What Records or Achievements Have You Done in Chess or nonChess?

I am really good at remembering random, useless facts.

Example: Athena was the name of Florence Nightengale's pet owl.

And I can recite all the conjugations of the verb "be," which is also very useless.

am, is, are.... what else is there?

was, were, have, has, had, do, does, did, can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must, be, been

Playing the Goring Gambit Two Pawn Sac in the US Open in Chicago 1973

[one of my last over the board USCF Chess games]

D Taylor  vs A Bisguier

Forgot to mention Black a grandmaster

Ponz, cool game! Your opponent must have been shocked how you gave him no time for starting his own play and picked up his paws one by one

Why did you quit tournament play?

I quit USCF play for two reasons. The main reason was my health. I am not able to sleep longer than one to one 1 1/2 hours at a time. [This is why you will see me posting at all hours of the day and night]  I get very little sleep and it affects my over the board play.

The second reason was while I was doing fairly well at USCF over the board  my correspondence play was much better.  With correspondence play it does not matter so much that you are always sleepy and always lack enough sleep as you can calculate during your better time periods.

When I played in the US Open in Chicago in 1973 I was totally exhausted as I also had to work at my employment and then travel to Chicago and back to work in Kankakee Illinois all with very little sleep.  By the 8th game I was playing a friend, former Illinos State Champion and master Dr Steve Tennant.

I played the Smith Morra and got an advantage against him.  We got into a rook and pawn endgame where I was up two pawns.  But my head was spinning and I could not think and the game ended in a draw. I will never forget what my friend did next.  He exclaimed: "You were up two pawns and didn't win!! You were up two pawns and didn't win!"

That 8th game of the US Open was the last USCF game I ever played except for two local Kankakee USCF Tournaments where I won both with a score of 4 wins and no losses or draws.  Unfortunately I never got credit for  those 8 wins and my USCF rating has remained at 2188 for 40 years...

my achievement:  

i am better chess player  today than i was yesterday 

I've won trophies in speed chess. Not sure that counts, tho.

My chess "accomplishments" are many:

1) Only player to lose a pawnless Rook+Bishop vs. Rook endgame... with the Rook and Bishop

2) Author of the worst theme song ever made

3) Slept under a piano during the 2003 US Open (hotel was booked)

4) Notorious in the U.K. for an article critiquing the size of bananas at the Shannon International Airport

5) Honourable Mention in the Linares Poetry Contest of 2001

6) Had my name completely mispelled by IM Brian Smith

7) Had IM Jeremy Silman mock my most painful loss

8) Invented the "Quixote" Knight Windmill Manuever to the acclaim of dozens

9) Able to play chess and chew gum at the same time

10) Undefeated against neighbour's cat

I became starting Quarterback the first this year. And I have never played QB before. Luckly I only have 1 interception, 4 out of 9 for at least 34 yards, I have rushed 6 times for at least 20 yards, and I have been sacked 7 times (one sent me to the hospital.) Now I am starting right Tightend , left Linebacker, on punt return and punt team, kick off team and kick return team,and on extra point team. This is a big year for football this year. And I am surprised I did this. So far our team is 2-0.

In chess, I recently broke 2000 USCF for the first time (and immediately fell back below it in the next tournament--hah!), went 6-2 in the '87 World Open (winning $250), and have beaten several masters (but no titled players).

In life, I'm the only patient that the emergency crews that worked to save me said was in a condition they call "beyond pain" and survived.  I had both legs and both arms fractured, pelvis, skull, and it took them over 2 hours to cut me out.  When they came to visit me in the hospital, they said I gave them hope, as they now had a survivor.

I'm the only white man to drink the water of the Apache reservation and not get sick--they were very impressed with that.  And I went through a quasi-formal adoption ceremony (we became brothers) by a group of Navajo that I had been working with (back in '94).  It was an event that I'm both proud of and humbled by; I had no idea they were going to honor me like that, and of all the experiences that I've had in life, the adoption is the one that most blows my mind.  I thought things like that only happened in the history books.

I've survived 18 or so stays in psychiatric wards and can still play chess! 

You missed woulda, coulda, shoulda

I've survived 18 chess games and am still in the psych ward!

Ok chess-wise I guess going over 2000 at USCF correspondence in the mid/late 1980s (so before the prevalance of engine usage).  In fact I remember the game that put me over 2000, I'd analyzed an endgame 12 or 15 moves out, and in my notes wrote "White (me) wins".  The game played out exactly that way, and when we reached the end of my analysis, my opponent resigned.

Going over 2000 USCF correspondence by the way automatically qualifies you for the US Correspondence Championship qualifying round.  I entered in the mid/late 90s but didn't finish due to my fathers illness and death.  I was the bottom seed at 2016 but was beating one master at the time I forfeited.  I was probably losing at least a couple of games at the same time, but in one of them I got to use a brand new 7th move for Black in a sideline of the Ruy Lopez.  I didn't follow up correctly, but less than a decade later a sub-2400 FIDE player used it to draw a 2550-rated GM (I've since found the game in chessbase, so perhaps did Black in the above game?)

One of my best achievements was winning the 7th United States Correspondence Chess Championship with a score in the Finals of 13 wins and no losses and one draw.  I set a record of best first place finish with margin over 2nd place. But what I am most proud of was I won all 7 games with the Black pieces.  This is a record which will never be tied or broken now that there is Centaur Chess.  To do this I used this opening in 4 of my games 1. e4  d5  2. exd5  Qxd5  3. Nc3  Qa5  The Center Counter. Back in those days this was an unexpected opening for Black and there was not much theory even though I had written a small book on the opening called Center Counter Uprising.

I have won many correspondence tournaments and have been at the top of some correspondence ratings lists but this was the best...

I always admired that. 

Some years ago when I was a kid and even more chess-addicted than now I played more than 1500 games in a year without counting internet games and without counting games in the chess club.