BAC is pumped to welcome Coach Chris Torres into their coaching team starting September 2026!
Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted students across a wide spectrum of skill levels, from absolute beginners to world champions. A professional in the chess community since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as a key catalyst behind the surge in both the popularity and competitive strength of scholastic chess in California.
Beginning his coaching career in 1998 at Weibel Elementary School in Fremont, Coach Torres led his students to victory at the CalChess Scholastic State Championship. Chris’ early success as a coach inspired him to co-found Success Chess Schools in 2000. At Success Chess, Chris designed comprehensive curricula for all skill levels, trained over 50 instructors, and established programs at more than 60 schools throughout the Bay Area. In 2005, he founded the Torres Chess and Music Academy, serving as its President until 2020. Between 2006 and 2008, he collaborated with UC Berkeley and the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to conduct a formal chess study exploring its link to academic achievement. During this period, he also introduced the game to migrant farmworker communities and coached these students to regional Southern California scholastic titles.
Through his efforts with the TCAMA, As a coach, Chris has mentored six individual national champions and guided numerous school teams to national titles. Mission San Jose Elementary School in Fremont became the first ever school chess team from Northern California to win the United States Chess Federation’s National Elementary Chess Championship. Starting in Fall 2026, he assumed the role of Regional Director for Fremont with Bay Area Chess. Coaching successes include directing and teaching at ten schools that have secured California State Chess Championships. Additionally, several of his students have represented the United States at the FIDE World Youth Chess Championships. Currently, Chris Torres is the private chess coach of choice for the A-Listers of Silicon Valley.
As a chess player, Chris Torres frequently takes on all challengers at his favorite Bay Area parks and cafes. Beyond his reputation as a swashbuckling coffeehouse player, Chris Torres has been recognized for his outstanding abilities as a chess player by the United States Chess Federation which awarded Chris a certificate of achievement in 2015 upon attaining the rank of Correspondence Chess Master. Prior to retiring from competitive play, Chris was the highest-rated correspondence chess player in California and ranked within the top ten of all American correspondence chess players by rating.
Over the years, Chris Torres has made many contributions to the California chess community. He has served as the Scholastic Chair for CalChess on numerous occasions and has been the editor of the CalChess Journal since October 2021. Chris has organized hundreds of major chess tournaments including the groundbreaking 2015 Susan Polgar Foundation National Open for Girls and Boys which awarded $100,000 worth of college scholarships making it the biggest scholastic prize fund ever awarded in California history. Chris’ long running Daily Chess Musings blog (which was awarded the title of Best Website 2023 by the Chess Journalists of America) publishes local chess news, tactical puzzles, game analyses, and video lessons on DailyChessMusings.com.