NM Sebastien Azar

Welcome to my coaching page. I am a 23 Year old Canadian chess enthusiast from Gatineau, Quebec. I speak French and English perfectly, as well as Arabic (because of my Lebanese origins). I have a bachelors in Statistics and aim to prove that statistics can and must be used for chess progress and practical play. In my spare time, I also like trivia and football (the European one). I am looking for serious students wanting to be pushed to their maximum potential, and want me to be honest with them about their weaknesses and strengths.

I am an avid chess player who has been playing for 7 years over the board, and a bit more than 8 years in Total. I started as a player around 800-900 in chess.com blitz in august 2017, and since then, with a lot of hard work, good discipline, and a bit of talent, managed to get my NM title in the Fall of 2023, getting my 3 NM norms back to back to back.

Best Tournaments played:
-RA Fall Open 2025, 3.5/5, 2410 performance, no losses.
-Outaouais (Regional Champion) 4 years in a row from 2019 to 2022, some of the games can be found analyzed in french in the first study. Won again in 2024 with perfect 7/7 score.
-Ontario Open 2023, 2362 performance, reached 2200 CFC and 2000+ FIDE. tied for 3rd with 4/6 with top players such as GM Bator Sambuev, draw with IM, win vs FM
-Eastern Ontario Open 2023, 2390 performance tied for 2nd with draw vs GM Bator Sambuev, one of the country's best players.
-Ottawa Fall 2023, 2309 performance, Final NM requirement achieved.

Online Chess: I have beaten and gotten multiple winning positions against some of the best players in the world.
Wins include players such as GM Nigel Short, GM Jose Martinez (Jospem), GM David Paravyan and GM Tuan Minh Le.
Completely Winning positions (which I unfortunately did not win) include, GM Vachier-Lagrave, GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Daniel Naroditsky.

I have been teaching for almost 5 years now.
-I have taught the basics in a school to students to try and share the beauty of the game with them
-I have taught multiple group lessons with my local club. I make sure to teach important historical games where relevant.
-I have taught many students in private 1 on 1 online lessons.

One of my students won his age group in our regional championship after the lessons with me (he was still relatively new to the game before that), Another won over 300 uscf points in one tournament after the lessons, and most of my previous students (both individual and group) still play chess and keep getting better and better to this day. Most of them have reached rating peaks in their desired time controls. This shows the serious of my approach, which focuses on sharing the beauty of the game, improvement methods and self-awareness instead of simply feeding concepts to the students. This ensures they don't have to rely on a coach for the rest of their chess career.

-I am an official Quebec federation arbiter (local arbiter diploma)
-Chess commentary: I have streamed and done official commentary for online scholarly events.

My best skills in chess and teaching is probably my passion for the game and competitive play. I love everything about chess and don't like to lose!

I am looking for serious students who are looking to improve their chess. I will look at the student's games and help him target his weaknesses. I will provide homework and opening lines where necessary, to ensure the student is ready for tournament play.

I focus on teaching students how to improve. I will teach methodology and best training practices. I will help build the skills of the student so he can feel confident to keep improving on his own, without needing to rely on me or anyone else.

For newer players, teaching basics and must knows will be the first steps. I also like to teach the beauty of the game (amazing combinations, studies, opening lines, etc...)