Student Spotlight: Zack Seiders

Congratulations to Colonial Middle School eighth grader Zack Seiders for bringing home two first place trophies from state-level chess tournaments in less than a month. 

At the two-day 2025 PA State Scholastic Chess Tournament in Harrisburg, Zack received the first place trophy for the Under 1200 category. (Under 1200 refers to the competitor's chess rating, which is based on their experience and skill level.) For this tournament, each competitor had 90 minutes to complete their moves, so games could take up to three hours to finish.

“You’d expect me to be tired, but I didn’t really feel tired,” said Zack. “I felt motivated to play more chess.”

At the 2025 PA State Quick Tournament Open on April 13 in Exton, Zack faced several opponents higher rated than him and went three out of five games to win the Under 1400 first place trophy and a cash prize. 

Zack enjoys how chess “exercises your brain.” He says that good chess players think ahead, predict what their opponents will do, and quickly calculate what can happen based on different possible moves. He plays chess online and watches videos on YouTube to learn different strategies, tactics, and openings.

Since he has only been playing chess since 2023, Zack finds that the trophies help boost his confidence. “They’re really nice rewards for the chess you’ve played,” he said. “It takes lots of hard work to get good at chess.”

Currently a member of the CMS Chess Club, Zack is looking forward to joining the Chess Team at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, and he encourages anyone to give the game a try. “Hopefully, more people will see this and play chess for themselves,” he said. “It’s a really fun game, and you can get good at it very fast.”