My chess hobby
During my three years at Urbandale High School, from 1982 through 1984, I played on the school chess team with my younger brother Mike, Chris Mendelsohn, Rick DeWald and several others. My older brother Bruce had played for the same school in the late 1970's. Our sponsor for the club was the chief librarian, Marjean Wegner. The organizer of the Des Moines area high school meets was local chess institution Ben Munson.After high school chess became absent from my life. I hardly
touched a board for over fifteen years. Then in July of 2001 I
somehow redeveloped an interest. Along with my older
brother Bruce and longtime friend Chris Mendelsohn, I signed up with
the USCF and began attending tournaments in central Iowa. It was
a very humbling experience at first, but the beautiful thing about
chess is that you have no one but yourself to blame for your
performance. With a little study and occasional play I have
finally clawed my way out of the 1200 bracket.
I may eventually post the notation from my tournament games.
They'll be good for a few laughs.
Contact me regarding chess:chess@mitsus.org
The Iowa State Chess Association
(IASCA) has a very nice website,
thanks largely to the efforts of former webmaster Matt Nemmers. I
encourage every Iowa player to bookmark it.
U.S. Chess Federation is the
primary sanctioning body in the U.S. Check there for ratings
lookup.