History of my Chess Play:  (Home)

I have played chess since Jerry, the boy down the street, taught me the moves when I was about 9 years old. I was a casual player for many years, but after the Fischer-Spaski match my friend Bill got me started playing in US Chess Federation tournaments. I was actively involved in chess play and organization for several years including a stint as the secretary of the Indiana State Chess Association and a delegate to the USCF annual meetings.

I quit playing competitive chess for about 25 years because of the time I spent with my 2 sons while they were growing up. For many years I used a chess table I had made right after I married my wife. It was a good chess table made from cedar and maple. My lovely wife had gotten me a very nice Rosewood and Boxwood set to go with the table and I spend many hours playing chess on it with my friends Dennis and Bill. When I retired I gave the table and set to Bill and retained my tournament set which consisted of plastic pieces and a Drueke linen board.

After 3 years of travel in our RV I found that the computer games I was playing all seemed too much alike and started to play more chess online. When we were in Tucson, AZ for the winter I started playing at the East Side Chess Club in Tucson. About that time I decided that the plastic set that had served me well for so many years, (perhaps 30) was just falling apart and I ordered a new set from the USCF. I ordered the wood Championship set. It was a very nice, playable set and fit the Drueke board very nicely.  I sold that set to be used as a Christmas present for a friend and bought a nice plastic set patterned after the set used by Fischer & Spaski during thier match in 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland. During that time I had discussed fine chess sets  with my friend Mike who is a collector and importer of fine quality chess sets. Much to my wife's dismay I became interested in heirloom quality sets. bob@mccorkles.org