Chess Gagunashvili

GM Merab Gagunashvili was born in Tbilisi where he started playing chess at the age of six and repeatedly won Georgian championships in the age categories. He represented Georgia in several European and world championships in the age categories. He finished second in the Junior World Championships when he was 16 and by the age of 17, he had won the title of grandmaster and became Georgia’s youngest grandmaster. He participated in and won many international tournaments, as well as individual medals at European team championships. In 2004 and 2007, he participated in the individuals’ World Cup.

For the last 10 years, he has worked as a coach and a second. He was head coach of Kuwait’s national team at the 2018 Olympics and Iraq’s national team at the 2011 Arab Games.

With his wife Maria, he founded the Gagunashvili Online Chess Academy and works with children and adults from all over the world. He has been a Fide Instructor since 2016.

He teaches classes in English, Russian and Georgian.