Chess · Teaching
Cyrus Lakdawala
International Master · San Diego, USA
Every move explained, so anyone can learn to see.
A knight starts on b1. Each turn of the dial adds one move and lights every square it could reach by then. Within five moves it can reach all 64 squares: the board grows out from one starting point.
01
The teacher
An American International Master, he is best known as a chess teacher and writer. His publisher's author note describes him as a former National Open and American Open champion and a six-time state champion, with decades of teaching behind him.
02
Move by Move
He has written dozens of books for Everyman Chess, many in its Move by Move series. They study openings and great players, including Capablanca, Botvinnik, Kramnik and Carlsen.
The series uses a question and answer format. The book stops to ask the reader what to play and why, then sets exercises, so you learn by doing rather than by memorising.
03
Plain words for hard positions
His annotations put a position into plain language: who is better, what each side wants, and which small detail decides it. It is literacy for the chessboard. Once you can read a position, you can follow any master game.
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How they thought
Ask before you tell
Pose the question the student should be asking, let them answer, then explain.
Learn from the greats, one move at a time
Walk through a champion's games so the student absorbs how a strong player thinks.
Name the plan
Every move serves a plan; say the plan out loud and the moves stop looking random.
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Timeline
Title
Earns the International Master title.
Prizes
Wins the National Open and the American Open, per his publisher's note.
Books
Writes dozens of Everyman Chess books, many in the Move by Move series.
Today
Teaches chess in San Diego.
I
Train your brain
Mastered 0 / 6
What title does Lakdawala hold?
II
Train the machine
166 lines to learn, 38 held back. Names are removed. Random batches, dropout and noise make each seed take its own path.
Birth year: not stated in a source we checked, so it is left out.