Hello! I am here on chess.com to have fun and improve at OTB chess. I mostly play 5+0 and 10+0 games, though I will occasionally play 15+10 or 30+0.

I have finally crossed 2000 in both chess.com Rapid and Blitz, which is a huge milestone for me.

My goals for 2026 are (currently) 2500 puzzles, 46+ in 3min puzzle rush, 61+ in survival, 2200+ in blitz, and 2200+ in rapid.

Over the board I play 45 d3, 65+5, and, in the bigger tournaments, I play 90+30. I am working slowly towards the NM title.

I was devastated by the death of Daniel Naroditsky, who was my favorite chess teacher and commentator. He is greatly missed.

I like both chess.com and Lichess, but favor chess.com due to puzzle rush.

I love solving puzzles, and find them fun to discuss with others.

For puzzle rush, I enjoy 3min and survival. I am trying to get better at both. My current records are 44 in 3min and 60 in survival.

I have found the PRO Puzzle Solvers Team to be a nice group to discuss various aspects of rushing. They also motivate me to keep cracking and trying to beat my previous high scores.

For broader discussion of puzzles, I recently joined the Daily Puzzle Discussion Sans Trolls club. I had gotten sick of doing a daily puzzle and finding the only comments to be 400s commenting on how easy it was, people saying it was dumb, or people asking why a move didn’t work without doing any research on their own.

Now, I can see other ideas and discuss my own. Hopefully, I will one day make a daily puzzle for chess.com.

Chess.com is a wonderful place to play, practice, and do puzzles. It can also become a little like social media with a plethora of clubs, some only slightly related to chess.

I hope to limit distractions while on the site, so I only accept friend requests from people I know in real life, do not accept challenges, and will only join clubs that I think will help me improve.

I hope in the clubs I do join I can be a respectful member who has a positive influence.

Outside of chess, I enjoy listening to pop music, following sports (I am a big Green Bay Packers fan), playing the guitar, studying mythology, swimming, and spending time with my dog and seven wonderful chickens.

WizardOfChess2011