Bill Merrell, Blue Springs, Missouri
The question is the answer
There's madness to my methods
Chess is a morbid game played only by weirdies.
The above is a quote. [Fritz Leiber, 'The 64-square Mad House' - parts of which are given in Bronstein's "Chess in the Eighties" - which in itself was one of the most disappointing books I've ever bought.] Fritz Leiber was a fantasy writer - mostly in the '60's and '70's. He also was a tournament chess player
Lines 2 and 3 are quotes (or paraphrases) also. Line 3 is paraphrasing a line in a Sherlock Holmes novel...Line 2 comes from a fantasy novel I read maybe thirty years ago, and I haven't come across it since. It does express an interesting philisophy though, doesn't it?
When I started in ICC (in 1997) my USCF rating was close to 1900, now it's dropping down to my floor. It's not a lot of fun growing old! But it beats the alternative, so I've been told. [Then again, who would really know?]
| Type | Rating | Best | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Blitz | Rating | 1279 | Best | 1775 (23/Jan/1998) |
| Type | Standard | Rating | 1500 | Best | |
| Type | Bullet | Rating | 1252 | Best | |
| Type | 5-minute | Rating | 1325 | Best |