There is a version of chess coaching that looks impressive on paper and produces little. Coach Tigran built his career around avoiding it.

He grew up playing chess seriously in Armenia. He competed at the national level, beat strong players, and kept running into the same ceiling. When he finally traced it back to its source, the answer was simple: no one had taught him to think correctly when he was young. By the time he understood this, it was too late to fix it for himself.

So he studied how to fix it for others. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in chess coaching and pedagogy from the Russian State University of Physical Education in Moscow, then completed a Master’s degree at the same institution. The curriculum covered child development, learning theory, and the structural methods behind the Soviet chess system, the tradition that produced more world champions than anywhere else in history.

He returned to coaching with that background. His approach centers on one question: what does this student need to build right now so that everything else can follow? Openings, tactics, and tournament preparation all come later. The thinking comes first.

Parents who come to Coach Tigran to help their children learn chess in Singapore often describe the same experience. The chess improves. Then something harder to name improves alongside it. The way a child handles a difficult problem. The patience to work through something instead of giving up. The confidence to make a decision and commit to it.

That is what a proper foundation does. It does not just make someone a better chess player.