When did you learn to play chess?
I learned how to move the pieces at the ripe old age of 12. I played in my first tournament two months later and walked away with a 1068 rating. I should add that I was overrated, since my one victory came from a man that actually grabbed my Rook and mated himself. He wanted the game to end so he could make an appointment! My real strength after my first event was around 900.

How fast was your progress?
I became class a "B" player when I hit 14 (1670), was "A" class at 15 (1900) and reached mid-expert strength (2100) by the time I was 16.

When did you become a master?
I moved to San Francisco when I was 19 (from San Diego) and instantly earned a master ranking, tying for first with U.S. Champion John Grefe (and drawing our individual game) in my first SF event.

What kind of study program did you use?
I mostly looked at endless master games (while simultaneously eating copious amounts of ice cream), sometimes going over several hundred in a single day (only stopping when I was slaphappy and drooling). Most young players I talk to don’t go over nearly enough master games, and now that databases are available there’s simply no excuse for this.

What attracted you to a chess career?
The money and the women.

Who do you think are the top 10 players in history?
1) Fischer, 2) Kasparov, 3) Karpov, 4) Lasker, 5) Alekhine, 6) Capablanca, 7) Steinitz, 8) Botvinnik, 9) Tal, 10) Petrosian.

Would you recommend chess as a profession?
In my day chess represented endless adventure and artistic expression. Today things have changed for the worse and I no longer view the game as an intelligent career move. Of course, I still view chess as one of the finest hobbies possible.

Who are your favorite players?
First Alekhine, then Fischer, then Petrosian, and then Karpov.

You gave a link to a boxing site. Do you really like this barbaric sport?
There is nothing more beautiful than two people beating each other’s brains out in a small ring. My only laments: judges should be trained and professionally paid--bad judging is an abomination, but it’s all too common. Also, championship fights should be 15 rounds again.

What do you think of the Polgar sisters?
I have met all three Polgar sisters, seeing them in Czech Republic (Susan and I were both playing in Pardubice), New York (Judit and I played with a draw resulting. Of course, she was only 2 at the time), Brazil (Sofia played in a junior event), England (Susan was very young but still made a powerful impression in the junior event she was playing in), Monte Carlo (Judit and Susan both competed in the Melody Amber), and Mazatlan, Mexico (all three sisters were present and leapt into the pool right after I interviewed them). I have found all of them to be highly talented, very nice people, lacking in the huge chess ego that most males carry around. I usually have no trouble roasting a fellow player (friend or foe), but I couldn’t find a negative thing to say about these young ladies if I tried.

Why didn’t you ever get the grandmaster title?
Getting the title calls for a tremendous amount of talent, or a tremendous amount of work. I don’t have the talent to pick the title out of thin air, so complete devotion to chess would be the only way to accomplish this task. The usual way that guys like me get the grandmaster title is to play in several round robin (gm-norm) European events a year. You might bomb in four or five in a row, but eventually the stars will be in alignment and a norm will come your way. Then you repeat the process again and again until you obtain the required three norms. Unfortunately, I have interests outside of chess and am not willing to put in the necessary energy to accomplish this goal. In fact, it’s hard to get me out of my house! Having me fly to Europe over and over just isn’t going to happen.

What is the best order to read your books?
The answer depends on your strength. However, let’s say you are 1800 or below. In that case:

Read HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS through page 28.

Next: Read all of THE AMATEUR’S MIND.

Next: Go back to HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS and read it all.

Next: Read all of THE REASSESS YOUR CHESS WORKBOOK.

Take note: THE COMPLETE BOOK OF CHESS STRATEGY is not a book to be read cover to cover. It’s a reference work. Thus, if you have a question about isolated pawns, go to that section and it will give you a quick, easy to understand explanation. If you want to learn about mating patterns, go to that section and you will be given the keys to the universe. You can use this book whenever any chess question comes up and it will give you all the basic information you need in 2-4 pages.