A Conversaton with Bryce Tiglon - Courtesy of Northwest Chess Magazine

A Conversation with Grandmaster Bryce Tiglon 

Love of the Game and Self Belief

Bryce Tiglon is Washington State’s newest Grandmaster-elect after securing his final GM norm in Spain at the prestigious Sunway Sitges event. Bryce has been part of the PNW chess community since he was seven years old. He currently is 23 years of age and finishing his final year at Stanford University. 

Yasser Seirawan was the last home-grown GM, earning his title in 1980.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Bryce and chat about his journey into chess, medical research and more.

Ken: As a kid, why did you love playing chess?

Bryce: Sometimes I like to joke that the reason I fell in love with chess as a first grader was the pizza lunch and candy snack that always seemed to appear exclusively at scholastic chess tournaments. But, in all seriousness, I think I just really wanted to understand the game. In the beginning, it seemed possible to learn lesson A, then B, then C—and achieve complete mastery in due time. However, it turned out that this was not the case! Chess is just one of those things that’s incredibly difficult; there is always more to learn. 

I distinctly recall a moment in one of my first lessons at Wilder Elementary’s before-school chess class. A coach was trying to demonstrate Legal’s mate, but unfortunately, black’s knight was already developed on c6 (see diagram). I remember questioning why black had to capture the queen after white’s Nxe5. Couldn’t black instead play Nxe5 himself? It was moments like this that made me fall in love with chess. I wanted to understand everything. 

Ken: How did you keep motivated as a kid when you lost?

Bryce: Personally, I don’t think I ever had a problem with motivation. I know that losing games, especially as a kid, is extremely difficult. It’s painful. But, as one matures, you realize that the losses are part of the growth process. If you want to get better, you have to be able sustain yourself through those dry periods.

Ken: Did you work with a lot of chess coaches throughout your chess career?

Bryce: Actually, no. I worked very briefly with the late WGM Elena Donaldson and GM Emil Anka, but to be honest, I was kind of a feisty, independent kid and liked to work out problems on my own.

Ken: If you didn’t work with coaches, how did you improve?

Bryce: Yeah, that’s a good question. In the early years, I think I got better mostly by playing games on the Internet Chess Club (ICC). Of course, now ICC is more or less extinct and everybody uses chess.com or Lichess. 

Much of my progress, though, likely resulted from my absolute love for chess. I remember in High School, on my 1-hour bus rides to and from city—I typically devoured every article from ChessBase News. 

Ken: How did you deal with setbacks over the course of your chess career?

Bryce: Well, I’m not really the type of person to give up. I’ve always loved chess and believed in myself 100%. I think one should deal with setbacks with dedication and hard work. It’s as simple as that.   

Ken: What are some defining moments in your life and chess career that you’d like to share?

Bryce: Well, one very clear defining moment was an interaction I had with a friend of mine, Siva Sankrithi, when I was in 8th grade. I’ve known Siva for a very long time—and in fact at just eleven years old—I even played Siva in the final round of the 2012 US open. That game ended in a draw. 

Fast forward three years and I’m in 8th grade competing at High School Nationals in Columbus, Ohio. Siva, who is 13 years older than me, was coaching Lakeside there and kindly invited all WA players to the team room between rounds. It was there that he encouraged me to apply to Lakeside School. He insisted that I would be a good fit—and I’m incredibly grateful that this conversation happened. 

Later that year, I applied to Lakeside for 9th grade and was accepted. That turned out to be a major defining moment in my life as it set in motion several opportunities that might not have been there for me otherwise.

Ken: What other defining moments would you like to share?

Bryce: In 2019, I took a gap year between Lakeside and Stanford, deferring my admission. Originally, I had intended to 

spend my time on chess—but one day a sequence of thoughts shifted my attention towards molecular biology. I was thinking about my future and the limits of time with regards to how I could spend my time as an adult. This then led me to start seriously pondering the determinants of longevity and what happens on a molecular level to the human body.

Much like chess, aging seemed like a complex puzzle that I wanted to understand. Now that’s the focus of my research at Stanford.

Ken: Any words of advice to aspiring chess players?

Bryce: I would just say that self-belief is the key to getting better at anything you want to pursue. Sometimes the great work you put in doesn’t show in results right away but it’s crucial to trust the process, trust the work, and always believe in yourself. The results will surely follow.