Our Board

Ben Radin

President

Ben Radin had the privilege of participating in the original Chess Mates pilot program at Madrona Elementary in the early 90s, and continued as a Chess Mates student through middle school. In high school, he became an instructor and taught for Chess Mates at 2 local elementary schools. It was at this time that he also began work as a Pairings Director for scholastic chess tournaments. He and his cousin, another Chess Mates Instructor, helped to organize and run their first Chess tournament at the Chess Mates school where his cousin taught. Ben was 14 years old at the time and quickly discovered he found great joy in helping to organize and run scholastic chess tournaments. After the first one, he began helping with other scholastic chess events at schools throughout the Puget Sound region.

In 2013, Ben was invited to join the Chess Mates Board of Directors, and in 2014 when Board President Leo Stefurak announced his retirement from the Board, Ben was elected as his successor. He has proudly served in that role since then and considers it part of his mission to ensure that future generations of students have access to the same positive chess experiences and opportunities that were such a fundamental part of his life growing up. He currently helps to run an average of 12-15 tournaments per year.

In addition to serving on the Chess Mates Board, he also serves on the advisory committee that oversees the Washington State Elementary Chess Championships and he also co-founded and runs chessreg.com, providing registration services and support for chess tournaments.

He undertakes all of this chess work in his free time. He works full time as the Technical Director for Seattle Shakespeare company and is a Journeyman Stagehand with IATSE Local#15. In his theatrical career he has previously served as the Technical Director for Book-It Repertory Theatre and before that was on staff as a Scenic Fabricator for Seattle Repertory Theatre. He has also had the pleasure of building scenery for nearly every other theatre company in Seattle at some point in his career, including ACT, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Children's Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Opera and more. In his current role he is in charge of operating Seattle Shakespeare Company's scene shop, which in addition to building their shows, also offers space rentals and fabrication services to other small non-profit theatres that aren't able to afford their own full-time shop or technical staff.

Duane Polich

Vice President

Mr. Duane Polich has spent his career in accounting.

He started a chess club in his high school and has been an active chess-player, chess instructor and a promoter of chess as a former President and Vice President of Washington State Chess Federation and as Chess Mates board member. Duane is also a radio enthusiast and a former broadcaster.

Josh Sinanan

Secretary

Josh (National Master) discovered the game of chess in high school. He was mostly self-taught, learning the strategic fundamentals from classic chess books and studying the games of the World Champions. 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 now teaches after-school chess classes in about 10 different Seattle-area schools. 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 Washington Chess Federation 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.

Joshs teaching philosophy has always been to customize the material to suit the learning style and needs of the individual student. He strives to create a fun and stimulating learning environment, which is the key to absorbing 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!