Hi dear reader! My name is Shon Lazarev, I am a 22 year old recent university graduate, and I live in Vaughan, Ontario. I am both an active competitive chess player and chess coach!

Playing Experience:
I’ve played competitive chess since I was 11, stemming from playing chess constantly with my grandfather, father and siblings in my youth. I am currently aiming to get an NM title. My current classical CFC rating is 1950, so it is a long journey but I believe it is possible and achievable!

In my chess journey, I have participated in and won high level competitions. For example, I was the captain of York University’s chess team at the 2023 Canadian University Chess Championship in the Reserve Section, and scored 5/5 points. As well, I have won regional tournaments such as the Aurora Rapid Championship, Aurora Blitz Championship and Chess4win September Rapid Championship all in 2025.

Coaching Experience:
I started teaching chess in high school as a one-on-one tutor since high school, on and off based on students’ availability and interest in chess at the time. But more recently I’ve gotten more involved with chess teaching. I work with a local organization called “Yalla Chess” to teach chess classes with up to 10 kids in one class, so I’ve stepped up to different ways of teaching. As well, I am able to speak 4 languages: Russian, Hebrew, English, French, and I can teach chess in all these languages too. I have working fluency in French and Russian, while I have complete fluency in Hebrew and English.

In terms of how and who I teach chess to: most of my students are children, but I’m happy to teach students of all ages! My usual lesson structure is as follows:

1) I begin with a quick recap of our previous lesson (5-10 minutes)
2) I then provide warm up exercises and review previous homework/puzzles if applicable (10-15 minutes)
3) I introduce a new lesson/concept, while providing an example game or reviewing/analyzing a game provided by you (20 minutes)
4) I then introduce practice exercises relevant to the lesson (5-10 minutes)
5) I dedicate a bit of time in the end for Q&A, but feel free to ask questions throughout the lesson! (5 minutes)

I usually charge $40 per hour, with each lesson being 1 hour (online or in-person). However, I am flexible and am willing to discuss rates and discounts based on your circumstances and goals in chess.

Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you.

Shon Lazarev

DarkKnight_Chess