Shawn L.
Director of Chess-Mates, National Arbiter

Shawn is a very experienced Chess National Arbiter and Tournament Director who has volunteered his time to the Mississauga Chess Club for many years. He is renowned for his skill in inspiring and mentoring young players, especially those who are new to the game, and for his ability to help them overcome challenges and grow in their abilities. As the manager of the Chess-Mates program at LinkedKey, Shawn has developed a comprehensive approach to teaching chess that focuses on the importance of practice. The program includes in-class instruction, online practice, and weekend tournaments, providing students with a well-rounded learning experience that helps them to build their skills and confidence. He is passionate about sharing his love of the game with others and finds great satisfaction in seeing his students succeed and develop their skills.

Spas Kozhuharov
International Master, Official FIDE Trainer

Spas has been teaching for more than 15 years.
He has worked together with many national champions and prodigies all over Bulgaria and abroad including 2-time Bulgarian Champion for women Viktoria Radeva (2018, 2019), the National Champion for Boys U18 (2019) Viktor Boev, the 2^nd-place holder in the Bulgarian National Championship (2019) Jaroslav Dokuzov. And many others …

He has also been coaching Canadian students online for several years.

Best Skills:
Positional Understanding , Opening Theory, Typical Middlegame Structures, Endgames, Tactics.

Mikhail Egorov
National Master

Mikhail is a very experienced chess coach for 10+ years now. He has worked with many students who ended up winning National and International awards and many Canadian Chess Challenge titles and earning FIDE official titles. He was also one of the official coaches for Canadian Chess Team at World Chess Championship events such as: 2011 World Youth Chess Championship Brazil, 2015 World Youth Chess Championship Greece, 2016 World Cadet Chess Championship Georgia, 2017 World Cadet Chess Championship Brazil and 2019 World Cadet Chess Championship China in Weifang, and 2011 Columbia was delegate for Pan-American Youth Chess Championship.

Mikhail Egorov is a National Master.

William Li
National Master

William Li is currently a student at the University of Waterloo, majoring in Computer Science. As a  chess coach, William holds years of valuable experience teaching and inspiring children on the fine details of the game of chess through group lessons, chess camps, and more. Throughout his competitive career, he has officially represented Canada in numerous international championships, including the 2018 World U16 Chess Olympiad and the 2019 World Junior Chess Championship.

Henry Liu
National Master

Henry is an accomplished chess player with over eight years of experience competing in chess tournaments. In 2022, he earned the title of National Master (NM), and he has reached peak CFC ratings of over 2200. Henry's passion for coaching started at a young age when he began volunteering as a youth coach at a local chess club at just 12 years old, after achieving his National Candidate Master title.
Since the inception of the Chess-Mates program, Henry has been actively involved in coaching L1-L3 online classes during the Spring term of 2021-2022, and he continues to serve as an in-class coach for the Intermediate class since the Fall term of 2022-2023. His approachable and friendly personality, combined with his vast knowledge and experience, make him an excellent coach for aspiring chess players. He understands the difficulties that juniors face when starting out in chess, and he is always willing to share his own experiences and insights to help them improve.