It came as a tremendous shock. On February 14th, I was checking notifications on my phone and read that my student had passed away. I was stunned. Months earlier, I had the great pleasure of playing blitz chess with him in the backyard. Later that evening he would leave for his freshman year in college.
I told his grandmother, “This hurts so bad. (Name of student) had a truly remarkable combination of empathy and intelligence that made him an excellent student and friend. My heart goes out to you in this time of great loss. He will be truly missed.”Honestly though, words do not give justice to how much promise this young man had and how painful the news of his passing was.
Teaching was very difficult during the next several days but chess also offered an escape. I had the day off today so the post you are reading is my first attempt to come to terms with the fact that I have lost a student and friend forever.
Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.
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