Our Team

Ming Lu - Founder

Ming Lu is a senior in high school and an International Master (IM) with a peak FIDE rating of 2410 and a peak USCF rating of 2427. He started playing when he was almost 7 and consistently ranks top 10 in the country for his age group. Outside of chess, he enjoys playing badminton and coding. 

Alan Peng - Copresident

Alan has been a part of SimplyChess since freshman  year, attending Claremont High School. He has been playing chess since he was 10, and hit a peak rating of 2100 USCF. He favors tactical positions over positional ones and looks forward to games with crazy attacks. Besides chess, he passes his time by programming and swimming on his school varsity team.

Bryan Xie - Copresident

Bryan Xie is an 8th grade student at Canyon Hills Junior High and a FIDE Master. Bryan started playing chess since he was 6 and reached National Master before he turned to age 10. His current USCF rating is 2327.Outside of chess, he enjoys playing various sports.

William Hao - Vice President

William Hao is currently a senior in high school living in Texas. He started playing chess in the summer after his freshman year, when the COVID pandemic was in full swing, and quickly developed an interest towards it. Outside of chess, he swims for his school’s varsity swim team. 

Ryan Cai is a junior in high school and started playing chess in 7th grade during the pandemic. Through this short period of time, he has already achieved a USCF rating of 1789. Aside from chess, his main hobbies are math and running. He was a 6th grade AIME qualifier and has a 5:17 mile.

David Liu is currently 15 years old. He started playing chess at around the age of 5 and has a peak USCF rating of 1994. Outside of chess, he also enjoys playing basketball.

Selina Chen, 15 years old, is a senior in high school at San Diego, CA. She started playing chess at the age of 11. During the lockdown, she invested her time into learning and improving her chess. In her free time, she enjoys drawing and playing the piano.  

Roger Shi, 15 years old, started playing chess at the age of 7 and has a peak USCF rating of 2194. He ranks top 30 in the country for age 15. Other than chess, he also enjoys playing soccer and basketball.