Dragon Tag Origins

Coach Rey

Coach Rey on Coach Mac

Coach Mac and I met at a charter school in the Bronx where chess is part of the regular curriculum, like math and English. We put him in charge of a small group of kindergartners. Nobody paid much attention when he said he was developing a new way to teach complete beginners. But a year later, I noticed that the kids he had coached could really play—and a few of them crushed it at the nationals in Spokane, Washington.

Later, Coach Mac asked me to help him teach at one of his client schools served by his other chess business, Start Right Chess, Inc. That experience sold me on his method—an approach that challenges kids to actually think from the very beginning. That’s why I said “yes” immediately when Coach Mac asked me to join him as Co-CEO of Dragon Tag Chess.