I played chess at school and a little at university. Then I stopped. 12 years ago, I joined the internet chess club and found blitz chess addictive. Frequently I would delete the program only to start again a few months later.

A year ago I started to play OTB chess and to my surprise, qualified to represent the UK at the NATO chess tournament in Lithuania. At this event I learnt of the chess.com site and haven't looked back.

I play a little blitz these day, mostly I enjoy playing tournaments. My targets are 2000 blitz, 2200 on-line and 2200 OTB. At the moment my OTB is 176 BCF and I have a FIDE grade of 2059.

Online chess, I try to play quickly. Like most players - the better I feel about my position the faster I move. I try to follow opening databases to improve my repertoire. 12 years of blitz was good for simple tactics and bad for everything else.

I also play bridge - DoubleDum is short for double dummy. I chose it because it matches my initials. One day I hope my chess will be smart - but until then I remain a dummy.

Have fun