My primary interests are chess, genealogy, computer technology and movies, in that order.

I've played chess off and on since 1972. My USCF otb rating has been 1897 since my last tournament in 1998. My USCF correspondence rating is 2030. In the early 80's I had a CCLA rating of 2100+ and participated in the 4th United States Correspondence Chess Championship (1978-1981), where I was able to advance to the finals with a first place finish in the preliminary round (9.5/10) and, while seeded 11th by rating in the finals, managed to finish 4th overall with a score of 10/14. That was my greatest personal achievement in chess.

One of my first achievements in chess came when I was able to place 3rd in the 1973 Seattle Seafair Open with a low 1431 rating! In that, my second or third tournament, I had my first wins ever against a 1700, 1800 and 1900 rated player. I still remember Russell Miller telling me after his lost to me in round 4 that I would have to play Yasser Seirawan in round 5. Yasser was an up and coming young player (13 years old) back then who later became a strong Grandmaster. He was rated 1962 at the time. I had the Black pieces and forced him to resign on move 23 - he would have been mated in a couple moves. I finished that tournament with a 4/5 score, losing only to (now IM) Eric Tangborn in round 2.

Now, I play correspondence type chess here and many 1 minute chess games at www.chessclub.com almost every day under the username "Mustang". That name was taken at this site, so, in memory of my 1966 Mustang (and my fondness for the P51D Mustang war plane) my username here was born.

I still don't consider myself much of a player but keep playing anyway, trying to be better. Unfortunately, time is catching me, and I'm a slow learner.

Here's my game against the then (1973) up and coming Yasser Seirawan:

66_Mustang