Ernesto Alvarez

Ernesto Alvarez is a USCF expert chess player with a current chess rating over 2100. He graduated from Felix Varela High School, where he was the president of their chess club. As president, Ernesto worked with other members of the club to improve their chess skills, which paid off in creating the most successful chess team in the history of the school. The team had a second-place finish in the state and a 13th-place finish in the nation.

In 2005, Ernesto was the top unrated player in the Florida Scholastic State Championship. Just one year later, he became regional champion by placing first in the Regional Scholastic tournament. Also that year, he won the Scholastic Grand Prix, the under-1800 National High School Championship, the Miami International Chess Open (under 2000) and the Miami Dade College-sponsored High School Championship.

In 2007, Ernesto won the Orange Bowl International Tournament and once again was the Regional Champion in the Regional Scholastic tournament. He also won second place in the Florida State Scholastic Speed Chess Championship and repeated his role as champion of the Miami Dade College High School Championship.

He's currently a member of the Miami-Dade College chess team, which just placed third in the nation, beating out chess teams from Harvard, Yale and M.I.T. among others.

Charles Galofre

Charles began playing chess at age 14. In less than one year, he was a Class A player with a U.S. Chess Federation rating of 1800+. In 2003, he his rating rose to more than 2000 and he won the Class A section of the Florida State Championship. One year later, he went undefeated in the Florida High School Chess Championship and was subsequently named the Florida representative for the prestigious Denker Tournament of Champions tournament.

In 2007, Charles earned the title of Chess Master when his rating increased above 2200 by winning his section at the National Chess Open. One month later, he caused a sensation at the World Open, placing second in the U2400 (under 2400 rating) section and attaining his FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation) Master title at the age of 22. He currently attends Miami Dade College and plays on the college chess team, which is currently ranked third in the nation.

Chris Goldthorpe

Veteran chess trainer Chris Goldthorpe has been designing chess instruction curriculum for schools and individuals since 1998. He has trained many of South Florida's top chess stars, including national individual champions and many nationally ranked school teams.

Co-author of an instructional book with Arnold Denker (grandmaster, U.S. chess champion from 1944-1946 and member of the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame) and the author of The Teachers Chess Helper, Chris is an experienced U.S. Chess Federation tournament director, as well as the founder of The Deerfield Knights Chess Club. He has trained over 5,000 students to date and was recently featured on Fox News for his overwhelming success with three four-year-old tournament players in Boca Raton, Florida.

Dave Schloss

Dave Schloss is the founder and past president of the Coral Springs Chess Club, which he ran for over 10 years. He's a highly rated former Coconut Creek city chess champion and a Broward College speed chess champion. Dave has been playing chess for over 35 years and has organized and promoted simultaneous chess exhibitions ("simuls") with Arnold Denker, Roman Dzindzichashvili (grandmaster and two-time U.S. chess champion) and Michael Rohde (grandmaster and columnist for Chess Life magazine).

Mahendra Sinanan

Mahendra Sinanan is a national chess player who achieved great success while playing in Trinidad and Tobago. He also was the chess coach of Coral Reef Elementary in South Florida, which under his tutelage placed first in individual and second in team at the 1992 National Championships. He also served as a coach at the Coral Springs Chess Club, and is a financial analyst who has a Master of Science degree in finance.