West Woodland Chess Club

Biography for Dr. Leo Stufurak

Dr. Stefurak, or Leo as the kids know him, graduated with a B.S., Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington and performed graduate research as the Kollmorgen Fellow in Color Technology at the Center for Human Information Processing at the University of California. He holds his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuropsychology and performed applied post-doctoral research at the Tokyo Institution of Technology as a Monbusho Fellow, the Institute in Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), University of Minnesota campus. Dr. Stefurak has won numerous scholarships and awards and has published papers in his field.

Dr. Stefurak is active in the chess and strategic gaming community as the President of the Seattle-based Chess Mates Foundation which is the second largest supporter of scholastic chess in the United States. He is a National and Life Chess Master in the United States Chess Federation and has played chess around the world. Sporting a current rating of 2365, he occasionally finds time to compete in regional and national events.

Even more impressive than these credentials is his willingness to give to our school community something that he finds important and fulfilling. "Chess develops your strength of will, develops perseverance, insight, problem-solving ability, creativity, and even helps younger players learn to read." A chess master's greatest weapon is his or her imagination. Chess is an art, a science, and a sport.

Dr. Stefurak first came to West Woodland in 1995, after the club coordinator, Lori Osseward, requested him through the Chess Mates foundation. Dr. Stefurak had not taught group chess instruction before coming to West Woodland. He was attracted to our school because of the strong commitment to girls' education. Other factors included talented children and involved parents, which created a special group here! After volunteering at West Woodland for two years, he now makes this his vocation, teaching to school-age children throughout Seattle. He was the 1999 recipient of the Katharine M. Bullitt Alliance for Education award.

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