Chess event: Doctors without Borders

What’s the scoop on this latest Chess event?

On the 10 Aug 12 at 8am EST, an online chess friend of mine, Bryan Bailey, is planning to play100 war zone tournaments on ChessCube.com – to raise donations for, and awareness of – Doctors without Borders.

The event will be streamed live, via twitch.tv/goose0202 and, if things go as planned, that’s a mind-bending 25+ hours of high octane speed chess!!If you’re a regular reader of ChessCreator.com, you might well recall his earlier 1,000 consecutive 1-minute bullet games event – that raised money for, and awareness of, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Bryan raised in excess of $1,500 last time and, for this event, has a target of $1,000 – if you can, please, please donate, watch, tweet, share, etc. This has the potential to be the largest, coolest live chess event – ever, and you’ve got be part of it, seriously! For more information, contact Bryan, through GooseChess on YouTube, his Facebook event page.

Who is the chess player, performing this incredible feat?

Bryan, who is a self-confessed bullet addict, and rated around 2350 on ChessCube, has a rather unorthodox background. He first learned chess aged 6, but then didn’t return to the game, until aged 14; in effect, teaching himself using interactive Chessmaster lessons on xBox, in conjunction with correspondence games. Then, he watched 100s of hours of blitz chess videos, by IM Greg Shahade, concentrating almost exclusively on tactics – and, amazingly, not studying opening theory.

In the real-word, Bryan doesn’t hold any formal USCF or FIDE rankings.  This being said, he founded his high-school chess club, and has played for his university. In a recent tournament, he scored 3 out of 4, with no losses, claiming the scalp of an USCF 2080. Given this, and his peak ChessCube rating of 2490, I’ve no doubt he’s one of the most dangerous un-rated players on the planet, especially in 1-min bullet chess!

I had the pleasure of playing a series of bullet games, against Bryan; the score was 6 – 1 – to him, of course (and, trust me, I was lucky to get the 1!).  He’s a great bullet chess player, and a genuinely great guy – I’m proud to support him and his event.  For more information, contact Bryan, through GooseChess on YouTube, his Facebook event page.