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He’s
Got Game
As
a sixth-grader in Manhattan, Jesse Suero ’06 decided
to learn the game of chess. That year, he entered his first tournament
and took fourth place in the novice division of the New York state
tournament. He’s been winning games ever since. While Suero doesn’t
consider himself a chess champion, if you ask anyone on campus,
they’ll tell you he is. “People will say, ‘You’re the one who is
good at chess. We should play sometime,’” says Suero, a computer
science major, mathematics minor and president of the Chess Club. This
past year, the club held two exhibition matches where Suero played
several games at once against all-comers for two hours. His final record
was an unbelievable 30-0. A popular event on campus, the exhibitions
attracted more than 300 onlookers in the Dining Commons throughout the
day. According to Shai Simonson, professor of computer science and
faculty advisor of the club, “There is no one at Stonehill, including
myself, that can give Suero a good game. “But the best part of
Jesse’s leadership,” Simonson adds, “is that he is a regular guy
with a variety of other interests, and he does not remotely fit the
stereotype of the introverted geek that is often unfairly associated
with chess. “Jesse is the best player we have seen since the club
began in 1992. He has a natural talent for the strategy of chess
combined with technical expertise of careful calculation and tactics,”
he continues. “Watching him play is poetry in motion.”
–Kim
Lawrence |