"No more speed chess. I know you like it, I know it's fun but it's no good. It ruined Averbakh and it'll ruin you." ~Ben Kingsley playing Bruce Pandolfini in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer"

I started chess later than most - in my teens in high school, but didn't play in my first tournament (USCF Rated) until the age of 21. I have played on and off for the past decade and only have about 11 total USCF Rated tournaments that I've been in. After joining this website a couple of years ago I finally decided to become a premium member and have begun to focus efforts on becoming a master chess player. I know I have a long way to go, but at the ripe age of 34, I have; I believe, for the first time in my chess playing career, a desire and focus to be as good as I possibly can be.

About the quote above: I am horrible at speed chess. The longer I have to think about a move, my odds increase greatly of being able to win a game. My ratings on this site are certainly ambiguous at best. A very high Online score with a very low blitz score. I would say I play around a 1700 USCF rated player, though my latest number is 1318. I hope to hit 1550 by the end of the year. I would like to obtain Expert class within about 5 years. I have a life goal of becoming a FIDE master class.

Currently I seem to be in a chess slump. I will admit I have not been as studious as I would have liked to have been over the past month and hope to buckle down within the next couple of weeks.

~I briefly played in the Waco Chess Club in 1999-2000, so if you remember me, send me a message or lets play a game!~

yottaflops