Click here to look for "chess" with the Google search engine.   Hello friend!     ...............    Welcome to one of the best {private} chess sites around. (Recognized as such by several national chess federations and also "C.J.A." Site of The Year for 2004.)     ................     Check out my School of Tactics!!  ..........  Many improvements and NEW PAGES!!!!   (Be sure to check the T.L.A. in 'Chess Life' for the tournaments in your area.)  Thanks, and have a great day!!!

   A FIDE "Top 100" site.  
  Best site, CJA, for 2004.

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 © A.J. Goldsby, 2015. 
  (All rights reserved.) 

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 to see a list of the businesses that help to sponsor all of my chess efforts.

  A big deal - at least, it is for me.  (I have actually reached this several times.)  
  (I now have reached 5000! Dec. 10th, 2005.)  

 Here is a little information about me ... and how I got started in chess. 

 (My biography / list of accomplishments.)  

 (Click here for more info about Rain Forests and other things.) 

(Remember the Rain Forest?)

This is my "Bio."

•   -  I started to play chess when I was 3-4 years old. I used to watch my Dad, (My dad’s name was John Raymond Goldsby, he died around 1989 or '90.); play his friends in his Radio & Television Repair Shop. I would sit on an upside down bushel-basket, and watch with wonder. Most of the time I was too bashful to say anything. (My Father believed that children should be seen and not heard.)
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•   -  I loved the game at first sight. I forced my brother and sisters to learn to play to have someone to practice against. I played at every opportunity.
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•   -  I won the first tournament I ever played in. It was the Myrtle Grove Elementary school Championship. (Many of my oldest friends remember that I was more interested in the marble game outside, than my opponent’s moves.) It was obvious that no one there could beat me. Even though 6th-grader’s and Teachers were allowed to play. This was in 1964. I was six years old.
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•   -  I won the first USCF-rated tournament that I played in. The year was 1966. 
   It was called, "The Greater Escambia County Championship." The tournament was a double-knockout format. (Swiss System tournaments had not yet become the norm in the south. The majority of the first tournaments that I played back then in were the Round-Robin format.) I drew one game, and won the rest. I am not even sure what my first rating was. When I played again some 2-3 years later, they rated me as a beginner.  
   ---> My first USCF rating (that I recall) was around 1000.
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•  I showed some promise in some early games, especially in tactical battles. I would occasionally play an entire [tournament] game in just 5 minutes.
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•  Naturally, this led to many oversights. I did not understand positional chess, especially at first.
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•   I defeated the  first  Master,  Senior Master,  and  International Master  that I ever played in USCF chess!! This is a feat that no one else, (to my knowledge), has ever accomplished!! (A friend says that he is doing research and wants to have my achievement recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.)
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•   -  I eventually (first) broke into Master (+2200), when I was in my late 20’s. 
    I have won well over 200 USCF-rated tournaments. I have held many titles. 
    I won clear first in the AL State Championship in 1997. 
    I hold the title of US Champion, (Expert Class); in Game in 60 minutes. 
    (New Orleans, 1992.  ---> I still have the trophy for this event.). 
    I was the U.S. Handicap [time] Champion in 1981. 
    I also won a National Problem-solving tournament in NY in the late 70’s. 
    (The result was weighted according to how much time you took to solve the 
     problems, how many you got correct, and what your rating was.) 
    I am a well-known competitor in NW FL and most of AL. I have been 
    Champion of many U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force bases. 
    In 2011, I tied for first place in the LA State Championships.  (cross-table) 
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•  I am currently 55 years old. (Born February 12th, 1958.) I am widowed and have 3 children. (Plus, I have a very handsome step-son.) I reside in Pensacola, FL. If you want to know more, e-mail me at:  lifemasteraj@yahoo.com.  

(Actually the above two cartoons are a little private, personal joke. I have struggled with the Dragon Defense for over 30 years in my chess-playing career. I also used these little cartoons on my first "bio" page that was posted on the Internet -- completely unchanged -- for over a year.)

  Copyright (c) LM A.J. Goldsby I  

 Copyright (©) A.J. Goldsby, 1985-2014.  

Copyright (©) A.J. Goldsby, 2015.  All rights reserved. 

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 Last edit or save {on this page} on: 04/01/2015 .  

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