Wizard of the Month Spotlight - February 2026 - Efrain Martinez

Our employee of the month is Efrain Martinez from Massachusetts!

 

Efrain is a fantastic teacher, and an instructor where you will always walk away from his classes thinking "wow I have learned something here!" It's incredible to see the way he builds a community of respecting and caring students.

Efrain, thank you for being such an outstanding employee and teacher!

To show our appreciation for your dedication and hard work – please check your email this week for a special gift from us.

 

Cheсk out our interview with Efrain below:

 

1.Who are you, where do you come from, where are you going? 

My name is Efrain but most people just call me “e”. I was the first of my family to be born in the states after my parents came from Puerto Rico to continue their higher education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I don’t have many memories as a baby on campus, but it might be the reason why to this day I love to discover and learn new things. Which in turn only makes me eager to travel and see more of this incredible world one day.

 

2. How long have you been teaching with Chess Wizards?

I believe that I am entering my fourth year with Chess Wizards and I really have enjoyed my time in the classroom and the experience of working for the company. It is a great fit for me. In the past I worked for ten years as a middle school English teacher. I loved teaching and my interactions in the classroom with my students, but the politics often involved in schools and how it can change people and steer them away from the purity and purpose of education left me feeling like there was something missing, so I left teaching. Then, several years later I found Chess Wizards and from the first moment I stepped back into the classroom it felt like that missing piece of myself that I was yearning to find as an educator was starting to fill back in. Of course, having the resources and support of CW already in hand helped me get off to a great start, but a big part of what makes this really work for me is because of what I’m teaching and what it represents.

 

3. What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned since you started teaching? 

At its core, chess is so exact and honest that the enrichment it offers the mind and soul is for everyone willing to try it. The game doesn't care about your age or your level of education. It doesn't care if you’re using a hand carved Italian marble or a salt shaker as a Queen. The game has no bias or preconceived beliefs about any one person or group of people on this planet because it gives us all the chance to start at the same place “This is a pawn and this is how it moves.”  After that, the potential of what comes next is open to everyone but how far we want to travel those roads and how we travel them are the true measure of our choices as individuals, but in the beginning, we are all equal. That’s why I like using a lower case “e” for my nickname. It reminds me to stay humble and true to myself and to never forget where I came from as I choose for myself where and how to move forwards.

 

4. What is the most exciting experience you have had while playing or teaching chess?

One of my proudest moments while teaching chess comes when a student comes running into the class room full of excitement and proudly proclaims that they checkmated a parent or an older sibling for the first time ever. Though, not only did they beat them but the student was also able to tell me the exact tactic or strategy they used to get the win. That is right up there with when you first see it all click in their head and the get chess.

 

5.  How do you motivate your students to succeed? 

I think that one of the most effective motivators for students is when I am able to make them truly understand the full scope of what they are both working on while also accomplishing over and over again. They are learning to play a game that is so simple and so complex at the same time. Most adults don't know how to play, and a big part of that is because of how intimidated by it they are. On top of that, they are learning one of the very few competitive sports in the world where age almost has no importance in regards to the opportunities to achieve and excel on both an amateur and professional level. A kid who is a talented basketball player that shows great potential and determination can dream about playing professional basketball and work towards that, but right now todays as a teenager they are not going to step on the same court in a game against a player like Lebron James or Caitlin Clark, but in chess a 13 year old Magnus Carlsen can play a 40 years champion and chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov and shock the entire world while doing so.

 

6.  If you could retire tomorrow and never have to worry about money again, what would you do with your time?

That’s an easy one, travel. I would first travel cross country and discover more about the country I live in. Then I would like to explore the wonders and cultures on the other side of the world, but I would want to travel there on a transatlantic ship as we jump from port to port all around Europe and then continuing to make our way to other parts of the world like Asia, Africa, and Australia. As we travel, we make many stops to enjoy festivals, concerts, and Mechilin Star restaurants - taking advantage of living as travelers and not as tourists. I would like to imagine that during this time, I am also teaching chess online from time to time from my cabin on the ship- timing it just right so as I teach my lesson I can see the sun set behind an endless view of blue water and waves. Sprinkle a weekend here and there to hit the amusement parks in Orlando and life couldn’t be more perfect.

 

7.  What’s your go-to technique for dealing with ‘handful students’? 

One piece of advice I offer to other instructors I feel hits on multiple topics including classroom management and working with students who can be a handful. You know you are borrowing the space, you know you are there for just an hour a week, and you know the students see all their other teachers every day for large periods of time. Though, for that hour that classroom is your house and you are the leader of the house, but it’s as much yours as it is the students. You have to encourage them to realize this by helping find a sense of pride and respect for both their chess education and their learning environment. One major way you can begin to create and support this is by your own actions. By sticking to your word and not allowing any type of disruptions going past a final warning but while also being fair, calm, and self-aware in the moment at the same time. Of course, the moment dictates the level of response, but you don’t have to yell and lecture to sound stern and strong when you need to be. If a student continues to be defiant or disruptive, sometimes a conversation off to the side, especially if you can start the discussion on some type of common ground can often create both a better understanding and a solution for both of you.

                                                                                                                                     

8. What is an unusual place you have been to? 

Not so much an unusual place as it was a very surreal moment. Way back in the day I saw Radio Head in the basement of a club that was no bigger than an auto garage.

 

9. What’s your #1 teaching tip?  

See #7 🙂

 

10.  Star Wars, Star Trek, or they’re both lame? 

 … I have my preferences. To this day this picture gets me in trouble with my wife. Long story short, I talked my way into a chance to meet Mark Hammil and in the entire 20 min I waited for him to get there, in the excited fan boy mind overshadowed my good decision-making abilities and I never thought to text her to come join for the picture. That realization hit me like a brick as I saw the look of disbelief and anger on her face as she was quickly approaching from across the convention floor. My parents made it into a poster for me that year for Christmas, she was not amused.

 

11. What do you like most about working with Chess Wizards? 

I really appreciate that CW gives me and all their instructors a great starting point on how to teach the lesson and how to structure your class, but they also give me the freedom and space to try out my own ideas and adapt other ideas to better fit my teaching style and personality. There is no sense of “We want you to be you, but this is how we would prefer you be you.”