Rashad was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. He became a Grandmaster in 2007 and is the winner of many International tournaments. As a young player he had esteemed coaches, including Oleg Privorotsky, the teacher of World Champion, Garry Kasparov. He has attended seminars of World famous chess coach Mark Dvoretsky in Moscow.

Rashad Babaev is a full-time chess coach and has focused his career as a Grandmaster around developing young talents and he has had extraordinary success in reaching his objectives.

A few Rashad's own students have themselves became Grandmasters. He was a sparring partner of many top Grandmasters in the World such as Vugar Gashimov. For the 2003-2009 period, worked as a trainer of Youth Chess Team of Azerbaijan.

His NYC scholastic teams have taken 1st and 2nd places at the U.S.Chess Federation National Tournament with many individuals taking home top national Trophies. Rashad is a very dynamic teacher who knows how to make chess exciting. His interactive teaching style engages young chess players and instills in them a love for the work ethic and challenges created on the chess board. He is an expert in chess strategy and tactics and prides himself in aggressive and active play. Rashad does not believe that chess should be about opening memorization, as he himself became a Grandmaster without having memorized opening lines.