Our Story

Hi, this is Jason Lu, founder of Chess For Seniors LLC, a 501c3 nonprofit. I have been playing competitive chess for more than 11 years and hold the chess NM (National Master) title, the highest title one can earn from the US Chess Federation. I'm a junior at Millburn High School and the current 10th grade national chess co-champion.

In 2019, I founded Chess For Seniors to give back to the community. My roots in chess came from local chess clubs such as the West Orange Chess Club and the Westfield Chess Club, and I wanted to give others the same great experience that I had as a young boy. I felt that I could make the largest impact by helping the elderly population since preserving a nimble mind is especially important to the quality of life for seniors. Also, my family has a history of Alzheimer's, which adds a personal touch to my mission and motivates me to help others even more.

Therefore, I started partnering with local senior centers to offer free chess lessons to seniors, starting with Millburn, my hometown. With the help of Mrs. Jaimee Hawkins, I was able to teach chess in the Millburn Public Library after school. While Covid-19 effectively shut down any in-person classes, it opened the door for online training, allowing us to reach out to a broader audience.

Our team is now 12 members strong and we've taught 400+ seniors across 27 states and 4 countries. Together, we aim to spread our love for the game and help others in the process.

While everything we do is and will always be free, we do accept donations to help cover our costs, like hosting our website and running Zoom. Any donations are greatly appreciated, and will help us reach our goal of teaching seniors all across the world.