Hi! I'm chesster3145. And since this is a profile page, after all, you probably want to know some things about me Let's get started, then.

My Chess "Identity"

I guess that's the right word for it, as long as I'm not using the words "chess" and "style" in the same sentence...

As with most class players, my chess identity is more defined by what I can't do than what I can. In particular, I can't calculate variations very well, and my thoughts often bounce from one place to another during a game. I also have a slight blunder problem which never seems to go away. What I do have is solid positional sense, and on good days, I've been known to topple much stronger players on that alone. Also, at least up until a couple of months ago, I've been known to be very emotional during and after games, and I have a real sense of fantasy in chess, which has been a real asset for me in VC games. Here are some of my best games and, in VC, contributions:

Rapid/Classical (both online and OTB):

Daily Chess:

Contributions in VC:

TUTC Open Seek: NM Julian's coaching group - The Ultimate Training Center, 0-1

Knockout Vote Chess S2 R1 - The Killer Derivatives vs Legion, 1/2-1/2
TUTC vs TGBE: The Great British Empire - The Ultimate Training Center, 0-1

Group Participation

I've been actively participating in the Chess.com community almost since day one of my membership, serving as an admin in The Ultimate Training Center, founded by several Top Bloggers as a group dedicated to chess improvement through vote chess, team matches and the sharing of important training materials, including, in some cases, member articles, and Untitled Tuesday, a group which runs a monthly tournament just after Titled Tuesday for amateurs, along with a Saturday event for those in different time zones.

I also actively play in the Slow Chess League and play in World League matches for Team Canada.

I'm currently managing Blogosphere, the group for bloggers and blog fans with 32 bloggers and 5 Top Bloggers, and the only really active group of its kind on the site. In addition to some TMs and VC games, we have all manner of threads, including "Blogosphere Portals" which link to the creator's blog and serve as a homepage and comment section within the group, a "Reader's Choice" thread where you can request blog posts on a certain topic or of a certain kind and a "How to Blog Better" thread where aspiring bloggers can seek help to improve their blogging.

We also run a monthly newsletter which sums up all that has happened over the past month or may happen soon, plus a Blogger of the Month award and a Monthly Top 5 (posts) soon to come.

Our vision is to become like Untitled Tuesday: a club which is the place where bloggers and blog fans hang out and discuss chess and where everything related to blogging happens.

Join our team today to collaborate with well-known bloggers, to get more exposure for your blog, to take part in valuable chess discussion and to get notifications in the group notes every time someone posts.

My Blog

Ever since I started my blog almost a year ago, it's been my main thing content-wise on Chess.com, where I post weekly about anything and everything related to chess. You can find all of my posts here, the introduction here, my Top Blogger introduction here and the blog directory here.