "Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert Einstein

Clem Wellman

Clem Wellman began to play chess with his father at age 8, played on his high school chess team, was Lake Forest College champion in the 1960's and began US Chess Federation tournament play in 1963. His rating has always been Class A but his formal play stopped with family and business demands increasing by 1970. After retiring as a Vice-President, Sales for a packaging company, he joined KidChess in 2007 to complement his love of teaching his grandchildren to play the royal game. With 3 grandchildren, an 11-year old girl, an 8- and 5-year old boy participating in Kid Chess programs, Clem is overjoyed with his second career as a chess instructor for eager young minds.

Dick Sooley

Coach Dick Sooley learned to play Chess from a library Book when he was thirteen years old. However, he soon found an adult mentor who showed him scholar’s mate and a few elementary rules of good play. From that time, seventy years ago, he has been captivated by the game. During his Junior year in High School he won the School Championship and was not yet wise enough to know that the competition was ineffectual. His opinion of his ability to play the game was exaggerated. While stationed at Carswell Air Force Base, he visited a Chess club and for the first time, he found real players who consistently trounced him and for the first time he was introduced to the many chess books available, the multitude of openings and that the game was divided into three parts, opening, middle game and ending. He discovered that bona fide competitors were found at chess clubs.

In 2006, he entered the Georgia Senior tournament and was honored with Plaque for being the best Over 70 years of Age in the under 1800 section. Again in 2007 he won the same honor as well as tied for first in his class. In the Georgia Senior tournament of 2007 he was awarded first in his Class.

Today his rating is 1296. One his great pleasures in life is being a Coach with Kidchess. Another honor bestowed on him unofficially by Coach John Austin is that he is the Best Octogenarian Chess Player in Georgia. He has unabashedly accepted this tribute and awaits a challenge from another player in this limited group.

Jayashree Sekar

Jayashree Sekar learned chess from her friend and started playing chess since middle school in India. After her graduation and marriage, she relocated to Greenville, SC with her family during August 1998. After a long break, she resumed her chess in USA. She joined Greenville Chess Club and became a USCF member in 2002. Since then, she has been playing USCF rated tournaments in Greenville, SC. After she moved to Atlanta she continued playing rated tournaments. Apart from Chess, she is interested in solving sudoku puzzles, reading books and solving online chess puzzles, and she is a light music singer. She loves to teach chess to children.

John Phagan

John Phagan has been playing Chess for 40 years. He started playing on a trip to New Jersey with his older cousin at age 11. He also played in tournaments in high school but was never rated. John has two adult children, one of which is in his 16th year in the Navy. He has three grandchildren who live with him and has taught the 9 year old how to play Chess as well, and they play often. John is expecting a little girl by Christmas 2009 who's name will be Haylee Kate Phagan, named for the comet as a once in a life time event. John's background is in telecommunications where he worked for IBM and Siemens for 24 years.

Julia Radin

Julia was born in Helena, Montana and at the age of 4 her family and she moved to Utah. She has lived in Georgia for the past 11 years and has worked in banking for 32 years. She is currently a senior at KSU with a major of Human Service Administration. She will graduate in Spring of 2010. Julia enjoys working with children and she is always amazed as to how quickly the kids learn the moves and tactics of Chess. Her hobbies are scuba diving,reading (when she can find the time), and playing Chess and Scrabble. She has been happily married to Coach Jared for almost a year.

Kate Graham

Kate is originally from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Kate began playing chess with her family at a very young age. Seeing how much her two children enjoyed the game, Kate's mother started a chess club at their elementary school, and for years drove Kate and her older brother all over the country to compete in rated chess tournaments. Kate is delighted to continue this tradition of education with her students at Kid Chess.

Tim Stephens

Tim Stephens started playing chess in the mid seventies as a non-tournament player. He taught his daughter how to play chess as a fifth grader. Tim also taught and played chess in a group home environment with at risk youth. He conducted individual, large and small group activities and counseled troubled teens in a group home setting. His hobbies include constructing birdhouses, swimming and cycling, foreign travel, and treasure hunting. Tim’s personal quote is: “Outside of the human element of love, our service to others is the most important thing we can give. When you combine the two you become impervious to the mundane in life.”

Valerie Smith

Valerie Smith has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Valerie learned how to play chess from her fourth grade classmates when she was nine years old and has recently renewed her love for the game to teach her husband and two children. Valerie enjoys unravelling the exciting mystery of the game and helping kids find the same life long enthusiasm.

Craig Morgan

Craig began playing chess in the early 1980’s and learned how to play from his father. He is a certified teacher in the state of Georgia and taught grades 2nd, 4th and 5th in his 5 years of classroom experience. He loves working with children and loves to see children learning and growing. Craig also is an avid music lover and plays the drums in his spare time. Patterns and recognizing patterns is exciting to him and vows that patterns can be translated to so many areas, including music and chess. He enjoys reading, traveling, listening to music and spending time with his two sons. Craig states he hates to see a teachable moment dissipate and loves to share what he learns with others on a constant basis. New ideas and progress are paramount for him and he looks forward to what each day may bring his way.

Michael Hyde

Michael Hyde began playing chess in grade school. He went on to become the Chess Club Champion his senior year. Since then Michael has been playing many different strategic and tactical board games including historical military games. After a long absence from chess, he began playing chess again at the local chess club meeting at Borders a few years ago. He enjoys music, reading and spending time with his wife and three children. Michael holds a BS in Education and is a partner in his computer company.

Tim Richerson

Tim first learned about chess when he discovered a plastic chess set that worked great with his other toy soldiers! Through the years, he watched Bobby Fisher and others play chess on TV. He served as vice president of his high school chess team and has been a casual player ever since. He loves the enthusiastic interaction with young chess players. Tim was a minister of music for many years and more recently served as manager of a retail store in the Atlanta area. He is an avid reader and now trades chess wins and losses with his teenage son.

Bill Furman

Chris McCourt

Chris McCourt first learned how to play from his Grandfather at the age of five and has enjoyed playing the game for fun ever since. “It’s great to see kids have as much fun with chess as I did when I was a kid.” Chris loves to work with people and is proud to work for Kid Chess. In addition to chess Chris enjoys doing outdoor activities, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Dan Woodard

Ed Felts

Essentia Essien

Essentia started playing chess in 1985, learning from his brothers. He played active chess in Nigeria through college, featured at the Nigerian University Games (NUGA) 1993/1994 qualifiers, and was co-founder of the Canaan Chess Club. He is a 2000-rated player on chess.com. Essentia is a B2B Liaison Consultant with Attoway Incorporated also owners of CathEliz Handbags. He loves HR development and views the kidchess program as a fundamental stage of HR development. He spends most of his leisure time playing Chess.

Gina Helfrich

Gina Helfrich has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Emory University. She was taught to play chess by her father when she was a little girl and renewed her interest in the game late in graduate school. Gina is a passionate and talented teacher, having spent the past 10 years teaching everything from college philosophy courses to test prep to swing dancing. She especially loves working with children because of their curiosity and enthusiasm. In addition to chess, Gina enjoys swing dancing, knitting, and reading.

Jason Miller

Jason Miller learned to play chess against his brother at a young age. It was not until 2007, however, that he discovered a knack for online blitz chess and began taking lessons online.

Jim Hudson

Jim Hudson is an early retiree of Norfolk Southern Corporation, a large railway company, having spent 28 years in the Information Technology Department in Atlanta, mostly as a Project Manager. Before starting his IT career, originally as a COBOL programmer, Jim was a 1969 graduate of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Art History.

Jim learned chess in the early 1970s and collected and read a considerable library of chess books. He joined the U.S. Chess Federation in the 1970s and became a Life Member in 1984. Although he participated in some rated tournaments in the 1970s, his career soon absorbed all of his time and energies and he dropped chess activities until after he retired in 2001.

Jim and his wife, Sara, have worked seasonally in national parks since 2001 until 2009, when they decided to stay close to their home in Atlanta for family reasons. Jim had done some chess tutoring during his early retirement years, and now Kid Chess offers him a chance to be part of the team bringing the enjoyment of chess to many youngsters in an organized and safe environment.

Joe Hendricks

Joe Hendricks is an avid chess player and enjoys tournament chess. Joe played for the Berkmar Chess Team in high school as a senior, where Berkmar repeated as State Champions and placed 10th in the National High School Team Chess Championship held in Philadelphia. President of the Southern Tech Chess Team, 1980-1982, and competed in the 1980 Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship held in Atlanta, where Southern Tech finished 2nd in their division. Joe graduated from Southern Tech in 1986 with a degree in Electrical Enginering. He enjoys working with kids and helping them be the best they can be. Along with chess, Joe has over 8 years Head coaching youth travel baseball and football.

Mercedes Wilson

Mercedes began her love of chess when she was 5. She has many fond memories of her parents playing. This has inspired her to continue playing and to teach her siblings how to play. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia State University. She then worked in various customer-service oriented fields for a major bank and as a health care consultant. Her passion has always been helping others, especially children. She is very excited about teaching children to love chess as much as she does. In her spare time she enjoys reading, playing chess, and learning about new cultures. She is currently learning how to speak Hindi/Urdu.

Mike Abraham

Mike learned to play chess when he was in elementary school and took a serious interest in the game when he was 13 years old. A few years later, he became the founder and president elect of the Dorman High School Chess Club in Roebuck, SC. Mike's enthusiasm for chess continued through his college years and into graduate school. Before joining KidChess, Mike was the chess coach at the Atlanta Academy in Roswell, GA. Mike received his BS in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006 and his MS in 2008. His PhD research is being sponsored by the US Army Aeroflighdynamics Directorate and he anticipates finishing his dissertation in August of 2010. Mike is the student director of the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra and enjoys playing his clarinet and his guitar in his spare time.

Momir Radovic

Momir Radovic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, a city settled by Celts in 4th century B.C. He is self-taught in chess, but having lived in the country with the highest concentration of chess GMs in the World (6 GMs per million inhabitants) might have helped a little bit. Momir has a B.Sc in Aerospace engineering, and loves reading, listening to music (especially classical and jazz), and riding his bike in his spare time.

Doye Onireti

Doye is originally from Nigeria and was taught how to play chess by his friends about 10 years ago. He has participated in various college competition back in Nigeria. He has MBA in Finance from Clark Atlanta University and he is presently a soccer coach.

Ron Edmondson

Ron was introduced to chess in the 5th grade, and has never forgotten how the game stimulated his learning process.Moreover, as an athlete and former Head Football Coach, utilized Chess to assist his players to become "thinkers" in the class, and on the field of play. He is a former Special Education Instructor, and at present is a Certified Strength Conditioning Specialist. He is also a strong proponent that Chess is a wonderful resource to help students in their ability to apply their "information-process systems" which can be very rewarding now and in the future.

Slava Benikhis

Slava Benikhis originally hails from Russia but has lived in the U.S. for the past 20 years. Slava learned to play chess at the age of 14 from his brother and fell in love with the game ever since. Slava lives to teach children. In addition to chess, he also works tutoring children with learning disabilities in other subjects. His hobbies include cooking, bicycling, ping-pong, and listening to music. Currently, he is working on completing his Bachelors of Science in Nursing Degree at Georgia State University and looking forward to becoming a Registered Nurse.

Will Galloway

Will Galloway has lived in Metro Atlanta since his birth. He learned to play chess at age 12, and remained active in chess clubs and tournament play all throughout the 90’s, acquiring a magnificent collection of 2nd Place trophies. Will is now living in Norcross, married to the woman of his dreams. Since his 2006 graduation from Oglethorpe University, he has worked in the field of Insurance and Investments, and finds teaching children how to play chess a fun and rewarding complement to teaching adults how to manage money.

Bill Noyes

Bill Noyes has been playing at chess since 1972. Originally an Z/os mainframe systems programmer, Bill designed, implemented, and continues to maintain the KidChess.com website, and brings over two decades worth of professional data processing experience, standards, and procedures to his work at Kid Chess. He is a former newsletter editor and Vice-President of the Georgia Chess Association, as well as former secretary and President of the Decatur Chess club. Bill was webmaster to the Georgia Chess Association's Website GeorgiaChess.org, which under his administration was named Best State Chess Website in 2004, 2005, and 2006 by the Chess Journalists of America. Bill is also a classical pianist, playing the works of composers such as Beethoven, J.S. Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Grieg, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Franck.