Sanjay Korah started a chess tutoring business over the summer break

Alana Repstock

Fourteen-year-old Sanjay Korah had a jam-packed summer. Between chess lessons, tennis camp at the Wychwood Tennis Club and time spent with friends and family, he embarked on a new endeavour: starting his own chess tutoring business.

Sanjay was four years old when he learned to play chess from his father Dileep Korah. “By the time he was eight,” said Dileep, “Sanjay had surpassed my level of chess playing. My daughter Solène also learned to play chess, but it was apparent that Sanjay had a special gift for it.”

During the school year, Sanjay lives with his mother Annie D’Anjou in The Hague, Netherlands, where she is stationed temporarily for work. For the summer break, Sanjay returned to Aylmer to stay with his father at the family’s home in Wychwood.

Teaching chess seemed like a natural progression for Sanjay, who maintains a consistent chess practice regimen throughout the school year. He dedicates 20 minutes per day for solo practice, two hours for chess club on Friday evenings (where he plays with other youths), and has a one-hour tutoring session per week with an International Master named Andrei Sysenko. He also participates in chess tournaments twice per month and plays on www.chess.com throughout the week. Additionally, in this upcoming school year, he will be joining his high-school’s chess club that meets every Friday at lunch hour.

Dileep helped Sanjay get the word out about his chess tutoring business by posting on various local Facebook groups, such as the Aylmer Community Group and Friends of Wychwood. The posts proved successful, as many interested parents contacted Dileep about hiring Sanjay. In total, Sanjay took on seven pupils, aged between 9 and 12, whom he tutored for one-hour sessions during the months of July and August.

When asked what he liked most about teaching chess, Sanjay said: “seeing my students improve in chess.” Sanjay will be investing his summer’s chess tutoring earnings into a trust account, where he hopes the money will grow.

Sanjay returned to The Hague in mid-August, where he will be starting grade 9. In the future, he plans to study “something in the field of math, or maybe economics.”

Sanjay confirmed that he will be offering chess lessons again next summer.

Photo captions

Photo 1: Local youth Sanjay Korah, 14, started his own chess tutoring business over the summer break. 

Photo 2: Sanjay Korah enjoying a game of chess with his friend, Theodore Lakinsky. 

Photo credits: Alana Repstock