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Inspired by a desire to make chess accessible to everyone — not just people who can afford coaching or tournament fees, two Menlo-Atherton High School juniors formed ChessGuru. The pair offer chess lessons to students at a North Fair Oaks school.
In September 2024, Shawnak Shivakumar, 16, and Axel Pilette, 17, who are award-winning chess players, approached K-8 Connect Community Charter School Principal Hayley Dupuy to ask if her students would be interested in an after school chess program. She said “yes” and ChessGuru has been hosting classes on Tuesdays ever since.
“We’d both had the game shape our lives — not just competitively, but in how we think, how we learn, and how we carry ourselves,” said Shivakumar and Pilette, who are junior class presidents at M-A and helped revive the Atherton school’s own chess club in 2023. “We wanted to bring that to communities where enrichment programs are too often out of reach. Connect Community Charter School operates with a small budget, and when we first reached out, the staff was genuinely excited and grateful.”
Before ChessGuru’s lessons, Connect was paying another organization to come teach chess during lunchtime, but only four or five students would attend those lessons, according to Dupuy.
“I knew already that there was an interest in chess so I started discussing the program with them (ChessGuru) and it has been a great success,” she said in an email. Now about 30 first through eighth grade students per week attend the ChessGuru lessons led by seven M-A student volunteers. “The group has done an excellent job teaching both beginners and players who already have some experience. The main impact is that students of all ages now enjoy playing chess, which I believe has a positive impact on memory and analytical thinking.”
Shivakumar made his foray into chess at age 5 playing against people online using his mom’s cellphone. He won the U15 World Championship in 2022, and has ranked among the top players in the world for his age group. Pilette is in the top 99.9 percentile online. He became serious about chess after struggling to beat his dad at the game one Christmas. He promised his dad that by the next holiday season he would be the best chess player in the family.
At ChessGuru, some students are still figuring out how the pieces move, while others are getting serious about the game, according to the nonprofit.
“The room is loud and chaotic in the best way,” Shivakumar and Pilette said. “They even run over to show us when they’ve checkmated someone. … We bring a structured curriculum, but a lot of it is just sitting with the kids, talking through moves, and letting them surprise us!”
The pair say that kids love figuring things out for themselves.
“We’ll see a second grader play five games in a row and still want more — not because someone told them it’s educational, but because they’re genuinely enjoying the game,” Shivakumar and Pilette, who are both Menlo Park residents, said. “We missed one Tuesday because of a scheduling issue, and the next week, several kids came up and demanded to know: ‘Where were you!!?’ Chess gives them a way to express themselves — whether it’s staying calm under pressure, thinking ahead, or even just shaking hands and saying ‘good game.’”
Recent chess competition
Following months of preparation, Connect students participated in their first chess tournament, the San Francisco Scholastic Chess Championship, on March 29. They placed second as a program.
Students went up against over 300 kids and more than 50 schools. One student, a third grader called it “the best day ever” after the tournament.
“They (the Connect kids) were nervous in the morning, but by the end of the day they were laughing, comparing medals, and asking when the next tournament was,” said Shivakumar and Pilette. “For a lot of them, it was the first time they’d ever been part of a competitive academic experience — and walked away with something to show for it.”
The M-A’s chess club, the Menlo-Atherton Chess Community, itself won 12 awards at the competition.
More information
This summer, Shivakumar and Pilette want to host chess lessons at other schools, but haven’t yet confirmed plans. This coming fall, they’d also like to expand their programming to more schools.
The Menlo-Atherton Chess Community will host its third annual chess tournament at M-A, 555 Middlefield Road in Atherton, from May 19-23.
For more information on ChessGuru, go to chessguru.org and on Instagram under the handle chessguruhandle.
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