At just four years old, a boy stood in front of his father, who knelt down, looked into his eyes, and handed him a small plastic toy gun.
“You’re a big boy now,” the father said. “Take care of our family.”
Then the man left for war.
The boy wouldn’t see his father again for two years.
When the man returned, his son was six—and didn’t recognize him at first. The beard had changed him. Time had changed them both.
But what truly surprised the father wasn’t his son's appearance.
It was that he had learned to play chess.
While his father was away, the boy’s grandmother had taught him the basics of the game. And something had clicked.
Soon after, his father enrolled him in a chess school. There, he lost his very first game—badly. He was angry. He was frustrated. But most importantly, he was determined.
He trained harder.
By 19, he had become a Grandmaster.
He crossed a 2600 rating.
He came within reach of breaking into the world’s top 100 players.
Then, unexpectedly, his journey took a turn.
He fell in love—not with a person, but with something deeper: chess coaching.
Helping others grow began to mean more to him than personal victories. He started assisting students, working with passionate players, and eventually national teams.
At 25, he made a decision that shocked many.
He retired from professional chess.
Instead, he committed himself fully to coaching sharing everything he had learned over the years. From Grandmasters to beginners, he trained those who shared his hunger for the game.
In the years that followed, he worked with national teams, helped dozens of students earn their dream titles, and became a coach known for depth, honesty, and results.
But in the world of online chess, he noticed a growing problem.
Too many overpriced, low-quality courses flooded the market. Shiny marketing. Weak content.
So, at 28, after returning from a sabbatical in Thailand, he founded his own platform ChessMood with a simple mission: to provide high-quality, practical, structured chess education.
In just six years, ChessMood produced over 500 hours of content, covering every major area of the game from openings and middlegames to endgames for all skill levels.
Today, the platform has over 2,000 active students.
And yet, despite all this, most people have still never heard of ChessMood or its founder, Grandmaster Avetik Grigoryan.
 |
| Grandmaster Avetik Grigoryan Photo : Facebook |
Because he never focused on marketing. He never shouted the loudest. He just kept teaching.
Once, a ChessMood student jokingly messaged him:
“Avetik, you owe me $10,000. I’ll sue you.”
He was confused until he read on:
“That’s how much I spent last year on coaching and courses. I didn’t improve at all. Then I joined ChessMood, gained 300 rating points, and became a FIDE Master. You owe me.”
That message summed up what ChessMood was all about.
It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t viral. It just worked.
Now, in an effort to reach more learners worldwide, Grigoryan has started making his courses available on Udemy, where chess lovers regardless of location or budget can learn directly from his years of experience.
To him, it’s never been about fame or clicks.
It’s about building champions.
One move at a time.