Hello, mate! Thanks for dropping by. I'm King (a.k.a. King Red, or occasionally Red). I'm from somewhere on the third boulder in this solar system, & I currently reside in the USA (time zone: ET = UTC-4). I chose this username because my favourite colour is red, my favourite letter is A, and the most important piece is the King. Not super creative, I know. But, it does the job, and I like it enough. But, if you have suggestions for any other names (especially cool and/or funny ones!) then please DM me!

About me...
I have been playing nearly my whole life! My father introduced me to the game when I was 6, more or less. My mother nurtured me, fueling me with competition until I could finally defeat her (and earn it - she never gave me an empty victory, thankfully)! Then, I moved on to playing against my father, but, I kind of fell out of the game.

I would play on and off for a while. During this time, I heard about chess.com, though I would not yet create an account for several years. We moved, and my father got me back into it again. I met a friend who is around 1400. Being the competitor I am, I could not rest until I beat him - he got me completely obsessed & the pandemic gave me plenty of time to dive in! These days, my brother and I often spar - he fuels my drive to grow and compete. Even so, I am quite proud of him as a player!

I'm sometimes a goofball, sometimes formal, and sometimes other me's! I have as many hobbies and passions as stars in the sky…

music (singing, piano, classical, dancing, rock,...)
business - I'm an entrepreneur and inventor
science - physics, quantum physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy/health, forensics, horticulture,...
visual arts - I'm a photographer, I'm a fashionisto, I love to paint...
academics - I love every school subject: I have a favourite number and branch of math, I adore grammar & syntax, I'm always down for a debate...
video games - MK8 on the Wii U, Asphalt 8 (although, it's been so heavily commercialized *sigh), Candy Crush Saga, Nintendo Land, NeoBall, some Roblox games...
sports - ¡Goooooooolasssooooo de PSG! Football, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming, freeze tag (trust me, with the right people, it's a tough sport), & dodgeball (variants included).

& soooo much more.

Chess
I am a chess aficionado! I adore it passionately - it is my passion, my obsession, my curiosity, my preoccupation, my mentor, my mistress, my past-time, my investment, my craze, & my love. My favorite piece is my brain. YES, PEOPLE!! My Brain is the supreme piece of my games!

But, for those who simply cannot accept it, then, my next favourite piece is the board. All the other pieces mean nothing without it. What's more, its design of 64 squares, light and dark, is ingenious and allows for so much variety in movement and strategy for the other pieces - it is revolutionary and powerful in its elegant simplicity. And, don’t get me started on the mathematical easter eggs in its design! In all seriousness, however, I don’t have a favourite piece - I love them all!

At this stage in my chess journey, I am playing the Queen’s Gambit for White. For Black, I have become utterly obsessed with the Latvian Gambit!

My favourite variant is Atomic! It’s followed closely by King of the Hill and Minihouse. I HATE DUCK CHESS. Whoever invented that was a very, very evil man. Oh, how I want to roast that duck!!! But, I love most of the other variants.

As for my chess goals this year:

I want to play in an OTB tournament! Believe it or not, I've never played an official game - just online and with friends/family.
Study more chess books and courses. Included in this is opening accounts on Lichess & Chessable. I recently upgraded my collection of chess books to 8 paperbacks and 15 PDFs!
Bring my ratings to over 1400. I want to reach this minimum rating for all my time controls (including Fischer Random/960).
Start a YouTube channel! I think that would be fun and useful for monitoring my progress. It would hold me accountable to my viewers, plus it might inspire some to make an improvement journey themselves!

Social
Speaking of YouTube channels, my favourites are GothamChess (of course), Sadistic Tooshi (I always have a blast watching him!), iwantcheckmate, Pietro Checkmate, Dr. Can’s Chess Clinic, Frank Chess, & Blunder Man. That brings me to my favorite GMs. Javokhir Sindarov is my favourite currently active GM. My favourite prodigy is Faustino Oro. My favorite historical players are World Champions Tal, Capablanca, Fischer, Kasparov, & Judit Polgar.

I am in many clubs, but some of my favourites include The 8×8’ers, BlogChamps, The Blogger Awards v2.0, & my own club - a legacy community almost as old as Chess.com itself… iCHESS! Take a look by clicking on the image below.

I've always loved writing & chess. Naturally, when I found out CC automatically gives every user a blog, I was ecstatic! I would be honoured to have you take a look at my blog - The Crown’s Kibitz. My blogging skills have improved drastically thanks to BlogChamps & The Blogger Awards - two excellent blogging communities!

My immediate blogging goals are (ranked for feasibility):

Qualify for the Double Dozen in BlogChamps.
10 medals and/or 5+ gold medals in The Blogger Awards.
500 views on a single blog post.

My competitive spirit, drive for perfection, and creative urges… not to forget the hypnotizing sounds of clacking away on my keyboard. I also draw inspiration from quite a few of the bloggers here: @nova-stone, @vitualis, @VOB96, @ChocoCaramelPawn, @KevinChessSmith, @PokeGirl93, @theeldest1, @WinT0L0ss, @DocSimooo, & a few others.

Fun Facts

Pawns are NOT pieces! Everything on the board is called a ‘chessman’. There are 2 types of chessmen - pieces (kings, queens, rooks, bishops, & knights) and pawns.

I bid everyone a happy and successful life and a fulfilling chess journey.

Keep Chessing & Stay Brainy!!

King_Red_A