Chess Tournament

I have loved playing chess since I was 14 years old. Over the years I've played Boris Spassky (former world champion), chatted with Sammy Reshevsky, Walter Browne, and Arnold Denker (former U.S. champions), and had a draw with Bill Church (of Church's Fried Chicken) after he was late arriving in his Lear jet to the tournament. Chess has opened a fascinating world to me while I was in my 20's and 30's and has allowed me to make many friends. Though I haven't played any real tournament chess in 15 years I've kept studying. I have an old rating of 1828, which is at the level of a decent club player. My real strength today is actually around a low expert level when I'm playing serious chess. I'm going to have to get back into tournament chess and work on my rating. My goal is to reach master strength by the time I am 70.

A coworker wanted to have a faculty chess tournament this year so I said why not? We have 8 participants and 7 rounds. With one round to be played next Monday I am currently in 1st place with 6 points. A fellow science teacher is in second place with 5 points. The skill level overall is not extremely high but the enthusiasm of the participants provides a lot of excitement.

Chess is a wonderful hobby but a lousy profession. If you are not one of the top 5 players in the world you must supplement your income by writing books and giving lessons. It is not a secure profession and I know a number of good people who simply could not make enough money to survive in the chess world and had to switch to another profession. As a hobby, though, it teaches you to plan ahead, choose your paths carefully, and learn from your mistakes. What more can you ask of a game than that?

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