A young yet experienced IM who has played and worked with the very top. Accepting students from beginner to 2400
Contact me for lessons either by emailing yichenhan07@gmail.com or by completing the form below.
NOTE: Demand has been very high recently so apologies if I don't get back to you immediately. Some slots have opened up from May until July.
I am currently accepting a limited number of new students for:
1 to 1 coaching
group coaching (limited)
Training games
Opening and middlegame pgn courses
These sessions will all be conducted through a call on Zoom while using Lichess. Find out more by clicking on the Lesson Structures tab or Booking a Lesson tab.
My name is Yichen Han. I am an International Master from The Netherlands currently studying in Oxford, United Kingdom. From a young age, I have been at the top of my age group in chess and I have enjoyed every moment of both playing and teaching. Apart from chess, I also enjoy playing sports such as football and tennis. I speak English, Dutch and Chinese Mandarin fluently. Lessons would preferably be in English, but if another language is preferable, please do not hesitate to enquire about it.
From a very young age I have had a lot of success over the chessboard. One achievement that stands out is achieving the International Master (IM) title at the age of 15. Head over to the My Journey Section to see a full list of my experiences. I am currently playing a lot less tournaments as I'm focused on my studies and trying to develop and coach ambitious and improving players.
I officially started coaching chess during the COVID pandemic in 2020. Since then, I've realized that coaching is really my passion and I enjoy the experience of seeing my students improve even over my own improvement. I have had a vast range of students, ranging from children who were complete beginners, to the stronger kids in my school to very strong 2000+ amateurs, striving to get the master title. More recently, I have worked with some players in the world Elite and helped them with opening preparation in high-stake tournaments.
I will usually have a planned, weekly schedule for our lessons, which are either 1-hour or 1.5-hour sessions. Before we start working together, I will have had a look at your games to assess both your strengths and weaknesses. Our lessons will then be tailored to those, where we will have weekly objectives and goals. These goals are complemented by the theme of each lesson and the homework set afterwards. Then, every few months, we will assess the progress made. The lessons tend to be formal, yet also relaxing where we will have discussions aimed at discovering the student's exact thought process and also how I would think in similar positions, based mainly on similar first-hand experiences.
There are several reasons why I think I would quickly help you reach a new level in your chess career.
A) Relatability - I am still a young player in the early stages of my own chess career. I was a club player only a few years ago. Hence, I can completely understand the struggles that players face in the different stages towards chess mastery and I have perfect anecdotes ready to tackle these barriers.
B) Psychological experiences - In my opinion, a big part of chess training is very far from the chessboard. I have regularly been sat at the largest stages on the top board of World Championships and I have had rollercoaster experiences of both jubilation and heartbreak. I can prepare the student for not only what's on the chessboard during a tournament, but also all the practicalities beside it.
C) Openings - I would say one of my biggest strengths in a pure chess sense are my openings. Thanks to my coaches when I was growing up, I have had a very strong foundation repertoire that helped me excel all the way until Master level. More recently, I have used many resources such as GM training partners, Chessable and Chessbase to broaden my repertoire. Especially with the white pieces, one struggles to find an opening which I have not at least analyzed at some point.
D) Tactical pattern recognition- Ever since I have started playing chess, I've realized that tactical pattern recognition is the single most important asset. I am a huge advocate of the STEP books which drill in thousands of different tactical patterns into your memory. My tactical strength is seen most clearly in my blitz games, where I have peaked at 3050 bullet and 2920 on chess.com, ranking in the top 100 globally many times and defeating many elite players, most notably GM Hikaru.
E) Technological resources - For my own tournaments, I frequently use resources such as Chessbase and Chessable as well as my own opening files for preparation. I will help the student master the use of these resources before tournaments and help them prepare by sharing my own files with them, giving them full confidence when entering the tournament.
F) Fluency - I would say I am a relatively intelligent teacher and I also excel in the language department. I can teach in 3 languages fluently, with English being the language of choice for our lessons. During our lessons there will be no chance of miscommunications and the lessons will flow smoothly and fluently.
G) High-quality and affordable - Personally, price has never been an important factor for me as I am still a student. I mainly try to focus on the quality of the lessons and the improvement of the student, as that brings me the most joy. Therefore, I am happy to do lessons starting from the very affordable price of £15. In my opinion, this is significantly lower than what most high-level coaches are doing in the UK, at least.
If you are a student and you have enjoyed my lessons I am now also offering a referral program! By referring a friend to my coaching service, you can get a lesson for free! Please message me for details :)
