Josh Sinanan

President
Josh Sinanan
washingtonchessfederation@gmail.com

(term expires 2022)

Josh discovered the game of chess as a freshman at Edmonds-Woodway High School while searching for a fun extracurricular activity. He was mostly self-taught and learned the strategic fundamentals by reading Nimzowitsch’s classic book My System and studying the games of Jose Raul Capablanca, his chess idol. Josh rose through the ranks quickly and became the WA State High School Champion in 2003, a National Master in 2007, and a Life Master in 2015. Forgoing a traditional career path in favor of following his passion, Josh began teaching chess in 2007 and joined the Seattle Sluggers Team, Seattle’s professional chess team. He also became involved with chess organizing and joined the board of the Washington Chess Federation in 2008.

Josh teaches after-school chess classes in about 10 different Seattle-area schools and works closely with IM Georgi Orlov at two chess academies in the Seattle area. Josh tells his friends and relatives that he is one of those lucky people whose work is also their passion! Josh has been President of the WCF since 2010 and is on the board of other chess nonprofits including Chess Mates Foundation, Northwest Chess Foundation, and Chess Enrichment Association. He finds that the most rewarding aspect of non-profit work is interacting with so many different types of people. The chess world is indeed full of many interesting characters and colorful personalities!

The game of chess has innumerable positive aspects, especially when it comes to teaching one how to think through a problem and make good decisions. Josh’s teaching philosophy has always been to customize the material to suit the learning style and needs of the individual student. Josh strives to create a fun and stimulating learning process, which he has found is the key to understanding new ideas. To sharpen technique, Josh recommends learning by example from the games of strong players, playing out practice positions, and reading books or watching videos featuring the chess theme or topic of interest.

Working as an educator and chess promoter is something he immensely enjoys and continues to learn from every day. As a matter of fact, Josh admits that his students often end up teaching him more than he teaches them! He has found that chess is one of the few activities that teaches executive decision-making and empowers one to think clearly through difficult situations. Josh believes that every time we play, learn, or teach chess, we become better human beings!