Get to know McMinnville Chess Club and our regulars with our Community Spotlight series. In this spotlight focus, we’re joined by the club’s founder and club director, Christefano Reyes.
I found a chess park! Regrade Park is a tiny, off-leash dog park in Seattle. Sadly no dogs wanted to play
What brought you to chess?
My older brother taught me to play when I was 9 yrs old. After he taught me the fundamentals, he and I’d go to chess club on Friday nights, and I learned so many things from those experiences — both in chess and in life. To this day I think of him and the gift of chess that he gave me and how it helped shape me into who I am today. I needed that support when I was a kid, and I’m grateful that I had it. Now I try to be that person for others.
What keeps you going?
When jumping into something new I subscribe to the “rule of threes” to help me keep my priorities straight: if there’s a good reason to do something, I might do it; if there are two good reasons, I’ll probably do it; and, if there are three good reasons to do something then I’ll definitely do it.
There are so many good reasons for me to dedicate myself to chess and the chess club that very little can keep me away, from my love of the game and how scholastic chess became a natural evolution of my youth work to my desire to continually learn and improve. I love organizing and creating spaces for people to meet each other, have fun, and discover something new. I get a lot of joy out of seeing so many smiling faces over the chess boards during club meetings.
Teaching a chess lesson during Cruising McMinnville 2025
For me, a fun venue is also the key to what brings me (and hopefully others) back again and again, and the club is incredibly fortunate to have the venue partners it does. Our venues have a lot to offer that go way beyond just being “a space” to meet. They have great food options, the chance to do some shopping, and a strong and supportive relationship for our club to in turn support them for all they give us. There’s that “rule of threes” again.
What kinds of chess do you either play or enjoy the most, and why?
I love Blitz chess and playing 5-minute games. I first got into Blitz when playing at Harvard Square, in Cambridge across the river from Boston, where everyone plays speed chess. The McMinnville Chess Club is actually the first club I’ve been a part of where timed play is the exception rather than the rule, and that’s helped me slow down my chess and practice more deep thinking.
I enjoy the pressure of playing speed chess a lot, though, and it’s helped me get to the idea of losing, resetting the board, and playing again. It’s also a really good way to get a lot of games in, practice specific openings, and — if I’m losing a game — switch my thinking from “How do I efficiently win this game?” to “How can I make my opponent work really hard here,” and maybe I’ll win on time.
Hopefully we’ll get our Friday Night Chess meetings going at Roth’s again, but we have 2 meetings a week already and I’m often out of town on Friday nights, so I can’t consistently host another regular club meeting. This would be a great volunteer opportunity if someone else wants to host!
What’s your favorite thing about the chess club? What would you like more people to know about?
Our regulars go out of their way to teach and mentor attendees who are looking for support, especially our younger players, and the kindness, patience, and expertise I’ve seen has been tremendously moving for me.
We also have a lot of fun at our events. If anyone in the club has an idea for an event, the main requirement is we just need two event hosts to make it happen.
Christefano Reyes (right) and club attendee extraordinaire Raul Ramirez (left) enjoying Blacklight Chess at our Holiday Party in 2023.
What’s your favorite chess opening at the moment?
That’s a tough one, but I think I can answer that. For White, I enjoy the King’s Gambit and for Black I’ve been playing the Rousseau Gambit, which is kind of like a King’s Gambit for Black. Both are risky “razor’s edge” openings with a fun sense of danger, precision, and big payoff if played correctly. I’m writing a book about the Rousseau Gambit, and I recently finished the first draft. If you know any publishers I should reach out to, please let me know.
If you could give your younger self one piece of chess wisdom and advice, what would it be?
Don’t give up, and find a mentor or someone to play regularly with.
When I was 11, I entered my first chess tournament and got 2nd place. I can still recall the game I played in the final round and the feeling of terror when I realized I’d left a piece hanging. I was pretty upset with myself and went to maybe just one or two tournaments after that, and I wish I’d stayed with it. I needed a chess tutor or mentor, not just for improving my chess skills but also for the psychology of the game, dealing with “tilting” and burnout, and how to keep my head on straight.
Christefano Reyes (right) teaching a chess lesson at Mac Market
Has chess made you into a better person?
Absolutely. From a young age, chess has taught me skills essential for life, like problem solving, staying calm under pressure, and how to both win and lose gracefully. Chess has also helped me build a strong sense of identity and self-confidence and taught me how to manage my emotions and recover from failure. Chess has made me more resilient as a person as a whole.
Running the chess club has introduced me to countless wonderful people and the local business community, and I even started Chess Zendō, my private tutoring and coaching practice. Chess Zendō came about because I saw how many people came to chess club looking for one-on-one mentoring, and as much as I wanted I just wasn’t able to host club meetings, teach, and play, too, all at the same time. It’s a lot, and I’m glad I was able to find a way to teach outside of chess club.
Photo courtesy of the News-Register
Chess has always been a part of my personal life, but now it’s become so much more. If you’d told me a few years ago that one day I’d restart the chess club at McMinnville High School, be working as a successful chess tutor, and be getting certified as a Tournament Director and organizing large tournaments I probably wouldn’t have believed it.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know? Do you have any passions or pasttimes outside of chess you want to tell us about?
I’m pretty excited about Chess Bingō, a variant of Bingo I created and use as a teaching tool with my students. I was thrilled that NW Chess magazine recently picked up my article about it and ran it in the March, 2026 issue. It’s important to me that learning chess is fun — and if it’s fun, it doesn’t feel like learning!
Chess Bingō scorecards, combining chess and Bingo. Fun for the whole family!
It’s probably not a big surprise that I enjoy analyzing problems, setting goals, and creating solutions, and something people probably don’t know about me is that my day job is in tech as a consultant, virtual CTO, and certified project manager. I’ve been in the tech industry for over 30 years, and I’ve worked with many companies and nonprofits you’ve heard of and countless others. My favorite client and biggest engineering challenge was probably Digital Dollhouse, which was the project that originally brought me out to the West Coast.
I’m also very into rock climbing and particularly bouldering. I’m a V8 climber, a volunteer judge with USA Climbing’s Youth Series, and I run ClimbPDX, the largest community of rock climbers in Oregon and SW Washington. For a while I curated the local events calendar, wrote climbing product reviews, and did interviews with members of the climbing community. I want to get back into that some day and also get into sports photography.