Founded in the Spring of 2010, and reincorporated as a 501c3 not-for-profit organization in 2012, Learners Chess Academy is an educational program with the mission to enhance child development by using the game of chess to promote and stimulate intellectual maturity, social skills, and leadership development. Our vision is a world where all kids have the opportunity to grow through learning the game of chess.
We do not just teach kids chess, we teach them to learn by compassionately leading them through the process of paying attention and drawing on their experiences. Furthermore, we teach leadership development skills to encourage players to communicate and to teach each other what they know and how they learn.

Our coaches are educators, activists, farmers, chess education enthusiasts, parents, students, and leaders.
We recruit instructors who are passionate about the ways that chess improves kids’ classroom performance and social development.

Coach Victor founded Learners Chess Academy in 2010 as a summer job/ side project. It has since grown into a large and beloved non-profit organization. 

Having taught chess since he was 12 years old, Victor has cultivated a passion for teaching and coaching chess, mindfulness, reasoning, life, success, and leadership skills while working with kids and young adults.

Starting in 1998, with the help of his previous elementary school Principal, Nikki Dennis, and his mother, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, he started the Bandelier Elementary School Chess Club. He was in 7th grade at the time. As he and his mom continued to lead the Bandelier Chess Club through high school, his Bandelier chess team won the Albuquerque elementary Schools Chess League Championship Championship in 2002.