The Brothers Who Taught Chess To 120,000 Children

When Adam Weissbarth founded Silver Knights Chess Academy in 2006, he had no idea how far it would grow. Joined two years later by his brother Daniel, the duo have built one of the most prominent scholastic chess programs in the United States.

The academy provides chess instruction through after-school programs in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. It started with 16 schools and around 300 students in its first year. Almost two decades later, the academy is teaching chess in 350 schools to more than 6,000 students weekly.

Even more astonishing is that the brothers have helped introduce around 120,000 children to the game in total. "It's an amazing number. I don't even really know how to make sense of it," said Adam Weissbarth, a National Master with a USCF rating of 2255, in an interview with Chess.com.

His decision to start the academy in 2006 wasn't conventional. "People thought I was crazy for quitting my prior career plans to start a business teaching chess to kids. I didn't really have a backup plan; I just figured a few other people I knew had done it, and so there had to be a way to make it work if I tried hard enough."

People thought I was crazy for quitting my prior career plans to start a business teaching chess to kids.

—Adam Weissbarth, founder of Silver Knights Chess Academy

Their philosophy is pretty simple. "Our focus is really on making chess fun and exciting for the kids," Daniel said. "We do want kids to become good, but the way you get an eight-year-old to improve at chess is that you get him to think chess is the most awesome thing in the world. And to have him go home and want to do chess and work on tactics all the time."

Our focus is really on making chess fun and exciting for the kids.

—Daniel Weissbarth, co-founder of Silver Knights Chess Academy

The pandemic led to a major chess boom globally. Chess.com is still experiencing an upward trend after recently crossing 200 million members. Adam said they have also felt the effect with an increased interest from more casual players. "The attendance in our tournaments is notably up compared to pre-pandemic. There is certainly a higher level of interest in taking it to the next step."

Daniel recalls a story back when the pandemic hit and schools were shut down, and they started using ChessKid. "I looked at our leaderboard after one week, checking whether anyone had logged on. One of our kids had done a thousand puzzles! I was like 'Is this a glitch? What's going on with our system?' I guess he didn't have anything to do all day. That's an hour of puzzles every day. Nobody was telling him to do that, he just loved chess. And that kid became really good at chess."

The surge has particularly affected their hiring, as they now have a larger pool of potential coaches who are passionate about the game. Adam said that a key factor that differentiates them from other programs is their approach to hiring and managing coaches at a large scale. More than 200 are employed in the academy, and around 25 in the online programs for the more ambitious and skilled students. Currently, these are taught by GMs Johan Hellsten and Lazaro Bruzon. 

Adam noted how their academy prioritizes hiring coaches who are enthusiastic about teaching children, rather than solely focusing on their chess skills. "Chess skill is actually not the most important thing someone will need to be successful in the job."

Asked about their advice for teaching chess to children, he said, "You should be clear with yourself about why you want to do it and what you want to get out of it." He noted how it's important to align one's approach with their goals, whether it's earning a living, having fun with kids, or building a business. 

Adam also shared that he and his brother are motivated by the opportunity to earn a living doing something they love, and the challenge of continually improving and growing their business.  “We get to earn a living... doing this as opposed to getting a real job,” he said, adding, "There's always a way to try and do it better."

In October 2024, the academy parted with its branding as Magnus Chess Academy and returned to its roots as Silver Knights. The change marked the end of a three-year partnership with Play Magnus Group from 2021, which led to a visit by the former world champion himself in 2022.

It was a successful one, which was enjoyed by the kids. "Magnus was great when he visited," Daniel said. "He was asked a kind of a silly puzzle by a kid, it was an endgame tactic... Magnus thought for too long, and then he solved it and then was like 'one sec' and he checked a tablebase to see if the other two potential solutions also worked because he couldn't calculate them out in his head," he recalled. "That is how curious he is about chess. Even for a random chess puzzle."

While many of their kids have become strong players and won championships, Adam said he's most proud of seeing the effect chess had on them.

"Learning to win and lose gracefully is something that chess really teaches you, and I think that serves these kids really well in life as they grow up. Having experienced the pain of losing a chess game, they can better handle the curveballs that life will throw at them later on."