Hi. My name is Sanford Staab AKA “Sandy The Chess Guy”. I promote chess for kids in the Kamiah-Grangeville-Orofino area of Idaho. I learned chess coaching from Elliot Neff of ChessForLife in Seattle, have been an avid player since I was 5, and just love teaching others about this amazing game.

I was teaching long before AI and COVID made chess so popular. My passion is to help kids learn to think and to improve their life skills by dealing with the very relevant challenges the game of chess presents to the mind.

I strongly believe playing chess in person, as opposed to playing online, teaches useful life skills and helps with social integration and dealing with competition and hard challenges. Kids I have taught in the past are now parents themselves and have told me how beneficial their chess instruction was for them.

If you want coaching, class lessons, or to run a tournament, let me know. I am here to help. I’m not out to make you a grandmaster, just a better player who can enjoy the game and the friends you meet over it better.

I learned Chess from my dad when I was 5. By the time I was a teen I was seriously trying to become a Master.

I now have 8 grandchildren and live at Lifewater Ranch between Kooskia and Clearwater in Idaho County. I have been teaching chess in the area for over 10 years. I am currently an elder at Stites Baptist Church.