I believe in positional and tactical play. I hate those who play only for time without learning the beauty of the game, because given enough time they will never last and they are not even worthy of being called "players". There are others who only play one game and run away from rematches as they can play only White. There are many belonging to those categories on this site; if you are one of them, keep off.

I play in the Corporate chess circuit in Bangalore. My company has won several Team championships at Inter-Corporate tournaments in Bangalore, where I have won the Board prizes for 1st as well as 4th boards on different occasions. I have played against several Rated players in the FIDE 1800-2200 range, having defeated 1900+ players and drawn against a ~2200.

My Best Individual performance was when I stood 2nd in a National level Inter-corporate tournament in the Unrated category and remained undefeated. I also got the opportunity to play a Super GM in simultaneous display in which we drew the game (he was playing the Top 20 players; he won a few and drew the rest, out of which I was one - I don't disclose details of who the GM was, except to Friends).

Unofficially (not as a profession), I also take up chess coaching for kids. My rapid game is better than my standard, as I am quick in the opening theory and middle-game. In Bullet, I have defeated several titled players such as CMs, NMs, FMs on this site. My end-game could be made better. Some Below-1600 rated players on this site have wrongfully accused me of Engine usage when they lose, and it is laughable. I'm mentioning it here because I want them to know that once they have already believed that they are better than others, then there is no scope for their improvement!

While playing Live on this site, I prefer Bullet, followed by Blitz. Sometimes due to Internet connectivity issues and lag in India, I prefer playing Unrated games after reaching a certain rating. For longer games, I prefer playing it Over the Board. I also play Online Correspondence games here, mainly for team tournaments. I keep the chat disabled, except for Friends.

I'm middle-aged and a successful IT/ software professional.

As far as other hobbies go, I am an ardent fan of Rock music, I like painting, writing/ blogging, I like to play the guitar, tennis, bowling, and watch sports such as soccer, cricket and basketball.

mayankphenom