Introduce yourself

  This post may be revised in the future, but since we have a small group right now it shouldn't be unmanageable.  Tell us a little bit about yourself, here are a few suggestions if you don't know where to start:

-Your history in Santa Barbara

-Your chess experience and involvement

-Anything interesting you want to share

-What kind of players you're looking to meet, if any

  Try to keep things clean, you never know who might end up reading this!

Marshall

  I'll go first!  I'm originally from Montana, but I've been living in Santa Barbara since June this year.  I moved to California after I finished a deployment to Iraq with the Marine Corps, and that's where I started to take an interest in chess.  I may not be an expert now, but I was BAD when I started, like most people who never knew chess was more than just a simple game.

  My other interests are primarily physical arts (martial arts, parkour, yoga), but include many other things like music (played trumpet, want to play guitar), survival skills and the outdoors, unicycling, lock smithing, and improving my cooking skills.

  I'm young, but happily married to the girl I've been pursuing since I was 15 or so.  I'm working carpentry/construction right now but wouldn't mind moving into another field, possibly in fitness instruction.  I'll try nearly anything once!

My name is Mike. I went to high school in SB, but I left to live in LA for many years. I returned to Santa Barbara 2 years ago. I played chess in high school and in college. My rating was as high as 2112. My rating and my skill level have deteriorated significantly. I have not played competitively in over 20 years.  I am looking to take up the game again after a long absence.

I work as an auditor for Cottage Health System. I live with my wife Lily in Winchester Canyon. My hobbies are fitness and investing.

My name is Leif and I have been living in SB for almost 2 years. I moved from Santa Cruz where I went to school at UCSC and got a degree in history. I moved to SB to take a job at Moss Motors where I sell parts for classic sports cars. I started playing chess regularly about 5 years ago. I play online and generally have a couple of correspondence games going, although I much prefer to play OTB. I have never played competitively and therefore am not rated, but it is something that I am interested in doing in the future.

-Your history in Santa Barbara

This is my 2nd year in santa barbara as a SBCC student

-Your chess experience and involvement

I use to play Alot when i was younger going to tournaments and such.  Getting lessons by an IM.  My online rating on the icc is about 1800.  My USCF rating is around 1600(which is outdated)

-Anything interesting you want to share

Very good in chess need to work on end game tactics.

-What kind of players you're looking to meet, if any

Strong players that I can learn from

Hi my name is Vivek.

I have been living in Santa Barbara since last 3 years.

I work as  a software engineer in one of the company in Goleta. I graduated from USC with masters in computer science.

I have been playing chess since i was 14 years old.

After i came to SB i have not played chess. I want to start playing again.

I would prefer playing in person rather than playing online.

It would be good if we can decide some time and day where we can meet and play some games.

Hey all, apologies for not introducing myself yet.

First of all, thanks Marshall for putting this club together, and everyone for joining up.

My name is Chris, and this is my first year in SB. I'm 22 years old. I entered UCSB in Fall of last year as a junior. Previous to that, I was up north in Woodland, near Sacramento.

My main interest other than chess is music (I've played drums for about 8 years).

I've played chess on and off for about 6 years (really sparingly), but just got a little more serious in the last 8 months or so. I'm working through some books, mostly on openings, at the moment, as well as looking at games from Kasparov, Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, etc. on chessgames.com. And, of course, playing a ton of games, blitz and otherwise, on here. I'm still quite a beginner, though not as bad as when I started. I'd love to play with any/all of you sometime OTB! I've had conflicts in the past with the meeting time, but I aim to make it out to some club meetings in the future.

 hello my name is Steve. I am 34 yrs old and live in Goleta. I have been playing chess for several yrs. My rating is pretty weak (in the 1400's on chess.com) and I am looking to improve my game. I usually play a 4min game. I have never had any lessons of any kind.  My favorite opening is the English with white or the Sicilian defense with black and usually fianchetto my king side bishop.  I would like to learn these lines better and improve my middle -game.  

      Besides chess my other interests are fishing and poker. I have played no-limit Texas hold-em and pot limit Omaha online for several yrs.  i have served in the US Army and lived in both southern and northern California. It would be interesting to play some chess in person, meet some people and hopefully learn something about the game.

• Hi we are Tres Amigos Evan in the picture you see only two, because the third one is taking the picture.
•  Our priorities are
• Church, School, Soccer, Biking, Chess and fooling around in the beach.
• We play mostly soccer even we have more trophies from playing Chess than soccer.

Hi all,

My name is John, and haven't played chess in forever.  I'm hoping to begin playing over the board games again =)

-Your history in Santa Barbara

I came to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB.  Graduated with a degree in chemistry in 2009. 

-Your chess experience and involvement

I'm very unpracticed with "normal" chess.  I'm far more familiar with a popular variant of chess known as "bughouse" or "siamese chess".  It's a very fun variant most often seen on FICS (Free internet chess server) or ICC.

-Anything interesting you want to share

I'm hoping I can see another siamese / bughouse chess game happen over the board =) 

-What kind of players you're looking to meet, if any:

Other people willing to try or that already play siamese/bughouse chess.  Otherwise, good folks to enjoy playing some normal chess. 

Hello all, My name is Saul Lopez I am 40 years old. I was born in Guatemala City. I have been living in Santa Barbara for over 20 years now.

I stared learning chess some 15 years ago. I did stop for 6 years and started again 4 year ago. I don't think I have a FIDE rating but I think I am around 1750 more or less. I have played some tournaments in Guatemala but nothing fancy.

I am a computer Tech, studing to become a Network administrator. I would love to get ot Know all of you. And hopefully be able to play a give you a nice game. And by nice I mean beat you every time I can. HA HA HA....... just kidding. Okay guys I think that's all for now. Thank you.

Since it was "suggested" that I should introduce myself, here goes---->

    I don't have much experience at chess compared to a lot of other club members but i will never back away from a match against a higher ranked oppent, i look at each   match as a learning tool.

As to personal details i will say that  i have

 Parkinson's disease , but it doesn't have me.

Very good intro, Reuben.

My name is Jim

I am retired and recently got reinterested in chess Played years ago and been playing against the computer (about 40 games) I worked through a couple of books and now want to play some real people. I have been in SB since 1963 and am Married 32 years.

I'm a student at UCSB. I'm just wondering if there is a club in the area?

Hi I lived in Santa Barbara for last 5 years working for a company downtown and for Chumash.

At a young age 8-10, I won tournaments undefeated but, I never pursued chess or to get better.  This was over 29yrs ago lol.  Last 2 years started playing chess again.  On Chess. com 1700 standard rating.  I am lookng to improve

I owned a business for a short time closed in same year and now I have sometime for fun.  I have a Masters in Business was doctoral student psychology at Antioch Santa Barbara.  That was a killer stop that to expensive no return in psychology.  I want to relax more chess does this for me

I am looking to learn with a master or 1700 + rating to grow and get better

Rich

Hello! I am Nolan. My primary chess goal is to get to the rank of master someday. I have lived in SB for the past 3.5 years. I have been playing chess my whole life, and my favorite piece is the knight. 

Hello! My name is Murray. I was born in Santa Barbara and currently go to school here at the City College. Just started in chess, but I really enjoy it and would like to continue my learning. Would also love to get involved with the chess community more - so reach out if you want to practice together.