Top chess coaches in Italy: 10 Grandmasters & Titled Coaches accepting students
Italy's chess scene runs deeper than its results at the very top might suggest. The team league is competitive, the youth pipeline keeps turning out titled players, and plenty of strong Italian GMs and IMs coach alongside an active playing career.
Which is exactly the problem when you're shopping for a coach: lots of names, not much signal. Below are ten titled Italians taking students now, ordered by title and strength.
10 elite titled coaches
A 31-year-old Grandmaster who took third in the Italian Absolute Championship in 2018 and won international opens in Pontevedra and Bali in 2024. He builds a personalised plan off your own games rather than a stock syllabus. English, Spanish and Italian.
#2GMOne of Italy's top Grandmasters, first board for the national team for years, with a FIDE peak north of 2600. He's coached for over 15 years and served as a second for elite GM Vidit Gujrathi. He takes the job seriously, and prices it accordingly. Italian, Spanish and English.
#3GMA Grandmaster with a FIDE peak around 2617, now teaching at a very reasonable rate. The bio is short. The playing pedigree is the real thing.
#4GMItalian Champion in 2014, and winner of seven straight Italian youth titles before that. He wrote a book applying NLP to chess, and coaches with a focus on the mindset behind the moves as much as the moves themselves. Italian, English and Spanish.
Woman Grandmaster, certified FIDE Trainer, International Arbiter, and founder of her own academy, with more than 20 years of coaching and four Chess Olympiads behind her. A properly credentialed pick, and a strong option if you want a female coach for a girl starting out. English, Italian, Russian and Serbian.
#6IMAn International Master and multiple-time Italian U20 champion, with a decade and a half of tournament play behind him. First lesson, he'll play you a game to find the cracks, then hand you exercises built around them. Italian and English.
#7IMAn International Master who genuinely prepares for every lesson, strong on opening theory and, by his students' own account, unusually clear about the logic behind each decision. Three appearances in the Italian Absolute Championship final. Italian and English.
#8IMA professional International Master, FIDE around 2420, who has played the major European opens. Concentration and determination are the qualities he drills first.
A 22-year-old International Master rated in the low 2400s, and a former Italian U16 and U20 champion. He fell into coaching almost by accident, found he loved it, and is now working toward Italy's top trainer certification. English and Italian.
#10IMAn aggressive, attack-minded International Master who earned a GM norm sharing first at Hoogeveen in 2010, and has performed above 2500 in several countries. He reckons he can spot your main weakness inside a single game.
How to actually pick one
Goal first, then level — Put both in your opening message and you'll get a far more useful reply.
🎯 Goal first, then level
Put both in your opening message and you'll get a far more useful reply.
📜 Weigh the teaching credentials
For coaching, a FIDE Trainer badge or a long teaching record can outrank a slightly higher rating. You're hiring someone to teach, not to play your games.
⚡ Do a trial lesson. Always
One session tells you more than any bio. What you're really testing is whether the two of you click.
🌎 Use the language fit
Most here teach in English as well as Italian, some in Spanish or Serbian. Learning in your first language speeds everything up, especially for kids.
📅 Settle homework and cadence up front
The lesson is an hour. The improvement happens in the days between.
Frequently asked questions
Can Italian coaches teach students abroad?
Yes. Nearly everyone here teaches online, and several already work with students across Europe and beyond.
Do online lessons actually work?
They do. A shared board and screen share cover what you need, and going online means you pick from the whole country's coaching pool, not just your local club.
How do I check a coach is really titled?
Every coach here holds an official FIDE title you can verify at FIDE Ratings Database. Ask for the FIDE ID if you want to be certain.
Ready to find your coach?
Chess with Masters connects you straight to titled coaches — Grandmasters like the ones above — taking students right now.
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