Coach's+Page

Coach's Page =CHESS ATLANTA LLC= Chess Atlanta LLC was established in 2004 by International Master Carlos Perdomo. Chess Atlanta is a scholastic chess company that provides: Carlos Perdomo a two-time Georgia State Champion (2001, 2002) and the current Georgia Class Champion in the highest category. As a coach his students have won many Individual and Team Championship titles at the Local, Regional, State and National levels. He has more than 25 years of national and international playing experience and he's been teaching chess for over a decade. Carlos can be contacted at carlosperdomo@comcast.net or 770-845-0890.
 * After School Chess Programs
 * Summer Chess Camps
 * Chess Tournaments
 * Private Chess Lessons
 * Small Group Lessons.

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CARLOS PERDOMO // The following is an edited excerpt of a letter written by IM Carlos Perdomo to the Georgia Chess community and published in the Georgia Chess Magazine by the Georgia Chess Association. //

I am from Colombia, South America. Sometimes Colombia gets confused with Columbia, South Carolina. The names are similar but the places are quite different. You might have heard of my country because of singers like Shakira and Juanes, Nobel Prize winner and writer Garcia Marquez, painter Fernando Botero, former Braves player Edgar Renteria, Nascar driver Juan Montoya, PGA player Camillo Villegas or unfortunately, the notorious drug dealer, Pablo Escobar. I began to learn chess when I was seven years old, and I did so by watching my father play with a friend. He was the one who taught me chess at the beginning, and I also took lessons from a chess player who later became a great coach and mentor. During my first years playing, it was clear that I was very good for my age (at that time). I have been to many different places competing in open chess tournaments, Chess Olympiads and two World Championships for under 14 and 20 years old. The first time I came to the United States was in 1997 when I was 21, and I came to compete in some open tournaments. The one tournament that I remember the most is the New York Open. My rating at that time was 2300 FIDE (International Chess Federation) and I entered in an open section with almost 300 players. I felt very proud because after the first 4 rounds I had wins and 3 of them were against strong Grand Masters. In the next 4 rounds all of my opponents were GMs and I was able to get only 2 draws. I played my last round against International Master Enrico Sevillano and I needed to win this match to win prize money from the U2450 section prize, but, unfortunately, I ended up losing pretty badly. Placing 81st still gave me one of the best results in my chess career. It helped me achieve my second IM norm and I received my first USCF rating of 2473. I recently took a look at that tournament's cross table at the USCF website and I noticed that IM Joshua Waitzkin - known from //Searching for Bobby Fisher// and the ChessMaster Computer Software ended up with the same score as me, 2 places above me. At the time, I did not have any idea who he was. In 2001, I left my country in difficult circumstances involving an internal conflict that had been going on in Colombia for years. For security reasons, my mother and only sister left Bogota, the Colombian capital, and came to Miami. My father decided to risk his security and stay behind. My mother got in contact with a childhood friend who was completing her masters at UGA and she suggested that Athens would be a good pace for them to come, considering that it was a less expensive city than Miami and the possibility for my sister to continue her college education. I was not sure about coming here rather than going to Europe where it is easier to compete and get invitations to play in tournaments. In the end I decided to come to the US and be with my family in that transitional time. I hired a lawyer and applied for political asylum which allowed me to obtain a social security number and a permit to work while my case was pending. In the beginning I played in almost all of the local tournaments and that helped me meet a lot of great people in the chess community. I was going through a period of adapting to a new lifestyle here in the United States and I focused on improving my English as well as my teaching skill for chess. Time passed and I kept busy teaching in after school programs, private lessons, small group lessons and summer camps. I began dedicating most of my time to teaching, and not playing so much, but I greatly enjoyed it. During the summer of 2007, my asylum application was denied and after much advice, I decided to withdraw my application and apply for a different type of visa based on my chess skills and the work that I had been doing as a chess coach. I needed to get recommendation letters from the US Chess Federation, Georgia Chess Association, Emory Castle Chess Camp, Kid Chess and top players. Unfortunately in July, 2007, a few weeks before I applied for this visa, the government eliminated the option to pay an extra fee to expedite cases in as little as 2 weeks. Because of this, I had to leave the US to avoid staying without legal status. I was confident that I would return shortly, so I thought of this time as an opportunity to travel and play chess again. I left in February 2008 and my petition was approved two months later in April. I thought the process would be quick after the approval, but it took 16 more months to receive the visa. I even began losing hope and started thinking of staying in Colombia for good or going somewhere else. Friends form the chess community in Georgia including Paideia parents, contacted Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss asking their offices to contact the US Embassy in Colombia to determine the status of my case. Also all the letters, phone calls and petitions from Paideia students and parents and other students, parents, coaches and players were helpful. I was able to receive my resident visa in early September 2009. I am extremely grateful for all of the support that so many people provided me during this time. While I was away, I was able to continue providing chess instruction for Paideia chess players through Skype sessions which took place on Thursday afternoons. However, it is wonderful to be back and to be able to provide chess instruction in person at Paideia.