Olga Popadiuk

A professional chess coach, writer, and content creator from Ukraine.

She holds a PhD in Economics and has an academic background as a university professor. Before fully dedicating her career to chess, she also worked as a top manager in a large company, gaining extensive experience in leadership, strategy, and decision-making.

Today, she specializes in coaching children and has trained multiple champions and prize-winners in national and international tournaments. She teaches in English and works with students from different countries online.

Besides coaching, she writes — her texts are a mix of literature and stand-up, where she explores chess, life, and human behavior with humor and sharp insight.

And a few small secrets:

• She believes chess is less about moves and more about decisions under pressure.
• She thinks discipline beats talent — but charisma sometimes cheats the system.
• And she has a habit of turning everything — even chaos — into a story.