Live, ELO-Specific Groups
You train with students at your level — not too advanced, not too basic. Every position discussed is a position you'll actually face at your rating. The lesson connects directly to your games.
Chess Mastery Academy — FIDE Certified
Stop Replaying the Same Losses. Start Improving on a Real Plan.
Most chess students study for months without fixing what actually costs them games. Chess Mastery Academy is built differently — live instruction, rating-specific groups, real game analysis, and a FIDE-certified coach who tracks your progress and tells you exactly what to work on next.
"I worked with a titled coach for a full year and my rating didn't move. After one month with Coach Ford, I went from 500 to 1100."
— ThePresenceOfTheKing, Chess Mastery Academy student
The real problem
You're Putting in the Hours. Your Rating Isn't Moving. Here's Why.
Tactics puzzles feel useful. Watching grandmaster games feels educational. Random lessons feel productive in the moment. But none of it connects — and the same mistakes keep appearing in your games week after week.
The pattern is almost always the same: blunders from skipping a thinking routine, losses from openings you don't understand, endgames that slip away because nobody ever taught you the technique, and tactical misses you never stopped to actually analyze. That's not a talent problem. That's a system problem.
Chess Mastery Academy gives students what most online courses and random coaching can't: training matched to your actual rating level, accountability through homework and game review, and a coach who looks at your games and tells you specifically what to fix next.
Your coach
FIDE Instructor Moses Ford — Certified. Structured. Proven.
FIDE is the international chess governing body — the same organization that sanctions world championships and certifies grandmasters. A FIDE Instructor title is awarded to coaches who demonstrate both chess skill and teaching competency at an internationally recognized standard. It's not a self-designated title.
Coach Ford doesn't just know chess. He knows how to teach it — how to look at a student's game, identify the recurring pattern behind the losses, and build a training plan that addresses the actual weakness instead of the surface symptom. That's what separates improvement from staying stuck.
Why it works
Six Things That Separate This From Every Chess Course You've Already Tried
This is not pre-recorded videos. This is not a generic lesson plan from someone who's never seen your games. This is structured training that follows your actual improvement.
Curriculum Built for Your Level
Beginners learn thinking routines and piece safety. Intermediate players drill calculation and opening habits. Competitive players refine strategy and tournament discipline. Each level gets what it actually needs.
FIDE-Certified Instruction
Coach Ford holds a FIDE Instructor certification — an internationally recognized credential that separates rigorously trained coaches from self-taught tutors. The certification means Coach Ford has been evaluated on both chess knowledge and the ability to actually teach it.
Homework Between Sessions
Improvement happens between lessons, not just during them. Students receive targeted homework so the concepts from each session transfer to real games — not just in-class understanding.
Your Games, Analyzed
Coach Ford reviews your actual games — not example positions from a textbook. He finds the patterns behind your losses and builds lessons around fixing the specific problems that are costing you rating points.
Progress Tracked Over Time
Your goals, current weaknesses, and next milestones are tracked session to session. Training doesn't drift into random topics — it follows a clear line from where you are now to where you want to be.
Live training advantage
The Difference Between Watching Chess and Actually Getting Better at It
Pre-recorded courses give you information. Chess Mastery Academy gives you correction, accountability, and a coach who notices when you're about to repeat the same mistake.
Typical Courses & Generic Coaching
Chess Mastery Academy
Passive Pre-recorded videos. No one answers your question mid-lesson. No feedback on what you missed.
Live Real-time instruction. Real-time correction. Coach Ford sees your thinking as it happens and addresses it immediately.
Generic Content built for a general audience — not your rating band, not your specific weaknesses.
Targeted Training focused on the exact thinking errors and tactical patterns common at your ELO range.
Isolated You watch. You practice. Nobody checks whether you actually understood or whether it's showing up in your games.
Reviewed Homework, game analysis, and coaching check-ins keep training connected to what's happening in your actual games.
No continuity Each lesson can feel disconnected. Nobody tracks whether you're actually improving or just attending.
Accountable Progress is tracked. VIP students get written monthly reports. Group students get homework, game review, and a coach who remembers where you left off.
Student results
These Are Not Generic Testimonials. These Are Specific Outcomes.
Structured training, real game analysis, and a coach who actually looks at your games changes the trajectory. Here is what students have reported.
600 ELO Points. 30 Days. One Coach Change.
"I cannot say enough about Coach Ford. I had worked with a titled coach before and my Elo stayed the same for a year. After only one month of working with Coach Ford, my Elo went from 500 to 1100. The results are clear, and the time, effort, and attention to detail he puts into his lessons are second to none."
A Training Plan Built Around You
"He creates a training plan tailored to your needs, strengthens your best qualities, helps correct your weaknesses, studies your games, analyzes with you, and improves your opening, middlegame, and overall understanding. Without a doubt, he is a great coach."
Improvement Through Your Own Games
"Thanks to Coach Ford's guidance, I have been able to improve through the analysis of my own games, carefully selected exercises, reinforced concepts, and model games connected to what we need to practice."
What Other Academies Can't Offer
"After taking classes with him, you realize that many other academies are only focused on the number of students. He teaches clearly, personally, and adapts to each student."
The live experience
What a Chess Mastery Academy Session Actually Looks Like
Students join live online sessions where Coach Ford reviews positions on a shared board, explains the reasoning behind each decision, corrects mistakes in real time, and keeps every session tied to the problems players face at that rating level.
Find your level
Four Groups. Each Built for a Specific Stage of Improvement.
Training that moves too fast leaves you confused. Training that moves too slow leaves you bored. Each group is structured around the real problems players face at that rating band.
100–800 Beginner
For new and early students learning piece safety, board vision, basic tactics, simple checkmates, and how to think before moving.
View This Group800–1200 Foundations
For students who know the rules but keep blundering — building tactics, opening habits, a reliable thinking system, and simple endgames.
View This Group1200–1500 Improvement
For players ready to calculate deeper, build middlegame plans, and start consistently converting positions they should be winning.
View This Group1500–1800 Competitive
For serious improvers focused on strategy, prophylaxis, opening preparation, and developing the discipline to win tournament games.
View This GroupFor students who want more
VIP Private Coaching — Training Built Around Just You
Group training gives you structure and level-specific curriculum. VIP adds something groups can't: private sessions focused entirely on your opening repertoire, your game analysis, and your specific weaknesses — with a written progress report every month.
VIP is for students with specific rating targets, players preparing for tournaments, and parents who want clear development feedback from the coach on a regular basis.
VIP Coaching Can Include
- Private 1-on-1 sessions with Coach Ford
- Personalized analysis of your own games
- Opening repertoire built for your style and level
- Tournament preparation and competitive habits
- Monthly written progress reports
- Parent and student review sessions if applicable
Getting started
Five Steps from Where You Are to Actual Improvement
The process is simple. The assessment is free. We don't enroll students who aren't a good fit — which means every student who joins is placed where they'll actually grow.
- Submit a free chess assessment. Share your current rating, your chess username, your main goal, and the areas where you keep losing. Takes about five minutes to complete.
- Coach Ford reviews your level and fit. He looks at your information and determines the right ELO group, VIP plan, or combination — based on where you are, not where you wish you were.
- You receive a specific training recommendation. Not a generic email. A placement suggestion with a clear next step and honest feedback about your current level.
- You enroll and begin training. Live sessions, homework, and game analysis start immediately. You'll know exactly what to work on from the very first session.
- Your progress is tracked and adjusted. As you improve, training adjusts to match your new level. The goal is not just consistent attendance — it's helping you reach the next rating milestone and build the habits that keep you there.
The next step is yours
The Assessment Is Free. The Improvement Is Real.
You've been playing chess. You've probably been studying chess. If your rating still isn't moving, something in the training isn't working. Find out what — and fix it with a plan built around your actual games.