RCC 1 – January 27, 2025

Russell Harrison

Like many others of my age group, I first experienced the game of chess in the aftermath of American grandmaster Bobby Fischer’s rise to the world chess championship in 1972. I started playing the game with my father around the age of ten, just as Anatoly Karpov was crowned as Fischer’s successor to the chess throne upon Fischer’s default of the title in 1975. My dad could play chess and had a good understanding of the rules, but within a year of beginning our series of games together I had won enough games against him that our games became less and less of a routine and eventually stopped. This kind of situation is not rare in families.

I did not play that often during my middle school years as I did not have many friends who played the game. My exposure to the chess world became one of a student of library books I could access. I was a voracious reader at that time, so I enjoyed going over tournament histories as well as a few how-to-play titles whether at my school or the city libraries in Hamilton, Ontario where I grew up. As a result, my orientation in chess has often been as a student of it.

In high school, I joined its chess club and began to play over-the-board (OTB) games with a group of fellow players. Many lunch-hour battles ensued and I really got hooked on chess because of that. I was able to play in a number of tournament matches between our high school and its rivals. I reached the level of third board on the school team and learned a lot about the dynamics of team play in chess.

However, I was not in a domestic environment conducive to develop further as a player. My folks were not overtly hostile towards my nascent interest in taking chess more seriously as a pursuit. That being the case, it was also clear to me that I was not going to be actively encouraged in that direction. As time passed and my schooling progressed, chess began taking progressively less and less of my enthusiasm and time.

Once I graduated from high school and began my university studies, the opportunities I had for playing and studying chess dried up. I was not yet in the Internet age and online possibilities to play and learn further simply did not exist. As I became more independent and moved from my hometown, chess faded far into the background. It is safe to state that I did not play a game of chess for the next twenty-plus years!

It was not until my mid-forties that I actually began playing the game again. I started to read up on the developments of the game through the world championship reign of Garry Kasparov and his successors. My interest in chess history slowly rekindled.

As a teen, I could reasonably place my playing strength at an intermediate club level. Although I can only recall playing one weekend rated tournament in Hamilton in the early eighties, I can hold my own as a club player. My hope is to play regularly online as a byproduct of developing this website in the months and years ahead. I am somewhat rusty at active chess even today after playing with friends more often when I was based in Montreal, Quebec into my mid-fifties. So the concept of “Rustychess” is both a nod to my first name as well as an echo to that feeling I have had from a longtime break from serious interaction with the game.

My plan is to develop this website as a project to celebrate aspects of chess history both renowned and obscured. I want to examine some of the games, tournaments, and stories of players who I have developed an interest in following over the years since my chess hiatus. As well, I wish to share my experiences as someone wanting to improve as an online and OTB player, including reviews of chess books, magazines, websites, and game-related products. I do not pretend to be a chess-playing guru, but my academic training in history and my experience as an adult language teacher gives me a good sense in how to convey worthwhile information on a game and hobby I love to those who will participate in this shared journey together with me going forward.

I encourage your feedback and suggestions for this website and whatever future chess-related sidelines ensue from it.

Enjoy your stay!

Russell Harrison

Rustychess Canada

Posted by Russell Harrison in About Me (RCC 1)