Born in Kansas City, Mo., I grew up in mid-Missouri as my family followed my father’s work, even spending about 6 months in Jefferson City during third grade. We settled down on a portion of my mother’s family farm south of Renick and Moberly in southern Randolph County. It was on the farm that I learned to play chess. My paternal grandmother gave me a board and chess set and taught me the rules of the game when I was eight years old. I began my chess journey playing games after homework and chores with my maternal uncle, who had learned chess in the Air Force and was staying on the farm while he finished his college studies. For years, I just played with family and friends and grew pretty strong within that group of players.

My first introduction to the tournament chess world was uncomfortable at best as I visited MU Chess Club where I was treated as if I didn’t belong because I didn’t know about chess clocks. That experience stuck with me, and when I did find my way into the tournament chess world, I was better prepared for dealing with such attitudes among some players. 

For my 31st birthday, my wife and uncle conspired with my newspaper editor to get me to a U.S. Chess Federation tournament in Peoria, Il. I only won one game out of five, but I played close enough to challenge myself to really develop my game and get into that world. I had the tournament chess bug. During my tournament chess career, I climbed the lower ranks of Missouri chess to my current Class C standing. Along the way, I won three Missouri class championships.

While I still compete in tournaments to maintain my active player status with the USCF, I turned my chess energy toward coaching when my son was born. I wanted him to have the opportunity of playing in a tournament chess community that I did not have growing up. Plus I had seen the level of play at the state scholastic tournaments, and I realized that I was a strong enough player to teach kids to play at that level. I developed a curriculum and approach that was welcoming to all players who were interested in learning no matter what their interest in tournament chess was. The curriculum had to build a player up, lighting a passion for the game that would hopefully encourage students to keep playing the game as a life activity. My Mid Missouri Chess Academy concept and curriculum was born. It went from a hobby effort focused on basics training to eventually my full-time job with intermediate and advanced curriculums. I commit to each student to support them wherever they choose to go in their chess journey as much as I am able. I became a USCF tournament director to be able to establish an area scholastic series to give kids the opportunity to earn national rating points locally. For many years, my academy has provided USCF memberships to local kids to ensure that was not a barrier for them to compete.