About Author:
Alex Wang has been volunteering as an ICEA Chess Coach since 2022. He is a National Master and also a knowledgeable, kind, and patient chess coach who genuinely cares about children's growth and never hesitates to share his chess expertise. As the captain of the ICEA Chess Competition Team, he led the team to victory as Team Champions at both the 2024 and 2025 SuperStates.
In recognition of his outstanding service and leadership, Alex was awarded the 2025 ICEA College Scholarship. Now graduating with the Class of 2025, he will be heading to UC Davis. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors and look forward to his continued contributions to the community. 
A familiar face approached me. Dedian, the father of Felix Guo, asked if I would be willing to help coach chess for kids. It was after that day when I joined ICEA my sophomore year of high school. Starting from a zoom call one night with Felix and Dedian, I began my journey teaching chess to kids.
With very minimal prior experience, I was a bit unsure as to how to effectively share my knowledge of chess. More notably, I wasn’t working with just one person. These were group lessons, meaning that I needed to tend to multiple people. Even so, I tried to keep the atmosphere of each lesson very calm and relaxed. No pressure, just a natural flow into learning the joys of chess.
After seeing all the students log off in each lesson, I felt relief but also a sense of uneasiness. Did I teach them well today? What could I have done better? But this worry was never negative, instead it pushed me to become a better teacher. In my first ever ICEA workshop, I was able to teach chess in person. Those were the moments when I was able to truly find myself thriving. Watching the students compete in quads with physical boards, play simuls with them, analyze their games together, and most importantly enjoy themselves, it made me realize what an honor it was to teach these bright kids.
I continued teaching these group lessons and workshops, but I was ready for a shift. The ICEA team was growing and we had some rising talents. I began teaching the reserve competition team. With stronger students, I had to teach them more advanced and complex themes. Naturally, some students struggled to see the patterns at first but by being consistent and patient, I was able to help make the themes make sense. It was a bit more tedious but seeing the students improve was the most fulfilling of them all.
In tournaments from the local ICEA tournament to Superstates to the annual National Open in Las Vegas, I felt immense pride seeing all the familiar faces part of ICEA. Winning the 1st place team award at Superstates back to back and holding up the trophy with all the members of the team was sensational. But as school got busier for me, I had to step back for a while. Lessons went from once a week to once a month.
It’s been a pleasure to teach chess for ICEA and the opportunities, memories, and joy this organization has given me was more than I could have ever expected.