Tech & Chess | Season Finale
♟️ Our last chess event of the year for the Engineering and Product leaders — with two new twists.
Twist #1: Tal Shaked, Grandmaster & Chief AI Officer at Moloco, will moderate a fireside chat with Brandon Nydick, National Master & Principal at Khosla Ventures.
A chess Grandmaster and AI leader sits down with a National Master and venture investor, bringing two very different tech careers to the same board.
Twist #2: The board stays the same. The table gets bigger. VCs and tech founders are joining our engineering and product leadership community.
The rest stays the same: chess, good people, good conversations, and a little healthy competition.
No sales agenda.
What's happening:
♟️ Fireside chat with Brandon Nydick, National Master & Principal at Khosla Ventures, moderated by Tal Shaked, Grandmaster & Chief ML Officer at Moloco.
A conversation about chess, technology, investing, decision-making, and how the game shapes the way they approach both work and life.
♟️ Games with Chess Masters. Challenge one of our masters in a simul, play a casual game, or just stop by to chat.
♟️ Beginner-friendly chess masterclass. For anyone who wants to learn, refresh the basics, or finally understand what’s happening on the board.
♟️ Blindfold chess. One of our favorite formats is back. Watch our master take on volunteers without seeing the board.
♟️ Good conversations beyond the board. Engineering, AI, startups, investing, and life outside work.
Whether you haven't played since school, enjoy an occasional game online, or compete regularly, you'll fit right in.
All chess levels are welcome.
Come to play. Come to connect. Come to have fun.
Know an engineering or product leader who’d enjoy the evening? Bring them along and just make sure they register.
Special guests:
♟️ Brandon Nydick, National Master & Principal at Khosla Ventures.
Brandon Nydick has been playing competitive chess since the age of six and spent more than a decade ranked among the top 10 players in the U.S. for his age. A National Master with a peak USCF rating of 2351, he represented Team USA multiple times at the World Youth Chess Championships and Pan American Chess Championships.
His experience competing internationally inspired him to found Kids For Chess, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to top young American players to compete at the World Youth Chess Championships. Brandon has also taught chess for more than five years.
Beyond the board, Brandon is a Principal at Khosla Ventures, where he invests across AI, robotics, defense, fintech, and other emerging technologies. He is also a Host of Icons, a community of 1,500+ Stanford students and alumni that organizes dinners with leaders in tech and business.
♟️ Tal Shaked, Grandmaster & Chief AI Officer at Moloco.
Tal Shaked is an American chess Grandmaster and former World Junior Chess Champion. Today, he serves as Chief AI Officer at Moloco and was previously a Distinguished Engineer at Google.
He earned his Grandmaster title in 1997 after a remarkable run that included victories over Alexander Morozevich and future FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. His success earned him a place in the Tilburg Super-Grandmaster Tournament, where he competed alongside Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Judit Polgár, and other top players of the era.
From an early age, Tal was one of the leading U.S. junior players, winning multiple national scholastic titles. At 13, he received the Laura Aspis Prize as the top U.S. player in his age group. He later received the Frank Samford Fellowship and achieved all three of his Grandmaster norms within five months.
After his competitive chess career, Tal moved into technology, leading teams and research in machine learning and AI at companies including Google and Lyft. Today, he leads machine learning at Moloco.
♟️ Balaji Daggupati, Grandmaster & Member of the Investing Team at Pebblebed.
Balaji Daggupati is an American Chess Grandmaster who began playing at the age of five. He became a National Master at just 11, a FIDE Master at 12, and an International Master at 16. In 2022, he earned the prestigious Grandmaster title at the age of 17.
His chess achievements include representing Team USA at the 2019 World U16 Chess Olympiad, tying for third place at the 2022 U.S. Junior Chess Championship, and competing against some of the world's strongest young players.
Beyond the board, Balaji is a member of the investing team at Pebblebed, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm backing early-stage technology startups. A graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, where he studied computer science and finance and played on the university's chess team, Balaji brings his experience in chess, technology, and algorithmic trading to venture investing.
He also developed Nous, an AI-powered chess engine that uses diffusion-based reasoning rather than traditional search, bringing together his interests in artificial intelligence and chess.
♟️ Shiv Shivaji, FIDE Master & Founder of Revive AI.
With over a decade of experience in technology and innovation, Shiv has worked on transformative projects that combine cutting-edge AI research with practical applications. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California and has also studied Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University.
As a co-founder and CTO of several successful startups, he has spent years building and applying AI technologies across real-world business problems.
Today, he is the Founder of Revive AI, where he is building an AI platform that helps companies identify customer churn risk and uncover retention and growth opportunities across large contract portfolios.
Beyond his professional endeavors, he is an avid learner and a polyglot fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Tamil, Hindi, and French. Currently, he is exploring Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese as part of his love for languages and to discover firsthand how LLMs work.
♟️ Aryan Achuthan, National Master.
Aryan is a National Master and a freshman at UC Berkeley studying Computer Science and Data Science. Aryan has played chess for over a decade now, and the game has been a major pillar of his growth as a person.
A major milestone of his career was playing against Magnus Carlsen & Fabiano in a simul as part of the US Chess Academy held by IMC Trading.
He's a 3-time National Champion and 9-time California State Champion, now competing in the Collegiate Chess League (CCL) as Board 1 for the UC Berkeley Chess Team.
With aspirations of earning the International Master title and addressing the lack of accessibility in chess through startup ventures, Aryan is passionate about sharing his love for chess with others.
♟️ Venkatagiri Acharya, Seasoned Engineering Leader & Founding President of Silicon Valley Chess Academy.
Venkata has 15+ years of experience building AI, cloud, and enterprise software platforms, leading global engineering teams, and delivering large-scale systems used by millions.
A USCF/FIDE-rated player, Acharya is a former University Chess Champion, winner of the WAC Chess Championship in the Indian Air Force, and a member of the U1900 National Team Championship-winning team.
Through Silicon Valley Chess Academy, which has more than 1,000 alumni, he has helped students build confidence, strategic thinking, and a lifelong love for chess.
♟️ Rahul Suresh, FIDE Master & Strategic Partnerships at Abaka AI.
Rahul achieved the FIDE Master title at 16, balancing competitive chess with academics while growing up in Shanghai. He trained at the same chess academy as World Champion Gukesh and siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali, and the families remain close friends to this day!
When COVID brought tournament chess to a halt, it was also the moment his competitive career came to a halt. But what chess had given him, in how he thinks and who he is, never left. He went on to complete his EEE degree at the University of Manchester and a Master's in Engineering Management at Duke University, carrying that same mindset into his career.
Today, Rahul leads GTM and Partnerships at Abaka AI, helping frontier AI labs with training data and evaluation solutions. Chess still remains close to his heart, and he's excited to connect with others who are equally as passionate!
Organizers:
Engineering Leaders Play Chess is a Bay Area community bringing together people who build, lead, and invest in technology through chess.
We believe chess is a great way to bring people together, giving them something to share beyond work and job titles.
Our events combine conversations with technology leaders, chess with Masters and Grandmasters, and time to play, talk, and meet. The format is designed for all levels of interest in chess: from serious players to complete beginners and those simply curious about the community and good conversations.
There is no sales agenda or pitching. The focus is on chess, conversations, and building relationships that go beyond work.
Started in 2024, the community has hosted a series of curated events featuring leaders from Waymo, SignalFire, Oracle, Moloco, Chess.com, and Ridge Ventures.
Community run by Valentina Podgainaia and Yousuf Khan.
Community Partner
The Silicon Valley AI (SVAI) Hub is a dedicated community for the AI ecosystem to learn, collaborate, and push the boundaries of what’s possible. From hands-on workshops to expert fireside chats, we bring together startups, developers, and executives for high-signal programming in the heart of Silicon Valley. Our mission is simple: no pitches, no pretense, just AI builders focused on technical depth and a thriving community.