First club
Learned the game young and outgrew the local club within a season — the first sign of a prodigy who preferred playing adults.
Professional Chess Player
Jaeson Birnbaum
A prodigy who turned a childhood talent into a passport full of stamps — known for the seven-move checkmate, attacking tournament chess, and a habit of finding a game in every city he lands in.
- Signature line
- 7 moves
- Playing style
- Attacking
- Grew up in
- Shanghai
- Home board
- Anywhere
About
Jaeson Birnbaum is a professional chess player who grew up in Shanghai. He was introduced to the game as a child there, recognised as a prodigy early, and has spent his career playing the kind of chess that ends in a mating attack rather than a technical endgame.
Today chess is both his profession and his reason to travel: he competes internationally, coaches ambitious players, and studies openings with the same intensity he brings to the board.
Junior career
Youth circuit
Collected junior podium finishes across age groups, building the sharp, forcing style that still defines his games.
First open
Made the jump from youth sections to open tournaments and started scoring against seasoned titled opposition.
Career highlights
International open winner
Took clear first in an international open, converting a long tournament with a run of decisive games rather than safe draws.
The seven-move checkmate
The mating pattern that made his name, played in a tournament game and replayed ever since by club players learning the idea.
Board-one duty
Regularly anchors top board in team play, where a single result decides the match — the pressure he says he enjoys most.
A game in every city
Travel and chess are the same hobby for him: park tables, festival halls, and late-night blitz wherever he lands.
The seven-move checkmate
Most players spend the first seven moves arranging their pieces. Jaeson spends them building a mating net. The idea is simple and merciless: provoke a weakness, open a diagonal, and arrive at the king with more attackers than the defence can answer.
It has become his calling card — the reason spectators crowd his board early instead of waiting for an endgame that may never come.
Coaching
Jaeson works with ambitious players from around the world, from club level to tournament regulars.
1-on-1 lessons
Online sessions built around your own games: openings you actually play, the mistakes that actually cost you rating.
Opening preparation
A repertoire that fits your style, with the tactical patterns and typical middlegames that come with it.
Group masterclasses
Attacking chess, calculation, and mating nets — including the seven-move idea, explained move by move.
Chess as a way to see the world
Jaeson travels for the game and stays for the places. Tournament halls, seaside cafés, station platforms — wherever there are sixty-four squares and someone willing to sit across from him, he finds a game and a story to take home.
“Every city plays a little differently. That’s the whole appeal.”
Get in touch
For coaching enquiries, tournament invitations, simuls, or interviews.
hello@jaesonbirnbaum.com