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ccmcacollister
♡ 94 ( +1 | -1 )
Your Chess Resume' or Background Since deadofknight brought up the matter of one's "Chess Resume' " in the Rook Ending Thread of rat-baby, I've started this thread to invite GK players post here involving their Chess History, Background, Related Involvements(EG.Directing? Organizing? etc.) or as he put it there; your "Chess Resume'". Since being asked to, I'll start it off with some of my own. And would really enjoy seeing yours shared here. I'd also like to know what you consider your HIGHMARK to be, whether that is the first time you beat a GM :), won a tournament or your Class Section, or ALMOST drew your Dad ! Regards All, Craig A.C.
(PS/ I'll be working on mine. So if you get here first ... please start without me ! And feel free to come back with more if you forget something or whatever. :)
More: The Chess Store
ccmcacollister
♡ 790 ( +1 | -1 )
Another Fischer-Boomer Learned Chess at 8 from Mom & 4 Rules inserts. Still thought I could Take The King.
(Such was the state of Rules Inserts in 1968). First USCF tournament @ 12, in 1972 ... Game#1 Schizaz-Collister 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Ne4 ? First win in Tournament #4 vs Villarreal, a 1400 player. Being rated 777, it was pure elation! (If You are rated 777 just keep at it! You may be a Master or Expert some day, if you just love the game !)
Over the Board Play: Made Expert(aka "Candidate Master") in 1987 with a tie for 1st in a Quad with 3 Masters. My best event. Topped out at 2076. Then lost 86 points in one event! (So don't feel bad!) due to...Tried Directing and playing too. But climbed back to Expert awhile, & living in Class A right now (entering "Sudden-Death" events costs me about 150 rating points less than Real Chess time-contols. How about you? I Hate SD! Devalues the Game of Chess as well as individual game quality IMO )
*
Thomas Jefferson HS Champion (After BOGG left !)
Iowa Lakes Comm College Champ
2X Omaha Metro Player of the Year
5X Mutual of Omaha Chess Champ (When 3X Champ DREXEL didnt play!)
Misc tournament wins. My best game result, a miniature win vs FM M.Blankenau
*****
Postal & Computer Correspondence play:
Started in USCF play and worked up to Expert, about 2068. Then played the Region 7 Postal Chess Championship and got to meet USCCC USA Champion David C.Taylor & USCF Golden Knight USA Champ Walter Milbratz each a game. It was a great experience playing both, despite being losses. The high-point being tied for 2nd with Taylor a 1/2 point behind Milbratz after pre-lims.
Played the 8th USCCC and finished with plus-one score vs Masters including a draw with Alex Dunne, a qualifier to the World Corr Championship. ( Disaster vs Experts but the ideas, TN's and improvements gained from them served me well vs future opponents ... on the theory that "If I couldnt handle THAT, maybe others cant either ! )
Started play at APCT (Amer.Postal Chess Tournaments- The organization that won the USA's "1st National Team Championship, in which I played Board #30 for APCT and had 2 draws there with Al Levine, another qualifer to the same World Corr. Championship as mentioned before.)
and made Master there to about 2214 and a plus record vs their top 30. The play there was great. Many fine players. A number of GK players have played there too.
BD #2 in 1985 APCT Regional Team Championship
BD #1 in 1987 APCT Reg. Team Champ.
...
Played computer chess on "Leisure Linc", later to become "USA Today Sport Center"
in both Linc corr events, Linc blitz, and APCT Electro sections there. Back then we used to pay $5 an hour(eight cents per minute) to play! But better than 25 cents a minute at CompuServe then. Master & Expert ratings there. Perhaps the Big Win there was finishing #4 in Rott.Baseball. Hey, you get a T-Shirt for that! (hint, hint to Mike ! :) And a Hat for Top-10 in Checkers or BG, I forget. One Chess Expert spent $2200.00+ in one month there ... aren't we lucky HERE at GK ? !!!
....
Played ICCF Master Class a short time. And played USA vs Italy match. Currently down to Expert there, at 2185 . I found I didnt like to deal with the postal services
of many different countries. And the slower pace than domestic play. Tho the competitors were great & Max Zavanelli improved ICCF USA fantastically. Along with some Arbiters of great integrity like Allen Wright. I may returned to try their computer play one day. Perhaps a final tournament fairwell. Or maybe not :) The urge is always there, but . . . Hey, IT's Work !! {Eg, for those 5 men stranded in Siberia who havent heard; I spent 14 hours on a move in the Dunne game to draw it. And another 10 hours on one move to get a win vs Eric Schiller in APCT. That was my key to the game ... Lots of hours}
...
Played one IOWA Postal Chess Championship and made Master there at 2223. But the event went to NM Randy Bauer, who you may see writing on the net and plays a fine creative game.
...
Ended Corr play before GK with: +1 vs 2400 players, plus vs 2200 & 2300 players,
Minus vs 2100 players! (aka "bushwhackers" !!) Big plus vs 2000-2099, and about
70-3-6 W-L-D vs Class A,B&C . That's actually a pretty typical Master record for Class play. I wish I were still playing that level. But retired for a reason. And am not. But it was a great adventure, especially the people met and played ! I feel I've
been immersed into Chess and come out the better for it. And hope all of you have
the same feeling when all is said and done. In the course of it, did meet for games with Champions of APCT, CCLA, or NOST for 7 Draws and no Losses in those.
....
Started playing GK. Got a good start but had a seizure online and TO's vs a couple
players (tho I was Lost Position vs Coyotefan game anyway). But then happened again 2 morea games. And "forgot" one & misinterpretted another. So 6 timeouts Provisionally pretty much ruined any chance of an Expert rating here. But it is very enjoyable to be around and talk Chess. And meet players. Bring others I know together. And that's what it's all about for me, here. Quite enjoyable. And have, with xerox help created a "2100+ M/T" here with ICCF IM julianlore , grandphish , malrod , soikins , and xerox all playing in it. And am very
excited to see the results & games there. Also MUCH enjoyed the TEAM play here with Nebraska Knights & Global Bounty Hunters ! But couldnt keep up with the Team pace at 3 days per move & had to give it up from that and declining play.
Still you've Got to try a Team if you havent !
****
Chess Related Writing:
Published Omaha's "Metro Chess" magazine, a local Chess newsletter with subcribers in USA & Canada (well, okay One in Canada :-)
Contributions to GK Forums, Liesure Linc Forums, and "The Campbell Report" in APCT Bulletin, and to Jon Voth's column there at APCT. Also the Nebraska & Iowa newsletters "Gambit" & "En Passant". And games to "Omaha Chess Archives" by Bruce Draney.
Regret: Never had a game in Chess Life or Chess Life and Review ! (the USA USCF national magazines of their times)
*********
Directing & Organizing:
Organized & played BD#1 in Mutual of Omaha vs NorthWestern Bell Telephone corporate match (first & only one, tho it went well)... was well covered by the local Omaha paper World Herald, with the entire Extra Section devoted to local Chess and the event. Excellent publicity for our Chess here in the later 1980's.
Tournament Director of "local" level for USCF in 2 decades. And organizer of many area events in that time.
******
Guess that's about it, that I recall. Been pretty active it seems. Boy, I REALLY wanted to get to that OTB tournament while I was in London !! Oh well . . . I did bring home a fiancee, who plays Chess on GK yet! Have to call it a sucessful trip anyway . . . . . }8-) Regards, Craig A.C.
*****
More: Wizard Chess
ccmcacollister
♡ 13 ( +1 | -1 )
Okay now . . . .deadofknight , let's be seeing that Resume' up here pronto now ! ! ! }8-)
More: Best Chess Openings
chuckventimiglia
tertsius
♡ 50 ( +1 | -1 )
learnid chesss at the tender age of 7 now 13 :( Taught myself. Played in HS and casually, Max Pavey chess club Marshall Chess Club and other chess clubs till 1980 when I started playing postal chess. Most games were about 160 opponents at once, phew lots of stamps. Attained IM status in about 87 +2300 but what a paradigm shift in chess since, then chess was dropped till I found GK in 01, where I have been beating Craig ever since ;-)
More: Play Chess Online
bucklehead
♡ 477 ( +1 | -1 )
Bucklehead: An Intermittent Pursuit of Mediocrity 1974: Learned chess at age 4 from my dad, with the assistance of a set with little arrows on cardboard pieces. Suffice it to say I was no Capa.
1979: Between bouts of Dungeons & Dragons, discovered that many friends also played chess. My ability to beat them at Stratego thereafter faded into insignificance.
1982-84: Proud member of the Fairfield Woods Junior High chess team. Played about a million Four Knights games because nothing else came to mind. Lost repeatedly to Darren Hongo. Smirkingly tried to steal my opponent's rook, had entire chessboard thrown in my face. Thumb-wrestled other members for a chance to play on Sargon.
1984: Moved on to HS, where my friends and I had to basically form a chess club from nothing. I manufactured a portable set out of cardboard and masking tape to enable playing during lunch time. Was able to convince Dean Allen that he was a much worse player than he supposed.
c. 1985: Began to beat my dad on a regular basis, after I discovered his "pawn wall" technique could be breeched if only I decided to throw some pawns of my own at it. Soon after, he quit playing altogether. Still something of a mystery.
1986-88: Any chance I had at improving my game went directly out the window when I was introduced to Bughouse. Spent many late hours screaming at people to give me a knight...NOW!!!
1988: College and a new class of competitor. Began seeing the French on a regular basis, developed a deep loathing. Started messing around with 1. f4 for a while, until someone in the know began beating me senseless with 1. ...e5. Hung up on the Bird's for a while.
1989: Narrowly missed becoming official dormitory champion by blowing a R+N+P endgame.
1990: First Diplomacy, then sweet, sweet cribbage derails my progress. For the next decade or so, time I should have devoted to tactics instead is spent compiling discard statistics and standard deviations.
1991: My greatest chess victory. I am sitting in the pub with the very lovely Katie, with whom I was not with, but from the standpoint of the casual observer at the time, I could quite easily have been with. A friend of a friend challenges me to a game, plays a lazy Philidor as black, smirks as I play quickly through the opening. Turns to Katie and says, "This isn't really the best way to play." The combination nets me a pawn and displaces his K as I swap queens on the open d-file. I blast through his puny defenses, "pass" my pawn, force his sobbing king into a lonely corner. He quiets down and soon withdraws. I never see him again. Acting tough in front of a hot woman is excusable; not being able to back it up is your own fault. Wherever you are, does it still sting? I hope it does...
1994: Growing more vaguely aware of the internet as a chess venue. First introduction to the concept of the PGN file goes nowhere until I realize a special reader is required. Probably the last time for quite a while I buy a chess book, something on the Scotch as I recall. But I am becoming aware of cribbage "board strategy" and begin intensive work on developing my own positional system.
1994-2003: A great chess desert. I labor under the misconception that I am in some sense a good player, though I touch the pieces only occasionally, and then usually against family members who have only rudimentary knowledge. I am astonished when someone named "Kramnik" appears to have defeated Kasparov. I eventually see the Kasparov-Fritz X3D match on television, realize that I have a three-year-old daughter, and that I have been neglecting my duties. Pull the chessboard out of box in the cellar, get myself onto the internet, and eventually wind up here.
2004: Manage to "defeat" ccmcacollister via seizure-related timeout, despite feeling completely outclassed by him. Smacked down in the most gentlemanly way by commodore while learning a thing or two about trading N+B for R+P. Wrote a long and rambling piece on declining the From Gambit via the Hayward Variation, which no one reads and which is later deleted by Mike. The cribbage begins to suffer, but I let it slide. I frivolously spend some serious money on an ebony House of Staunton set. Remain in awe of it for some time.
2005: Daughter's chess class proceeds well. One night she (age 5) informs me that she has fianchettoed her bishop and still has all her heavy pieces. My game remains in the super-weak sub-patzer realm, but I smile.
More: Chess Problems
tulkos
bucklehead
♡ 51 ( +1 | -1 )
One must play the pieces as they stand I was struck by an annotation I read not long ago, in reference to a Benoni line: "Black has no theoretical way to reach equality, so he must take refuge in complications." For those of us unrated mega-patzers challenging the might of the Masters, rambling reflections are all we have to offer.
But wait! I have a name to drop! In high school I was good friends with the son of the aforementioned CC player Max Zavanelli. He (the son, of course) served as a "second" to a guy I defeated in an informal best-of-seven tournament in 1987 or so. So I guess my resume ain't so bare after all :)
More: Chess Puzzle
deadofknight
♡ 29 ( +1 | -1 )
Moose.... my resume is as follows.
1968 Born
1975 Learned chess from mom
1976 Played during recess as "rain contingency"
'76 - 04' Played maybe 20 more games, remembered how pieces move betweeen games
2004 joined GK, losing record. Loving life.
odonata
♡ 44 ( +1 | -1 )
to the point.. 1976 born
1981 first game vs my sister : draw (king vs king)
1992-94 school chess team
2003 sept: discovered gk, picked back up chess
2004 june: joined chessclub "Boris Spassky Schilde"
2005 april: still gk & OTB player, won 80% of my OTB games..
2017: probably IM
2025: probably GM
2031: probably World Champion
2052: I'll probably be in a home for dementing persons.
indiana-jay
♡ 107 ( +1 | -1 )
I learned chess from my dad.
In childhood, I played with him and my little brother, and sometimes with neighbors (only to become a looser LOL). One day I found a chess book and learned from it, and suddenly I could beat my dad. So that's it, everytime I found someone I couldn't beat, I went back to my chess books, played with myself (people thought I'm odd playing with myself) and got a revenge.
Later on, I play with computer software. Beat one software and move to another software.
I can remember faces I have ever played with, because they are very limited. I prefer playing with computer. I play with people simply to see where I stand on the 'real world'. Usually I challenged only the strongest. And it's only the first games I would play seriously.
I used to think to have a chess career. But I knew that I couldn't earn a good living from it. It was happiness versus wealth.
Now I'm not sure why I play the game. May be because I love it, or may be I'm tired with the burden in the workplace.
silurasglanis
♡ 61 ( +1 | -1 )
Much the same 1963 Born
1974 Learnt moves
1979 Joined a chess club and taught my Dad to play.
1982 Lost to Tony Miles in a Simi.
1985 Got married and got my wife into it.
1986 Peaked at 2025 and best result when I beat a 2210.
1987 thrashed by Korchnoi in a simi.
1987 to 1993 meandered around in the 1850 to 1950 bracket.
1993 gone fishing
1993 until February 2005 totally devoid of a single chess game.
2005 Feb wife and I found GK, enjoying it so far, if frustrated by how much I have lost of what little I had.
adamastor
♡ 72 ( +1 | -1 )
is anyone applying for jobs?? 1981 birth
1987/88 learned the moves by dad and beated him... dad never ever played against me since then...
2003 starting to remember the moves, learned the mythic knight fork at c7, learned the Danvers Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 - sweet times)
2004 started a local chess club, play the local district championship by teams ended with 1303 ELO rating and a 5th place.
2005 beated 1640, 1563 and 1827 real OTB players, right now were placed at 2nd place and playing the final next may 14th, waiting for july ELO rating list and planning an attack on a FIDE block (going to need some work... )
2006 alot of more sufferin ahead... :)
fmgaijin
♡ 78 ( +1 | -1 )
My Chess Career 1970 Lost in Rd. 2 of first tournament to 1780 player
1971 Lost to NM Spence
1972 Lost to NM Liepnieks
1973 Lost to IM Winslow
1974 Lost to World Jr. Champion Julio Kaplan
1975 Failed to lose to GM Pal Benko
1976 Lost to Moby Carp (world's biggest fish)
1977 Lost to IM Valvo
1978 Lost to GM Soltis
1980 Lost to IM Donaldson
1981 Lost to GM Kudrin
1982 Lost to FM Friedman
1983 Lost to IM Nickoloff
1988 Lost to GM Anand
1989 Lost to GM Johanssen
1990 Lost to GM Barua
1992 Lost to GM Xu Jun
1993 Lost to IM Orlov
2004 Lost to duchess on GK
Gaps mean I either didn't play or didn't lose or didn't lost any significant games
fmgaijin
♡ 13 ( +1 | -1 )
Better 1975 Entry Replace Pal Benko entry with this one from December that I almost forgot:
1975 Lost to IM Amos
chrisp
♡ 90 ( +1 | -1 )
Not a lot really
1972 Found under small rock in parents back garden (so my mother tells me!)
Late 70.s Taught to play chess by father
1983 Joined local chess club
1985 County U-14 Champion
1986 County U-14 Champion
1987 County U-16 Champion
1988 County U-16 Champion
1989 County U-18 Champion
1990 County U-18 Champion
1990 Lost to GM Kasparov
1992 Beat a FIM from Khasakstan in simul -lost scoresheet and can't remeber her name!!
1997 Quit playing chess
2001 Married - can't persuade wife to learn chess though
2003 Found out about GK from tonyh
2005 First game where I offered draw and oppoent resigned (cheers tertsius )