FM Papasimakopoulos Alexandros

- Hello everyone, my name is Alexandros Papasimakopoulos and I was born on 27 March 1996 in Athens , where I do live right now!
I have a degree in Economics (2018) and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) in 2022.
In 2024 I became an ECU Expert Coach, which is the highest title someone can get from ECU! I am looking forward to get FIDE Trainer Titles as well!

As for my FIDE Playing Titles, I gained :
1) My CM Title in 2021
2) My FM Title in 2022
My next goal is to gain to IM Title in the next 2 years!
I've got 2 Norms already and I am wiating for my 3rd and final Norm :
a) 1st IM Norm in Mikis Theodorakis (Chania, GRE) in April 2023!
b) 2nd IM Norm in GM-Norm Tournament (Arandelovac, Serbia) in December 2023!

My peak Rating in FIDE is :
Standard : 2416
Rapid : 2399
Blitz : 2395

I am French Defense specialist and if you are playing the French Defense as well, we will have a great time!

I have been playing chess, since I was a 5year-old kid. Moreover, I started to play more seriously at the age of 12, when I decided to become a good chess player. From then, I have played more than 100.000 games in the internet (Standard, Classical, Rapid, Blitz and Bullet combined).

- My most remarkable win was against GM Vladislav Artemiev in the European Rapid Chess Championship in 2018 in Skopje (you can watch the videos right below)

- In classical chess, my best wins are against :
-GM Sergei Tiviakov in Chania 2023
-GM Jobava Baduur in Paleochora 2023
-GM Kourkoulos Stamatis in Paleochora 2023 , all with the black pieces!

I can generally say that, I am a really special player (that is good and bad!), because I have massive playing experience (more than100.000 Games), which has given me the ability to dive really deep into a position and make my student understand, what really happens in general and what he should focus on!

I have been teaching chess since 2014.
I've had hundreds of students and I have taught them over the board, as well as via the internet.

My preference would be to teach FIDE Rating until 2100 and Lichess Rating until 2400. Age doesn't really matter, but the younger the better, mostly timewise in my opinion! I have generally passed students to better coaches, because I can help you receive chess in a completely different way till the level of 2000 FIDE Rating! From there, I could help you become a better player, but a Grandmaster will be more helpful in the 2100+ level!

I had a 30-year old student, that increased his Rapid Rating from 1700 to 2100 in a single year!
Chess requires practice and studying! If you are able to do them both, nothing can stop you from becoming a great chess player!

- I have a Channel on Twitch, in which I usually speak greek! www.twitch.tv/papasionates
- Also, I recently started my YouTube Channel (2022) and I mainly upload videos in Greek. www.youtube.com/c/AlexandrosPapasimakopoulos
Nevertheless, I uploaded recently my 2 game win against one of the best players in online chess, GM Hikaru Nakamura in English! youtu.be/N4_j0mVUWug
- In addition, I have build a community through Lichess with my team PAPASIonates, which you can join here lichess.org/team/papasionates (over 1300 members)

Also, I have lived for 3 years in Germany in my early years from 8-11 years, so my English accent is pretty good and unique (I would say) for a Greek coach!

My best skills in chess are, in my opinion, my practical thinking of the game and my general understanding, which has been built by my MASSIVE playing experience throughout these years (100.000 Games are quite rare to be seen). Together we will learn HOW to think in a more practical way and I guarantee you that you will see things differently in no time ;)

In these classes you will not only learn about chess, but also about different aspects of the game such as TIME MANAGEMENT and PSYCHOLOGY during games!

I will also be your MENTOR towards chess! There is so much information out there, that you should need a guide, so as not to get lost in the process!

First of all, when we will be starting our 1st session, I will see the student's playing style, from his/her games (either OTB or Lichess), to understand the overall playing style. Then we will focus on the parts of chess where he/she is lacking!
Those can be divided to :
- Opening
- Tactics
- Strategy
- Endgame

But there are also other factors that play a significant role such as : Time management and Psychology during games!

So in general, my Teaching methodology consists of the following :
Topics + Exercises + Repeat!

If you do have any questions, feel free to send me a message on Lichess!