FM Nicholas Van Der Nat · FIDE Master · FIDE Trainer

Structured Chess Mastery for the Professional Learner

I teach driven, time-constrained adults to think logically about their own games, with a personalized, structured coaching system built on 28 years of coaching and a competitive record that includes 3 South African national titles. Serious beginners under 800 and tournament players past 1800 are equally at home here.

Book Your $130 Strategy Assessment

Credited in full toward your coaching package if you continue.

FM Nicholas Van Der Nat, FIDE Master and FIDE Trainer

Why Structure Wins

You Do Not Need More Content. You Need a Diagnosis.

Most plateaued players don't need another course. They need one person to look at their actual games, name the two or three habits costing them rating points, and hand them a sequenced plan.

Socratic Method

Questions that unlock your own understanding, built on Bloom's Taxonomy, not a lecture you forget by Friday.

Two Core Frameworks

The Piece Activity Count and the Rule of Three, the same lenses I use to diagnose every position, taught so you can use them yourself.

A Roadmap, Not a Video Queue

A structured study plan sequenced to your level and your time, not a pile of content you're supposed to get to eventually.

Real Results

Real Students. Real Rating Histories.

Verified directly from public Lichess and Chess.com rating histories, not self-reported. Across 15 tracked students, the average rise from each student's lowest to highest recorded rapid rating is +641 points.

15 students · average +641 rapid, lowest to highest

ChrisN86 · verified history

“My FIDE rating has increased from 1540 to 1700, far exceeding the impact of previous coaches.”

ChrisN86

BigData1969 · 1737 to 2108 rapid

“He also taught me a great process for identifying candidate moves.”

BigData1969

CM SouthAfricanWolf verified rating history

CM SouthAfricanWolf · titled player

“Absolutely Amazing Coach, Very Very Reliable and Instructive, with Great Structures and Fantastic Training Programs...”

CM SouthAfricanWolf

NNLorenzo · verified history

“Mr. Van Der Nat is an excellent coach, funny, insightful, and most important of all, helpful.”

NNLorenzo

“I found that after only a few sessions, my whole thinking process has changed fundamentally for the better.”

t_casper · 45yo adult improver

“I myself gained over a few hundred rating points and am still going.”

penguinbrawler

“Already I can see where my errors of play are from one session. Highly, highly recommend”

linkfoursword

“Each week, the lessons felt personalized to my needs so that I could improve as a competitor.”

wackie0

15 students · average +641 rapid, lowest to highest

ChrisN86 · verified history

“My FIDE rating has increased from 1540 to 1700, far exceeding the impact of previous coaches.”

ChrisN86

BigData1969 · 1737 to 2108 rapid

“He also taught me a great process for identifying candidate moves.”

BigData1969

CM SouthAfricanWolf · titled player

“Absolutely Amazing Coach, Very Very Reliable and Instructive, with Great Structures and Fantastic Training Programs...”

CM SouthAfricanWolf

NNLorenzo · verified history

“Mr. Van Der Nat is an excellent coach, funny, insightful, and most important of all, helpful.”

NNLorenzo

“I found that after only a few sessions, my whole thinking process has changed fundamentally for the better.”

t_casper · 45yo adult improver

“I myself gained over a few hundred rating points and am still going.”

penguinbrawler

“Already I can see where my errors of play are from one session. Highly, highly recommend”

linkfoursword

“Each week, the lessons felt personalized to my needs so that I could improve as a competitor.”

wackie0

Hover to pause. Every quote is a real review and every chart is that student's public rating history.

See the Full Results Gallery

Start Free

Fourteen Free Lessons on Capablanca's Fundamentals

Every lesson takes one historic game and teaches one idea you can use the same evening: prophylaxis, king safety, outposts, the isolated queen's pawn. Video, an interactive board, and six puzzles on each. No email required to read them.

Browse the Free Lessons

Ready to See Exactly Where Your Points Are Going?

The Strategy Assessment is a real, paid working session: I review your games, name your strengths and weaknesses, and hand you a structured roadmap either way.

Book Your $130 Strategy Assessment