Greetings!

I'm a noob, as they say, to the world of tournament chess. I've loved the game ever since I was a kid, but never under any organized conditions. I started actually studying the games through books a few years ago and have enjoyed slowly improving my game.

I started teaching English at Spring Valley High School in the fall of '06. Spring Valley had a lunch time chess club that gave some kids a place to play. We have been slowly transforming the club from a random showing of folks at lunch to a dedicated group who want to train and learn.

Bob Holiday (Columbia Chess Club; probably needs no introduction) helped us in that direction and has provided very good advice. We played a couple of tournaments last year, including the Scholastic Championships. We're looking forward to growing this year and bringing more students to tournaments.

I've become the Columbia area scholastic representative and also help Mike maintain the wiki. If you have any questions about the wiki, please don't hesitate to email me.