Player Profile: Ricardo

In the first of our Player Profile series, we hear from CCGC member Ricardo about his first steps in chess, his favorite players, and more. Check back frequently for more player profiles!

RICARDO

Age: 34

Nickname: the Fist

When did you learn how to play chess? I learned the moves at nine, but I didn't really learn anything else about the game until I purchased Chessmaster 3000 when I was seventeen. In that software I was exposed to all sorts of amazing facets to the game of chess: its rich history, the great players who shaped that history, the brilliant games they played, the thousands of different lines of opening play. It was like The Matrix when Neo swallowed the red pill. Or the blue pill, hell, I don't know. Whatever the color was, Neo learned that there was far more to existence than he ever dreamed - my experience with chess through Chessmaster 3000 was the same.

Favorite openings: 1 e4 and 1 c4. I suppose I'd rather play against Sicilians or Ruy Lopezes more than other 1 e4 openings. The Caro-Kann and French can be frustrating, and the Pirc tends to get a little dry. I don't care much for facing the Alekhine, and I've always had trouble with the Scandanavian. As for 1 c4, I like all types of English positions, though it's often slower than several 1 e4 lines.

As black I prefer the Caro-Kann and occasionally the Sicilian against 1 e4. Against 1 d4 or 1 c4, I have yet to find a defense I really like - I've been recently experimenting with the Slav and related defenses.

Favorite players: Yasser Seirawan is probably my favorite favorite, though I have a default fondness for all American players. (USA! USA!) Outside of our shores, I like David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, Viswanathan Anand, and of course Garry Kasparov. I actually admire a lot of Grandmasters, too many to name here. This is just the short list.

Favorite games: (I'll try to keep this short) Morphy-Duke & Count, 1858; Ed. Lasker-Thomas, 1912; Eliskases-Grunfeld, 1933; R. Byrne-Fischer, 1963; Benko-Suttles, 1964; Fischer-Petrosian, 1971; Bronstein-Ljubojevic, 1973; Spassky-Tal, 1973; Karpov-Korchnoi, 1974; Ljubojevic-Andersson, 1976; Kasparov-Portisch, 1983; Alburt-Weinstein, 1984; Seirawan-Kasparov, 1989; Seirawan-Timman, 1990; Hodgson-Oll, 1993; Kasparov-Shirov, 1994; Anand-Lautier, 1997; Kasparov-Topalov, 1999; An obscure but beautiful game is Kupferstich-Andreassen, 1953

Favorite chess books: Seirawan's Winning Chess series, Garry Kasparov's Fighting Chess, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Bronstein and Furstenburg, The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Chernev, Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking by McDonald, Profile of a Prodigy (Bobby Fischer) by Brady, Learn From The Grandmasters edited by Keene, Five Crowns by Seirawan and Tisdall, Persona Non Grata by Korchnoi, The Inner Game of Chess, Soviet Chess, and Los Voraces 2019 by Soltis, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by Rowson. I'm probably forgetting a title or two.

What do you do away from the chessboard? I'm a college student and longtime guitarist. I also like to do some writing here and there, hence my involvement with the blog.

What's so cool about chess? There's so very much! The players, their games, the books, the history...getting invested in this game will yield great rewards. The unique combination of entertainment and mental stimulation this game provides is unlike any other. Don't limit yourself to casual games of chess! Play over the great games played by the masters! Study tactics! Try solving composed problems and studies! You'll be amazed with what you learn and how much fun it is.