A 12-year-old Park Ridge boy’s love of chess will be memorialized in a special youth tournament this weekend.
The very first Ryan Sernel Memorial Tournament, organized by Caveman Chess, will take place March 5. It is open to any students who attend elementary, middle and high school in Park Ridge, regardless of ability.
“Anyone can sign up,” said organizer Kevin Bachler of Caveman Chess. “There’s been a more novice-friendly approach to our tournaments, and we will do that here as well.”
Sernel, who learned the game of chess from Bachler, died in March 2018 at the age of 12. The Lincoln Middle School sixth-grader had been living with Barth syndrome, a rare genetic disease that left him with a heart condition and other physical ailments.
Unable to take part in sports due to his condition, but possessing a competitive spirit, Sernel was introduced to chess by his father, Marc, while he was in the second grade.
“Chess was something where he could channel his competitive nature in something,” Marc Sernel said. “He could compete on a level playing field.”
During the summer of 2017, Ryan took part in a chess camp in Minnesota, run by Bachler, where he played some of the top-ranked chess players in the country and realized that with time and practice, he, too, could improve his skill, his father said.
“He was just starting to take off when he passed away,” Marc Sernel said.
Bachler described Ryan as a “bright, cheerful, well-grounded kid” who always displayed positivity, despite his health challenges.
“Ryan was an interesting teacher to everyone else because of how he handled everything,” Bachler said. “Here was a kid who had every reason to have a negative approach to things, but I never saw that …. He would teach all of us to have a positive attitude about things and take them in stride.”
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Holding a chess tournament in Ryan’s memory was initially considered for 2020, but the pandemic pushed plans back, Bachler and Marc Sernel said.
Caveman Chess, which was started by Bachler, offers online and in-person classes, tournaments and camps. Bachler said he would like to offer more in-school opportunities to students in the future. Many Park Ridge school chess programs were not offered over the last two years due to the pandemic, he said.
As for the Ryan Sernel Memorial Tournament, Ryan’s father said his son would have shied away from the publicity of having an event held in his name, but would have “loved to play in something like this.”
“I think he would get a kick out of it,” added Bachler. “He was just a positive guy. I can’t remember seeing him without a smile on his face.”
The Ryan Sernel Memorial and Park Ridge Scholastic City Championship will take place March 5 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Marriott Springhill Suites Chicago O’Hare, 8101 West Higgins Road in Chicago.
For details and registration, visit www.kingregistration.com/event/PR-Scholastic-Championship or www.cavemanchess.com/new-events.