My dad taught me to play chess with the help of Reuben Fine's books. I played some club chess and a few tournaments in school, but in college I played enough blitz chess to overdevelop my naturally impatient style. Now, after 35 years away, I'm coming back to chess and learning to slow down.

I'm also playing some Chess960 games and tournaments as a way to expand my strategic vision -- it still needs plenty of work.

I prefer to play most games out to the end, or at least to the point where there are no more interesting moves to be made, because my endgame needs just as much practice as the rest of the game. I'm more likely to resign or agree to a draw in a game that would otherwise hold up the end of a tournament round. I usually move faster when the game is nearly decided, sometimes using conditional moves, but, if you're in a hurry to finish a game, feel free to resign or to ask me to resign; otherwise, watch out for those forks and stalemates !

The tournaments I have organized are listed here: https://www.chess.com/blog/rotanev6/tournaments-managed-by-rotanev6-2025