National Master Corbin Yu has been teaching kids chess in Lake Oswego and West Linn for over ten years. He has coached multiple after-school chess clubs to the Team State Championship, placing as high as second. He has also helped many students reach the Individual State Championship for their age, with multiple second place finishes.
Corbin’s teaching philosophy is to emphasize creativity and working together to improve. He encourages kids to freely discuss the game as they play, striving to create a fun and collaborative learning environment. He teaches a wide variety of chess variants to help kids approach the game from fresh perspectives. Bughouse is a particular favorite among students because of its teamwork element and dynamic complexity. The new perspectives experienced while playing with alternate rules spark their imagination and facilitate a deeper understanding of the game, often inspiring students to create their own unique variants to play with one another.
Corbin discovered chess at five years old and won his first tournament that same year. He placed second four times in the elementary and middle school state championships and began also competing successfully in adult tournaments at age ten. While attending Lake Oswego High School, he won three individual state championships and led his school to a team state championship. He started competing in national tournaments at sixteen, becoming one of the highest rated players for his age in the U.S. He tied for third at the Denker Invitational as the Oregon state representative and tied for first at the National Open. He continued to play chess competitively in college, later earning his National Master title at the 2013 World Open. Since 2012, he has been teaching chess after-school classes, summer camps, and private students in Lake Oswego and West Linn.