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Chess Resume
By A.J. Goldsby I
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- I am a Nationally recognized ... Original USCF LIFE - Master.
(My rating FLOOR is now 2200.)- I am a full-time Chess Teacher & Chess Player. (I also have my own computer-consulting business.)
- I have taught chess in both the public schools of Escambia County, and several private schools in and around Pensacola. In 1998-1999, (approx. two years) I was the chess instructor at the "Creative Learning Center" - a private school in Pensacola, FL. I have also designed curriculum for chess courses for schools all around the state of FL. (This included a course outline, day-by-day lesson plans, tests, and many other features.) It is based on the book, "The Complete Chess-Player," by Fred Reinfeld.
- I have written many articles that have received attention at the National Level for outstanding content and quality. And I have been nominated for numerous [chess] writing awards. (Many, MANY times.) For example: (Honorable Mention by, "The Chess Journalists of America." 1998 & 1999!)
MANY of my best articles ... were never nominated! For example, my article and deeply annotated game, that I did for FL-CHESS {Fall - 2000} was never nominated. (Despite the fact that one USCF Policy Board Member promised to do so!!) This was one of my very best articles ... I still get requests for a copy of this analysis. Literally over a hundred chess-players, to include five or six Masters, shook my hand at various tournaments ... to tell me this was one of the finest articles they had ever seen!!- I have written articles for 10-20 different State Chess Magazines.
- I am one of the top reviewers of chess books for Amazon.com.
- I have a regular chess column in the Georgia, Alabama, and Florida State Chess Magazines. (3 different states.)
(This WAS true when this was first written ... during the time period, 2000-2001. I am currently - since about 2007 - the games editor for the "FL Chess" magazine.)- I have won well over 150 nationally rated (U.S. Chess Federation) Tournaments. (Mostly week-end Swisses.)
My best tournament performance to date was the New York Open of 1995. I played several GM's and IM's. (Tkachiev, Nijboer, Valvo, etc.) I defeated several strong players and managed an even score. One opponent did not have a current FIDE rating, even though he had been previously FIDE-rated. Because of this technicality, I did not receive a FIDE rating. But if my opponents had all been allowed to use their [previous] ratings, my Performance Rating would have been equal to OR GREATER THAN 2450 FIDE! (I gained many USCF rating points at this one tourney.)
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In Gainesville, FL - the following year, I went 5-0. I defeated one IM, one FM (also a USCF Senior Master), and at least one NM. My performance rating for this tournament was close to or over 2600 USCF!!
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In 1993 I played in the International (Open) Tournament in Bermuda.
I tied for second with such luminaries as GM's A. Soltis, D. Gurevich, and
the
(then) current U.S. Champion, Patrick Wolff. (IM Igor Ivanov also tied
for first, I believe.)
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Again in 1993 I went through the "Expert" (Under-2200) section of the World Open undefeated. (I tied for second.) I had six (6) wins and three draws. Many (most!) of the (top) players that I played, (in this event); were former National Masters.
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In 1994, I apparently had a very good year. Going through the notebooks that contain the scores of my games, it seems I lost very few times in local tournaments. Meanwhile, I have the trophies for the following events: The Pensacola Summer Sizzler and The Pensacola Open. (Both 5-round Swiss tournaments where many masters competed. Names like Ross Sprague, Danny Miller, Mark Todd, Moshe Khatena, etc. ALL of these players were masters! Plus players like Joe Jurjevich and Rick Frye - both strong experts.) The Azalea City Open, The Silver Unicorn Open, The {Open} City Championships, and the Space City Open. (All from Mobile, AL.) I also went 5-0 in a tournament in Panama City, Florida. I won clear first and also received the trophy for first there as well.
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When I won the Alabama State Championship, (1997, Clear First) my USCF PR was around 2550. (7 rounds, My score was 6 wins one draw. I defeated three USCF National Masters, and at least two former State Champions. Five of the 7 players were or are National Masters today.) (One of the articles I wrote for the AL 'Chess Antics' on this tournament, was voted as the best of that year by the "Chess Journalists of America.")
- I have won or tied for first in State Championships at least five different times, in three different state's championships. (Florida, Alabama, and New Mexico.) I have been Base Champion of several different U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Bases. (Two that I still have the trophies for are: Ft. Eustis, Va. and Kirtland, A.F.B; NM. {4 times} I was also base Champion of Keflavik, {U.S. Navy} Iceland; and Minot A.F.B; North Dakota.)
- I was the National Problem solving Champion for 1972-1973.
(This was a contest {New York} based on how many problems you solved correctly and what was the amount of time you took to solve them. It was also weighted according to your rating.) I won the U.S. [Handicap] Championship at the U.S. Open at Palo Alto, Ca in 1980. {Handicapped on time, according to the difference in your rating.} I was the U.S. Game/60 Expert Champion (New Orleans, LA) in 1992. (I still have the trophy.)
I have won dozens and dozens of trophies over the years. I currently have around 30-50 floating around the house.- I hold a Master's Rating on virtually every chess server I have ever played on. (On several different servers, I had a master's rating in Bullet, Lightning, Blitz, and standard chess.) Look me up on "The Internet Chess Club." (LifeMasterAJ) Or on "chess-dot-net." (A_J_Goldsby)
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- I am currently 54 years old, (born Feb, 12th, 1958); and have played chess since my Father taught me when I was four years old. I played in my first tournament at the age of six. (The 1964 Myrtle Grove Elementary School Championships. I won. I played my first U.S.C.F. - rated tournament in 1966. This tournament was called, "The Greater Escambia All-County Championships." This tournament was neither a Swiss nor a Round-Robin; but a double-knockout affair. {The TD did not know how to run a Swiss!} I also won!)
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- I own over 2,000 chess books in my own personal collection, not counting magazines and pamphlets.
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- I have a computer that has many of the best commercially available chess programs, such as Chess Master 9000, Fritz 8.0, Hiarcs 7.32, Nimzo 8.0, Junior 6.0, etc. I also run ChessBase 8.0, (and CB 9); a professionally written software to manage and analyze chess games. I have over 3.2 MILLION chess games in my database, with few or no duplicates. (This represents one of the largest private collections/databases in the USA. Maybe in the world!!)
(This was written many years ago. Today - Nov/2009 - I have ChessBase 10.0 and Fritz 12.)
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- I am a certified U.S. Chess Federation certified Tournament Director. (TD)
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- My current U.S.C.F. Rating is around 2218. [Unofficial] (2200 = Master.) My highest USCF rating was 2295. (Slow, over-the-board chess.) I have held a Master's Rating on like 10-20 different {internet} chess servers.
- Even World Champions may not have an endgame position named after them, but I do. ("The GOLDSBY Position.") In short, it is a relatively NEW winning method that I discovered for FORCING a win with a King and Queen vs. a King and a lone Rook; when the Rook separates itself from the King. Simply put - I was the first to discover this method! (Check 'Chess Life,' the April and May issues of 1988. See GM Pal Benko's end-game column.) Although Benko brushed it off, it was one of the most important discoveries - in this particular endgame - since the "Philidor Position," of the late 1700's! (I will write an in-depth article about this subject and post it later on one of my web-sites.)
- I also have an opening variation named after me. "THE GOLDSBY VARIATION." (See the book, "Winning With The Giuoco Piano and The Max Lange Attack," [Revised 2nd Edition.]; by GM Andy Soltis. Chapter Four (4); Page # fifty-nine. (59)
- In 2002, I the crucial combination of one of the most famous games that was ever played.
( R. Reti - A. Alekhine; Baden - Baden; 1925. ) This was verified by no less than GM Andy Soltis. Click HERE to see the FULLY annotated game AND read the full text of the Soltis letter.- Many titled players, (GM's and IM's) have told me I have one of the best private chess web sites in the whole world!!! (I have many different sites now.)
- I built a web page (Dec, 2001) on the game, Capablanca - Tartakower; New York, 1924. (I consider this game to be the FINEST R+P ending ever played!!) The page is one of the finest jobs of annotation I have ever done. (Very nice, & in-depth.) This game was featured on a Spanish Chess Server. The link was carried on several other chess servers, including a RUSSIAN chess server. The link was also printed in a French chess magazine in March, 2002. As of the second week of April, 2002 ... this web page had received MORE THAN TWELVE THOUSAND (12,000) HITS!!! In April, 2002, ... I received an e-mail from a student in Shanghai. He wanted my permission to translate this game into ... CHINESE!!
- In 2002 I received an e-mail from a GM who was in the "Top 30" in the world, according to his FIDE rating. He had gone over my analysis of the contest:
Pillsbury - Tarrasch; Hastings, 1895. He and his student found NO errors in my work, and further ... he stated: "That your views and analysis on many
of these older games may be the final word," in these historic contests.- I now have had letters printed in GM Larry Evan's column in 'Chess Life' in two successive months. (February AND March, 2003.) I know of very
few people who have ever even managed this nice little trick!!! (At one point, I was sending Evans around 20 letters every month.)- See my letter in the DECEMBER, 2003 issue of 'CL.' (Page 12.) (The 'Best Question' for that month.)
I also have the 'Best Question' for the March, 2005 issue of CL as well.- In August of 2004, I was notified that I had received the following awards: Category 19, Best General Chess Web Site; (2004) ... ... ...
and also ... Category 21, Best Web-Based Analysis; (2004) by the organization ... "The Chess Journalists of America."- In the October, 2004 'Chess Life,' they list my various awards. (The article on CJA awards ... page 10-11 of the magazine.)
- See the August, 2005 'Chess Life,' (Larry Evan's column, page # 45); for another letter that I had published in the national chess magazine.
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My letter to Joel Benjamin ... in the (on-line) issue of Chess Life. (Dec, 2006.)
- CJA awards my page "Best Web-Based Analysis" for 2005. (See cat. # 22.)
- CJA awards my page "Best Web-Based Analysis" for 2006. (See cat. # 22.)
- I tied for first in the LA State Championships. (4 wins, 3 draws, no losses) (crosstable)
---> Tuesday, August 19th, 2003: It is obvious to me that my web pages are having quite an impact.
A student of a Russian GM - who lives in a southern state - wrote me and told me that the GM printed out one of my games as an example of really good and in-depth chess analysis. (He told him that this was near-perfect work, and that analysis like mine and Kotov's were the example to aspire to!)
I hold in my hand the September, (2003) 'CHESS LIFE.' On page 60, GM Larry Evans gives the game, Kasparov-Topalov as the greatest chess game ever played. The really weird thing is that he gives exclams and stuff in all the same places I do.
And GM Andy Soltis ... in his column, on page 14 ... talks about two games of Fischer's that he "rediscovered" for his new book. Against Portisch, Stockholm Interzonal, 1962. And another game he mentions was Fischer's "titanic battle" with Charles Kalme, from the 1958-'59 U.S. Championship.
This is really unusual. I clearly remember a U.S. Open - probably over 20 years ago. I asked Soltis about the Portisch game, and he told me it "was pretty crude, Portisch made several mistakes." He said if I had any questions, I should go over the game score in the book of Fischer's games by Robert G. Wade and Kevin J. O'Connell. I was not satisfied with this, but as I was a much lower-rated player at the time, I kept my mouth shut and did not question Andy. (Who was probably one of the "Top 20" players in the whole of the United States, at least at the time this little incident took place.)
Years later, I went over this game again when I was stationed in North Dakota. I scribbled a note to myself, (in the margins of my book); that this was an outstanding game, and I should study in-depth ... if I ever got the chance. Skip ahead about 10-15 years, and I am a teaching chess a lot on the Internet. One of my students decides to deeply analyze this game. (I think I might have mentioned it to this student one time during our many telephone conversations.) We go over it a couple of times together. All this leads me to begin about a two-to-three year analysis of this game which culminates in my publishing a fairly decent analysis of this game on my end-game web site. Hmmmm. -----> Somewhere along the way, Soltis "re-discovered" this great game.
I have a very good friend, Stephen Davis. (Steve is sort of a protégé of mine.) Anyway, he came over one day about 1995. (Give or take 1-3 years either way, sorry ... this is from memory.) Anyway, Steve likes to go over chess game and have me explain them to him. I gave him the Fischer book, and told him to "pick a game at random, preferably an un-annotated game." The game he picked was the game versus Kalme. We spent an entire lovely afternoon, with the window wide open and the sun streaming in, going over this game. Steve was fascinated by this game, we examined this game several more times at chess club. Steve would ask me about this game practically every time he saw me ... for months. I eventually did a hand-written analysis of this game that filled up half a legal pad. (I also wrote many chess magazines about this game.) I wrote Soltis in 1998 - I still have {a copy of} the letter. I mentioned several different subjects, INCLUDING THE KALME GAME!!! (I don't think Andy ever answered that letter.)
---> But guess which game he re-discovered?
NOTE: As of June, 2005 - I (now) have ChessBase 9.0.
To
verify any of the above information,
visit the U.S. Chess Federation’s website at www.uschess.org.
NEW ADDRESS FOR US CHESS FEDERATION:
U.S. Chess; P.O. Box 3967, Crossville, TN
38557
OLD ADDRESS FOR US CHESS FEDERATION:
3068 US Rt. 9W, Suite #100, (# 200) New Windsor, NY 12553
(This address is still valid for some items.)
Or call the USCF Business Office at (914) 562-8350.
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Page last updated: Wednesday, April 01, 2015 .
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Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby I
Copyright
(©) A.J. Goldsby, 1995 - 2014.
Copyright (©) A.J. Goldsby, 2015. All rights reserved.