Hello fellow chess lovers!

I'm a 51-year-old writer/editor/musician, married and living on the West Coast. My favourite chess players are among the great tacticians: Paul Morphy, Frank Marshall, Alexander Alekhine, Paul Keres, Mikhail Tal, and Bobby Fischer. Been playing on RHP for several years now and it's improved my game tremendously. Thank you RHP!

The cheaters on chess sites can be a nuisance, but then again those who need to cheat here to feel good about themselves need pity and prayer a lot more than judgment....

As in life, it's about looking beyond the mud to find the gold!

Above: Amor Vincit Omnia. Brendan Gleeson in redemption film Calvary, a modern classic.

Great classic jazz album & personal fave: A Love Supreme
(For an amazing transcription of Trane's poem/psalm set to its musical counterpart, check it out on YouTube).

I'll occasionally refer to opening book theory and research Chessgames.com for unfamiliar openings, as site rules allow, and I strongly recommend it to improve opening knowledge. Using engines, on the other hand, is both cheating and really pointless as you can never truly win a game that way: "Glory stain'd is a vict'ry Pyrrhic - a shamed knave prancing on sad stilts."

"Chess is the place we can be both lovers and fighters." D.B. (yours truly)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation" - Psalms 27:1

Enjoy your games & God bless!