Michael De La Maza

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Michael De La Maza began playing chess competitively in July 1999, and by July 2001 had improved such that his chess rating had risen from 1164, beginner level, to 2041, expert level. In his last tournament he won the Under 2000 section of the World Open and has not played a rated game since. After the tournament, he wrote a book Rapid Chess Improvement (ISBN 1-85744-269-5) about his methods of improvement, which involves working through a large set of chess puzzles multiple times until they can be solved very quickly. This book and its lessons have garnered a cult following among some aspiring chess players. An interwoven group of blogs that use his method have dubbed themselves "the Knights Errant".

Nonetheless, there are many critics of De La Maza's teaching methods. Additionally, while the increase in rating experienced by De La Maza is atypical, it is not unique, especially among teenagers.