IM Balázs Csonka

I am Balázs Csonka, 29-year-old International Master from Hungary with two grandmaster norms and peak rating of 2500 (current: 2455). Currently I'm a full-time chess coach, but apart from chess, I have also acquiered a Masters degree in International Economy and Business and worked for British Petrol.

I am a three-time European Youth bronze medalist and I was part of the gold medalist Hungarian national team at the Mitropa Cup in 2019. The pinnacle of my career has been the Battle of the Sexes tournament (Gibraltar) in 2022 January, where I was a joint top-scorer with 7/10 points, which helped the Men's team to win the event and also secured my second grandmaster norm. (You may find several interviews with me here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS6UcKmu8_mv3jKMFhR6BasV_9s6abdBz)

I have been coaching since 2017 and acquiered the (official) FIDE Trainer title in 2023. I have worked with many talented youngsters who have achieved great results on both national and international level (i.e. National Youth Champion, reaching FIDE Master title).

Apart from coaching, I also work as a second for a couple of World Top 100 players.

You can check my blog here: lichess.org/@/CSB7/blog

My students say that they have won a lot of games thanks to my ideas in the opening. They have also experienced improvement in pure positional play, strategic thinking and endgame skills.

If you are interested in working with me, please contact me here in direct message or via e-mail at bazsi415@gmail.com or csonka.balazs97@gmail.com.

My training methods include:

learning new openings (and the arising middlegames)
exploring numerous middlegame themes and pawn structures
learning theoretical endgames
studying the classics
and most importantly: analysing students' games and pointing out their mistakes
(training games are also available)

I always send the training material to my students right after the lessons.