CM Jacob Flynn

I am 24 years old from Ireland. I recently completed studying English Literature and Film at Trinity College Dublin. I now teach chess in schools and privately. I started playing chess at a young age and today I consider it my main hobby. Feel free to message me on Lichess with any enquiries!

2019 Irish u19 Champion
2018, 2019 Leinster u19 Champion
2023, 2025 Leinster Champion
2023 Drogheda Congress Champion chess-results.com/tnr731372.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=6
I represented the Irish junior team abroad on several occasions.
I was the most improved player in Ireland in 2017- I increased my national rating from 1342 to 1832 from January to December.
I regularly compete in the top events in my country, with a joint 4th place finish at the 2024 Irish Championships ranking as my best result to date.
My peak FIDE live rating is 2292.

I have given private lessons to a wide range of strengths, from beginner level up to 2000+ FIDE level juniors. While I have worked with many juniors, I also enjoy helping adult improvers further develop their skills. I have many long-lasting and successful coaching arrangements with adults who are looking to improve either their online ratings or their FIDE rating. I have been teaching after-school chess at primary schools in Dublin for several years.

My younger students have consistently achieved strong placements and in some cases won outright in junior national championships.

In younger age groups growing up I was far behind my contemporaries- I eventually had a large improvement in a short space of time due in large part to developing a passion for chess. My primary aim is to share that enthusiasm with my students. I have a good feel for many different types of positions and through analysing your games I am quite quick at identifying what areas need to be worked on. I can provide direction as well as insight in this sense. I am also very interested in the psychological aspects of the game that can hold players back competitively, as this is something I struggled a lot with. I follow top level chess quite closely and always have a strong appetite to look at chess.

I have a clear way that I want to play, which is to follow the key principles of positional chess as a foundation, and to build upon this in order to play dynamically. I believe that once you learn to appreciate the underlying mechanics of the game, a lot will fall into place for you. Chess can seem very complicated (which it is) but I will try to help you simplify the game in a constructive way.
Working on puzzles and studying endgames/openings will help you improve but without an appreciation for the more abstract concepts that hold the game together you will eventually get stuck.
- I will focus on game analysis, with both your own games to show where you can improve, as well as recent and old master games to show the fundamentals in action.
- If you wish, we can play training games against each other and then analyse them afterwards.
- I am around all the time to answer questions and am happy to take a more hands-on approach for students who need that.
- I will tailor my lesson plan to your own needs as well as your own abilities. I am interested in the practical aspects of chess and am happy to recommend openings or strategies that I feel suit your own unique style.