I had the pleasure of working with Renata for several years when I was the Associate Director of Future Stars after school programs. She was one of my top instructors always on time and always prepared. Her patience warmth and genuine love and enthusiasm were infectious and soon had the class as excited about chess as she was. The kids were eager to learn and always had a lot of fun in her classes.

I am so happy that we had Reni as a chess teacher for my daughter (in middle school at that time). Reni was encouraging and inspiring to the kids, in addition she has such a warm personality. We participated in numerous tournaments across the city, and she was always there with the kids and their families organizing everything - even the world tournament in Philadelphia, which was an amazing experience!My daughter was very shy, but Reni’s chess classes brought her out of her shell and she would be so enthusiastic about every lesson and be excited about everything chess-related. Within the first year, she grew as a chess player and won several tournaments, which built her confidence and passion for the game. Thank you, Reni - you’re the best!

Renata Natarajan, the founder and president of TurtleStrat, is a very gifted chess player. But more importantly, she is an even more gifted chess coach and she trains her instructors to also impart a love of chess and learning. I have three children, and Reni (before forming TurtleStrat) began instructing my oldest when he was 4 years old. Within a year, he was winning competitions and by the end of kindergarten was rated the third highest player in Westchester County. When he decided to spend more time playing sports and with other activities, Reni was very flexible and continued to provide expert and loving instruction. In turn, I had my other children take lessons from Reni and TurtleStrat. My oldest is now at Yale, and my other two are thriving in school.Chess instruction through TurtleStrat taught my children invaluable lessons. Half of these were intellectual, like problem solving skills, strategy, and thinking a few steps ahead. But the other half were character building, giving them confidence, teaching perseverance, discipline, and learning how to win and lose with equal grace.I highly recommend TurtleStrat for students of every age and ability.

She is super nice, and a good chess teacher