Gregory Markzon

Current US Rating: 2354
Current FIDE Rating: 2260

Current US Title: National Master
Current International Title: FIDE Master

Notable Victories
Nigel Davies: Grandmaster Champion of England
Joel Benjamin: Grandmaster Champion of USA
Laurent Fressinet: Grandmaster Champion of France
Megab Gagunashvili: Grandmaster Champion of Georgia
Yehuda Grurnfeld: Grandmaster Champion of Israel
Mario Gomez: Grandmaster Champion of Spain
Antonio Antunes: Grandmaster Champion of Portugal
Bogdan Komelyanovich: Grandmaster Champion of Yugoslavia
Svoboda Kovachevich: Grandmaster Champion of Yugoslavia

Also played Alexander Khalifman -> World Champion
The game was played in Oviedo, Spain in 1992 and ended in a draw.

Chess Coaching Resume

• Oradell Library program (entry and advance levels) is working for seven years. Many good chess players have developed from this program.
• Montclair University Gifted Kids Program
• Various chess groups in afterschool programs Many students from these programs participate in the chess tournaments and show good understanding and results. Several individual students achieved expert level (around 2000 rating.) Amongst them are Greg Gabovich and Levy Roizman who are very close to Master Level and becoming top players in State of NJ.

Teaching Philosophy
Having taught classical chess for 8 years, I have developed a few key elements in my teaching methods.
The first is the importance of endgame positions. Here, students learn to play at the center of the chessboard and to put the right pieces into the right squares. In my classes, we discuss games played by the big players in great details. I try to cover all important strategic goals of the Masters and emphasize their swift execution. It is an open discussion.

Tactics are another major part of chess that I emphasize and I cannot emphasize its role enough. I give students various tactical positions to work on at home, and I also provide students with chess compositions (studies) in order to improve their level of endgame understanding and level of calculation.

Of course students play. This cannot be overlooked. I closely watch students while they are playing and try immediately to correct obvious mistakes when I see them. I try to play each student by the end of the session, where I give them either advice or list of problems, books, sites to go through, etc.

Lastly, I try to prepare them for inevitable losses they will experience in their tournament life. It is very important since talented children are very sensitive and they might even abandon the game altogether. I have seen this happen, unfortunately.