About Us

Rocky Top Chess Club

is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. The organization exists to promote chess activities in the community, conduct fundraisers to support extracurricular programs in Knox County, utilize chess as an educational tool to help kids achieve good academic performance as well as provide rated chess playing opportunities in the greater Knoxville area.

We meet every Sunday: 3:30PM – 5:00PM except holidays and school breaks

Location: Knoxville Chinese Christian Church (KCCC), 901 Francis Rd., Knoxville

History of Rocky Top Chess Club

Back to March 2016, when the Chinese school at Knoxville Chinese Christian Church (KCCC) was looking for someone who can organize extracurricular activities, they approached Dr. Fran Li, the father of two kids at the KCCC Chinese school and a Professor in electrical engineering at UTK. Around that time, he happened to coach his boys some chess at home. So he started to run a small chess class at KCCC with 7 or 8 kids every Sunday late afternoon, immediately after the Chinese school's regular lectures.

After finishing the spring semester, Fran met another local chess enthusiast and advocate Dr. Jiangang Chen, also a Professor at UTK, and his son Forest Chen, a high school student at Farragut High School. Forest, a USCF National Master with a USCF rating >2200, has been the state's No. 1 scholastic K-12 player for many years and also a nation-wide Top 10 player at his age group. So Dr. Li recruited Forest to be a volunteering instructor at KCCC Chess Club.

Soon after, three other parents and also chess advocates, Professor Xiaopeng Zhao and Dr. Julia Zhu and Lei Xu joined the club as volunteers and instructors. In August, 2019, in order to meet the increasing needs of local parents and to benefit both scholastic and adult players in Greater Knoxville area, we formed Rocky Top Chess Inc, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit.

Now, the organization runs 3 regular classes, one for the chess beginners, one for those at the level of U500 of USCF rating and one for players with USCF rating between 500-1000. Rocky Top Chess Inc will host chess tournaments, help local schools' chess clubs through community outreach and fundraiser as well as provide educational workshops and seminars for parents and chess players.

Some significant achievement by the club members:

Forest Chen (USCF 2318 as of 9/2019, National Master, Five times TN Scholastic Champion, 2017 TN State Co-champion)

Eric Zhao (USCF 1745 as of 9/2019, 2018 TN Region 1 (east TN) K-9 Champion, 2018 State K-9 7th Place, 2019 TN Region 1 K-12 Runner-up)

Justin Li (USCF 1641 as of 1/2019, 2017 TN Region 1 K-6 Champion, 2018 State K-9 6th Place, 2019 TN Region 1 K-9 Champion)

Maggie Zhong (USCF 1308 as of 9/2019, 2018 TN Region 1 K-6 Champion, 2019 TN Region 1 K-6 4th Place)

An Nguyen (USCF 1098 as of 5/2018, 2018 TN Region 1 K-3 Champion, 2018 TN State K-3 3rd Place)

Selena Ma (USCF 881 as of 9/2019, 2018 TN K-3 Girls State Champion, 2019 TN Region 1 K-3 Champion)

James Nguyen (USCF 1725 as of 9/2019, 4th place 2018 TN State Scholastic Finals, Elementary Section)

Abbie Liu (USCF 394 as of 9/2019, 2nd Place 2018 TN K-3 Girls State Champion)

Slyvia Lin (USCF 917 as of 9/2019, 2018 TN K-6 Girls State 3rd Place; 2019 Knoxville Open Co-champion, reserve section)