Round after round, 15-year-old chess player Sebastian “Sebby” Suarez went undefeated.
After seven games, the 10th grader from Mill Valley secured his victory at the recent US Chess Federation’s National K-12 Championships, one of the most competitive tournaments in the country. Sebby added the first-place medal to his growing collection of awards.
“I believe I may be the first chess national champion from Marin County,” the Branson High School sophomore said.
That’s quite a feat, yet Sebby has invested extensive effort into mastering the game. His dad taught him chess at age 5, and he developed a passion for it. During the pandemic Sebby took his pastime to a new level, playing online for eight hours a day.
Those familiar with chess will likely be impressed that while in Covid lockdown, Sebby increased his Elo rating by almost 1,000 points in nine months. For the uninitiated, Elo measures a chess player’s skill. Sebby notes that gaining 100 points in a year is considered substantial.
“I was so hooked,” Sebby said. “And that led to a huge rise in my chess career.”
Now, Sebby is a US Chess Federation national master, a title awarded to less than 1% of rated players.
In addition to competing, Sebby shares his enthusiasm for chess by teaching elementary school students to play. And he recently started Chessathon, hosting youth chess tournaments and board game nights.
Sebby believes that everybody could benefit from the skills acquired by playing chess, such as patience, problem solving, intuition and resilience. Starting at a young age is “awesome,” because chess teaches strategy and life is strategic, according to the champ.
“You don’t have infinite time, and you don’t have infinite resources,” Sebby said. “You have a set of things you start out with, resources, and basically your life turns onto different paths depending on the decisions you make. Life is similar to chess, where you start off with pieces, resources, and whatever sequence of moves you make influences the endgame.”
Despite his keen interest in chess, Sebby doesn’t want to become a professional player. He plans on applying what he’s learned to entrepreneurship and innovation, with the goal of making a difference in the world.
The young man still has a few more years to choose a career direction. Until then, he will continue to play and teach chess. And this summer he’ll travel to Medellín, Colombia, to compete in the Pan-American Youth Chess Festival.
I would wish him luck, except he says chess is a game where there is absolutely no luck.
“It’s 100% skill,” Sebby said. “But every game you play, there’s always something new—it’s never the same thing. I love the idea of it.
”For more information about Chessathon and upcoming events, visit chessathonfoundation.org.
