Q: When did you begin writing these books and how long did it take to complete them? 

A: I started some time in 2021 and it took a bit over 3 years to write everything, although there was some downtime where I almost abandoned the project as well as times where I revised the strategy and composition of what I wanted to write.  Originally I thought I would just use my own games, but at some time in the project felt it was necessary to include the playing efforts of other chess variant enthusiasts.

 

Q: At what age did you begin playing chess?

A: I usually date this at age 12 when I learned to play the game properly.  I played a "version" of chess a couple of years earlier and became interested in the game after seeing it portrayed on an old "Land of the Giants" TV show.  My grandmother, brother and I did not quite get the rules right and it was only after reading an old Fred Reinfeld book on "How to be a winner at chess", that I really learned the correct rules and how to play the basic strategies of the game.  Interesting my brother and I almost walked by the book display and I made some kind of snide comment that I was already a winner at chess, but after thinking things through my 12-year-old brain, came to the realization that this was not necessarily true.  After reading that book, I was truly bitten by the chess bug and really made a pest of myself in showing off my new knowledge and trying to get everybody to play. Perhaps even worse was being bit by the chess book collecting bug.  After more than 50 years of acquiring books, I have probably seen nearly 3000 come through my hands, although the current collection is only about 2700.  Over the years I gave away many old and obsolete opening books that become dated with time.

 

Q: Where have your chess travels taken you? 

A: Probably not too far.  Most of my chess play was in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.  Still I have played a couple of times in New Jersey, Chicago, and St. Louis for team events.  I also contemplated on doing one of those chess cruises, but my frugal nature was deterred by the expense.

 

Q: Any interesting chess stories? 

A: Probably none that I should tell. Lol  However, one of the funnier incidents was in a team tournament when I was still in High School.  There used to be this rather unusual guy who always played his games with a rubber porcupine.  He was my opponent in a coming match and had a good score against me in the past.  Somehow my friends on our team managed to "acquire" the porcupine prior to our match.  Needless to say, my opponent was upset about losing his talisman, and I managed to win that game, which also helped our team to gain a class prize.  After the game, the porcupine mysteriously reappeared, but the damage had already been done. Lol

 

Q: What are some of the awards or accolades you’ve received over the years? 

A: I earned the USCF National Master title in 1983, Correspondence Master Titles in three organizations in 1982-83 [Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA), American Postal Chess Tournament and United States Chess Federation (USCF) Correspondence] and a Senior Master correspondence title in the CCLA in 1994.  One of my chess teams tied for first in the Mid Ohio Team Chess Festival  (MOTCF) in 1984 and another in the perhaps tougher Cleveland Chess League in 1982.  I also have been city Champion for the Dayton Chess Club (1993), Akron Chess Club (1982) and smaller cities like Mansfield, Lima and Findlay Ohio.  My biggest success in tournament chess probably was tying for first with Chuch Schulien and future Grandmaster Ben Feingold at the Buckeye Open in 1986 ahead of nearly a hundred players.  I also did well in many correspondence events and one of my biggest successes was scoring a perfect score (6-0) for an Ohio team on first board for a CCLA Team event.  I think the team also may have won the overall event that year as well (1993 or 1994?)  In variant chess I did win the 3rd "Cyber" Grand ChessWorld Championship.  I may still hold the title since they never ran another one after this event.

 

Q: Anything else you’d like for me to include? 

A: Well the two books I gave to the library were actually on chess variants.  These are games that complicate the standard game of chess, by either changing the rules or adding additional pieces to the mix. The two books deal mostly with games that require additional pieces and occur on 8x8 10x8 and 10x10 boards.  I am currently working on a "real" chess book on the life of Erich Eliskases, who was an Austrian Grandmaster whose career spanned from 1929-1976.  Nothing has been written on him in English, which is a pity.  He had an interesting and eventful like including being able to escape from Nazi Germany just as World War 2 broke out.  He was playing in a team tournament in Buenos Aires in 1939 when Hitler unleashed his tanks on Poland on Sept. 1.  Naturally Eliskases and several other players decided to stay in South American and sat out that disaster in the making!