Mike Klein

Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the national championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for 16 years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He is the founder of a chess teaching company that serves 12 schools and has taught chess to more than 20,000 kids. He now works at ChessKid as the Director of Content. In 2012 and again in 2015, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America.