ThinkMove Chess Academy provides the best education for children, teaching the fundamentals of chess and imbuing a love for the game to children across the nation. In order to do this, we must employ the help of the best instructors we can. Below are our highly qualified and experienced instructors.
Roger Johnson
City Manager Greenville, SC
I was taught by my Dad when I was 7 or 8 years old on how to move the pieces. It wasn’t until in high school and college when I started to be a student of chess. The best part about teaching children in the Think Move Chess Academy is when I see the kids showing that they under stand the lessons and start playing better games.
I am a member of the Gideon’s International and with my fellow members we distribute bibles at local events, schools, hotels, hospitals, the military, fire and police departments. My chess career spans over 40 years and by rating started out at 1300 and hit it’s peak at 2130. Have had some good results in a number of tournaments over the years. The best year was in 2022 when I finished tied for first place at the South Carolina State Championship and latter that year finished clear first at the South Carolina Open. Here is a list of my best results over the years.
1. Tied for first at the 2022 South Carolina State Championship.
2. Won the 2022 South Carolina Open.
3. Tied for 2-4 place in the 2021 13 th Annual SC Senior Open.
4. Won the 2014 Martin Luther King Classic Open Championship in Alabama.
5. Finished in 1 st place class A at the 2010 Annual Queen of Hearts Open in Alabama.
6. Placed clear 2 nd in the 1996 South Carolina State Championship.
7. Tied for first place in the 1989 Dallas, Texas City Chess Championship.
8. Finished in 1 st place class B at the 1978 Southwest Open in Texas.
9. Finished in 1 st place class C in the 1974 Southwest Open in Texas.
As you can see victories are hard to come by and there were a lot of won and lost games between each of them. Hope this gives you at better insight into Coach Roger’s experience with the game of chess.
- Roger
David Acosta
Greenville/Upstate School Relations
David Acosta, is a native of Greenville, SC. He graduated from Hillcrest High in 2005 and went on to receive his Bachelors in Business Administration from The Citadel, class of 2009.
David learned how to play chess from his grandfather at the age of eight, but didn’t do much with it until he got to college. When one of his friends taught him a standard chess opening, he immediately fell in love with the game, learning about all of the different strategies and tactics of chess.
David has a passion for teaching kids lessons and skill sets that will help them later on in life. He believes that chess is a great medium to help kids improve their decision making process, sharpen their problem solving skills, and most importantly, help instill confidence by learning about themselves as they dig deep into improving as a chess player.
Outside of chess, David is a licensed Real Estate Agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, C. Dan Joyner, and a personal trainer with the UFC Gym in Greenville.
Ernest “Gene” Nix
Tournament Director and Chess Instructor
I learned the moves at age four from my grandfather who noticed me watching him play against his brother-in-law after Sunday family dinners in Blaustein, West Germany. Erwin Dege loved the game and he was a founding member of Schachfruende Blaustein in 1958, but he found tournament chess too ruthless. I have the set we used for instruction and for the hundreds of games we played in 1967-8 and again in 1979-80, minus two pawns eaten by his ill-tempered dachshund Poldie.
I was mostly unaware of the Fischer boom, but dabbled in the game with schoolmates as it cycled through popularity. In 1978 I followed the world championship in the news upon learning such a thing existed. Then I borrowed and read, unsupervised by any coach or advisor, every chess book in the Fort Jackson library, including among others Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, My System, and Franklin Young’s horrific Chess Strategetics, an anti-classic largely responsible for my ongoing inability to attain and keep an Expert rating.
After having learned Emanuel Lasker hustled his way through college via chess, I’d thought to do likewise, but quickly learned otherwise upon entering the local competitive chess scene in Columbia, SC, in 1982. But I acquired a taste for rated tournament play that remained throughout my Navy years during which I competed in Virginia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Kansas, Nevada, Maryland, Florida, Illinois, California, Maine, and at sea, until settling in Greenville.
Here I failed to flee upon being invited to take leadership roles in the Greenville Chess Club and SC Chess Association, and to assume the organizing and directing of club, area, and state-level tournaments. These days I am a senior tournament director with a rating just about where it was 40 years ago, bouncing on the floor. I greatly enjoy introducing others to the game, and I take heart from the wisdom of World Champion Max Euwe: "Whoever sees no other aim in the game than that of giving checkmate to one's opponent will never become a good chess player."
Greg Frady
Tournament Director and Chess Instructor
Art Zacher
Chess Instructor
Daniel Flaaten
Chess Instructor
Christian Carver
Chess Instructor
How did you get started playing chess?
- Hi, my name is Christian. I started playing Chess at 8 years. My parents taught their children the rules of the game and then my Grandpa helped my two brothers and I go from beginner to intermediate. Since then I have played in multiple tournaments and avidly play the game today.
What do you enjoy most about working with Think Move Chess Academy?
- The thing I enjoy most about working at Think Move Chess Academy is the ability to teach a whole new generation the wonderful game of chess.
Fun Fact/What you do outside of Think Move Chess Academy?
- I have recently gotten involved with the game of Pickleball and can not seem to play enough of it. If I am not at the Chess board you will find me on those Pickleball courts.
- Christian
