Instructors & Contributors

Dr. Qiang Zhang

Dr. Qiang Zhang is the President of RTC from 2022-2024. 

Ms. Fei Tian 

Fei Tian is the Treasurer of RTC from 2022-2024. 

Lilin He

Linlin He served as the Secretary of RTC from 2022-2024. 

Jin Dong

Jin Dong is ... 

Junior Instructors: Stephen Xiao, Frank Yang, Jared Li, and Bocheng John Jiang, 

Stephen Xiao (11th grader at FHS), Frank Yang (11th grader at FHS), Jared Li (11th grader at FHS), and Bocheng John Jiang (9th grader at FHS) served as junior instructors of RTC from 2022-2025.

Dr. Fangxing Fran Li, The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Dr. Li was the initial founder of the club (was called Knoxville Chinese Christian Church Chess Club, KCCC Chess Club) back to early Spring 2016. Since then, he has been the instructor for Step 1 and Step 2 classes for RTC and its predecessor KCCC Chess Club for 8 years from 2016 to 2025. He also co/managed the chess club's operation and coordinates activities with other local and regional clubs from 2016 to 2022. He is a co-founder of RTC and served as the President (2021-2022) of Rocky Top Chess Inc., a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization.

Dr. Julia Zhu, The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Dr. Zhu joined the club in Fall 2017. She taught Step 1 chess class and also helped the operation and activities of the club during 2018-2020. 

National Master Forest Chen, Farragut High School

NM Forest Chen joined the club in Fall 2016. He was a Farragut High School student during 2016-2020 and the top chess player in the State of Tennessee for several years. He has won a number of State Scholastic and Open titles.  He also directed and helped numerous local and regional chess tournaments, and inspired many parents and kids to play serious chess. Forest taught Step 3 class at the Rocky Top Chess Inc and its predecessor KCCC Chess Club from 2016 to 2019, and directed multiple chess tournaments during his high school time at greater Knoxville area. 

Dr. Jianggang Chen, The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Dr. Chen was one of the earliest members who joined the club in Fall 2016. Back to fall 2015, one day he was dinning at a local restaurant when the magic words “ELO rating” sneaked into his ears from a gentleman sitting at the next table.  He thought he knew all the strong local chess players but this man.  With great curiosity, he approached the gentleman asking about his chess rating.  That was his first meet with Dr. Li, an expert player of table tennis, a sport coincidentally also using ELO rating system to indicate the skill levels of table tennis players. Dr. Chen is a co-founder and served as the President (2019-2020) of Rocky Top Chess Inc. Dr. Chen is currently a senior advisor of RTC.   

Dr. Xiaopeng Zhao, The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Dr. Zhao was one of the earliest members who joined the club in Spring 2017. he is a co-founder and served as the President (2020-2021) of Rocky Top Chess Inc. He helped the operation and activities of the organization. He also directed several local chess tournaments including the All-Girls Scholastic Tournament in March 2019. He is currently a senior advisor of RTC.

Lei Xu 

Xu is the webmaster of the Rocky Top Chess Inc website. She also helps the operation and activities of the organization.

Justin Li

Justin Li was a student at Farragut High School from 2019 to 2023. He started to lectures at Rocky Top Chess Inc in fall 2019. He won Tennessee Region 1 Scholastic twice in 2017 (K-6) and 2019 (K-9). He finished 3rd place in 2020 Tennessee State Scholastic Individual Tournament, K-9 section. He served as the Director or Co-Director for multiple online and in-person chess tournaments during 2020-2023.