MAXIM DUNN

My father taught me to play chess when I was five in our living room at home, and I quickly became obsessed (no doubt because he let me win that first game!). His job meant that we travelled a lot as a family, and as such I received a lot of home tutoring – including in chess from various coaches. When back in the UK, I was competing regularly and was a member of Richmond Chess Club in west London. During my teenage years, I also played a lot of cricket to a high level, an found lots of links between chess and the sport, in that both involve strategy, visualisation and abstract thinking.

After finishing at school, I went to King’s College London where I studied English Literature, whilst also captaining the university chess team, and it was during this time that I found Mindful Chess. My family, for 111 years, ran Alleyn Court Preparatory School in Essex, and my mother in fact opened the Pre-Prep there after finishing her training as a Montessori teacher. Thus, coming from a background in education, I can safely say that Mindful Chess helps to create the kind of nurturing environment in which children thrive, and also an environment in which I, personally, realised that I wanted to make education my full-time career. Thus, after King’s, I applied to UCL to study a PGCE Primary, and master’s in education, which I am now doing. After completing this year, I will do my NQT whilst completing my master’s – with the intention of then doing my PhD in chess and young children.

TESTIMONIALS

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