About

Igor Khmelnitsky earned the title of International Chess Master in 1990 after a convincing victory in the 1st Leonid Stein Memorial in L’viv, Ukraine.

Khmelnitsky is a winner of many tournaments in Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Germany, Yugoslavia, and the United States. At various points during his career, he has defeated many of the game’s best players.

Khmelnitsky is also a very experienced coach. His first high profile coaching experience was in 1986, when he    
served as a coaching assistant for the Ukrainian national junior team. Several members of that team went on to become world-renown Grandmasters (Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Alterman, and others…). Since moving to the United States in 1991, Khmelnitsky has been living and coaching in the Philadelphia area. His students come from all over the world and include players of all levels, ranging from novices to masters.


Khmelnitsky’s first book – Chess Exam and Training Guide ( 2004, IamCoach Press) was extremely well received by readers and reviewers alike. The book won the prestigious Cramer award for Best Chess Book from the Cramer Committee and the Chess Journalists of America. It is now in its fourth printing; it has been translated into French, Italian and Russian.

In 2007, Khmelnitsky’s second book in the Chess Exam series – Chess Exam and Training Guide: Tactics (IamCoach Press) came out, and also became a best-seller.

In 2009, he released his new book – Chess Exam Matches against Chess Legends - You vs. Bobby Fischer (IamCoach Press), in which he has presented his innovative testing approach in a new “match” format and pitted readers against the American legend Bobby Fischer.

Khmelnitsky is a contributing author to the best-seller Masters of Success by Ivan Mizner, Ph.D. ( 2004, EP). He is one of the three coauthors of Teaching Chess Step by Step, the 3-volume chess school curriculum published in 2006 by Garry Kasparov’s Chess Foundation.

Khmelnitsky has published comments, annotated games, and articles in various chess publications, including the most prestigious periodicals: Chess Informant, New in Chess, ChessBase, 64, Chess Life, and Chess Today. He is also the founder of the two popular chess websites www.IamCoach.com and www.ChessExam.com.

Igor Khmelnitsky shares his success with wife Svetlana, son Alec and daughter Nikki. He works as an actuary at Aetna Inc. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from Temple University (Philadelphia).