With ENTHUSIASM, I became a Subscriber to RHP on June 4th, 2009 ... and entered my first tournament, etc.

Hi! I am a seventy-three year old WOODPUSHER! In my youth I started playing USCF chess at the age of 27. Had a decent "A" rating before RETIRING as 1) a "USCF Local Tournament Director," and 2) in 1973-74, a (California) member of the USCF Board of Directors, installed by International Master George Koltanowski, when I was running "The Game Place" in Sunnyvale, California. Now I am a Tibetan Buddhist Gelong (Monk), Lama and Rinpoche (recognized in 1996 as a "Western Emanation" of Sakya Pandita.
JULY 27, 2010 UPDATE: After a year of play on RHP I have been up to 2035 and ... going down to 1717 from 1949, clearing out old LOST games ... back UP! Also on July 25th, in one day, I WON MY FIRST TWO RHP TOURNAMENTS ... with more to come soonishly. SO THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! WHEW! I am grateful to have a place such as RHP in which to exercise my old habit -- playing CHESS!

In OCTOBER 2010 I became a new member in a number of other Clubs in addition to RHP-Club#221, CLuB COLORADO USA, which I had started in 2009. As an ADMIN, I run tournaments in the Club Forum for NON-SUBSCRIBING members. SARVA MANGALAM ... ALL IS AUSPICIOUS!

Um ... EXCEPTION REPORT: In the Fall of 2010 I went crazy and my GIP (Games in Progress) went over 700. In January of 2011, I resolved to reduce the GIP to below 100, etc. In mid-June I had a COMPUTER CRASH; by July 1st, NO HOME COMPUTERS; July 6th to 20th I attended the www.Kalachakra2011.com EMPOWERMENT & INITIATIONS with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. And lost over 400 games on TIME-OUTS! On June 23rd, I reached some level of RECOVERY, still no computer other than at libraries, etc., but GIP down to 200 games, finally! For the sake of my WRITING, and Spiritual Study & Practice, I am WINDING DOWN & EVENTUALLY OUT OF RHP ONLINE CHESS, finally!

Kindest regards & ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!

Sapan Ri