FM Alex King

Hi, I'm Alex, a FIDE Master from Tennessee in the USA. I learned chess from my father when I was a little kid, and played in my first tournament in 1999 when I was in 5th grade. Over my 20+ years of experience playing and teaching, my love for chess has continued to grow, and I am always excited to share that love of the game with other players and students.

I became a FIDE Master in June 2022 at the age of 33, ten years after earning the National Master title in 2012. My peak ratings are 2302 FIDE and 2400 USCF.

FIDE profile page: ratings.fide.com/profile/2063620
USCF profile page: http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?12781369

I was Tennessee State Champion in 2016, 2017, and 2022 and Memphis City Champion in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Other open tournaments that I have won include the 2020 Southeastern FIDE Championship and the 2019 Carolinas Classic.

As a scholastic player I was Tennessee Junior High Champion in 2002 and National 9th Grade Co-Champion in 2003, and led my school teams Meigs Magnet Middle and Hume-Fogg High School to State Team Champion titles in 2003, 2005, and 2006.

I am a certified FIDE Instructor and have over a decade of experience teaching one-on-one lessons and school programs such as the national-championship winning Intermediate School 318 in Brooklyn, NY and the state-championship winning White Station Middle School and Douglass K-8 Optional School in Memphis, TN. My individual students have won numerous state and national championships.

I have written articles for the following publications:

- Chess Life magazine, most recently the "One Man's Tarrasch" 6-part opening series in the Mar 2022 through Aug 2022 issues;
- Chess Life Kids magazine, most recently the "Is Magnus the GOAT?" cover story in the Apr 2022 issue;
- Marshall Spectator (newsletter of the Marshall Chess Club in NYC), for which I write the monthly column "King's Kibitzes" - mailchi.mp/f427553dcb58/marshall-spectator-5822509

I have worked for the Nashville Chess Center, the Beverly Hills Chess Club, the Marshall Chess Club in New York City, and the Memphis Chess Club, which I directed from 2019-2020.

I am a USCF Local Tournament Director and have directed over 200 USCF-rated tournaments.

I worked at the Center for Mathematics and Science Education at the University of Mississippi from 2016-2017, where I managed an educational outreach program to connect chess with STEM, Gifted and Special Education programs, and other academic settings.

I graduated from the University of Southern California in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, and have also worked as a professional musician and music teacher.

I mostly teach students up to about 2000 USCF, although I have had a couple of students who broke 2200 USCF during or shortly after working with me. I have a large collection of training material that I draw from to create custom assignments for each of my students, and a well-organized system for tracking their progress. I have strong research and analysis skills in Chessbase and Lichess, and with various other online and physical resources. I work well with students of all ages, personality types, and playing styles. I myself have a fairly well-rounded playing style, but am probably strongest in positional and endgame play.

My lessons usually consist of some combination of solving exercises, playing training games, analyzing the student's games, analyzing important historical games, and answering the student's specific questions about openings/endgames/chess resources/etc. In between lessons I am available to communicate with students via email.