The Director

The Monmouth Chess School and Club (a USCF Affiliate) was founded by Dr. Michael Koblentz, a resident of Monmouth County since 1990.  Dr. Koblentz is a certified USCF Tournament Director. Prior to founding the Monmouth Chess School and Club, he had related experience as an officer of the Berkeley Chess Club, director of local chess events in California, Texas and New Jersey, and Director of the Little Silver Chess Club.

As a player, Dr. Koblentz is a USCF Candidate Master with top finishes in the UTD Championship, the city championships of Dallas and Omaha, and other USCF events. He played on the top two boards for the Bell Labs Chess Team in Raritan Valley League competition, and is currently ranked 28th in Chess World's Top 100 as a correspondence player.

As a teacher, Dr. Koblentz has lectured and performed many simultaneous exhibitions for community events, summer camps and school chess clubs K-12 across New Jersey. He has also authored technical articles for Atlantic Chess News. He has numerous group students and his private students include winners of major scholastic chess events in New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Dr. Koblentz's academic training is in physics and mathematics. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and has held executive positions at IBM, Sun Microsystems and other technology companies.

Faculty

Although most of the teaching is done by Dr. Koblentz, new opportunities arise from time to time for experienced, reliable teachers. Interested parties should contact Dr. Koblentz. learnchess@optonline.net

Club Members

The Club Members form a highly diverse group of individuals and families with one thing in common - the love of chess! There is no age limit for club members and current members range in age from 7 to over 70. All members have some prior playing experience and know, at minimum, the rules of chess, basic tactics and strategies, and the etiquette of the game for proper club behavior. Playing abilities of regular club members range from novice to expert, and all levels in between - so when you visit the club you are likely to be paired up with someone who can give you an interesting game!

Honorary Members and Distinguished Guests

From time to time, often unexpectedly, the Club is visited by some very special players. This includes USCF Master Vladimir Lipman (who generously performed a charity simultaneous exhibition for the 2009 YMCA Strong Kids Campaign), USCF Life Master and two-time New Jersey State Champion Dr. Edward Allen, U.S. Cadet Champion and USCF Master Andrew Ng, and two-time Moscow Champion, two-time New Jersey State Champion and Trainer of ex-World Champion Boris Spassky - International Master Dr. Anatoly Volovich.

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