Kelly was a latecomer to chess. He learned the moves at age 12 during the Fischer boom, but only played a few dozen games and forgot all about chess for the next 11 years. At the age of 23, He and his best friend rediscovered the game and got hooked. In the next 18 months, they played almost 3000 games against each other (and went through a couple of girlfriends who didn't appreciate their chess obsession), as well as about 500 games against other players. He estimated his strength at that time: "I had a large plus score against 2000 level opponents, so I'd say I was probably playing at the Class A/Expert level at that time. However, I soon burned out and dropped the game completely for the next decade."
In his mid-thirties, his interest in chess arose again and he began to study and play off and on, but didn't get serious about it until the spring of 2000. In his words: "I discovered that I'd forgotten most of what I'd previously learned and was only playing at the Class D level. Since then though, I've improved and have almost reached the Class A level again."
Kelly's chess style has matured with age and experience. "In my twenties, I was a wild attacking player, but now, I love the beauty of positional play and try to stifle my opponent's counterplay and piece mobility. Still, I love a wild tactical free-for-all when the occasion arises. I tend to play aggressive defenses as black and more solid, but still active openings as white."
Online, Kelly usually plays at FICS as Chessdaddy, and is a member of the About.com chess team playing in the Online Chess League, where he's also a committee member. One of his big hobbies is collecting chess quotations. He now has over 2000 entries and hopes to have them published as a book in the next year.
Currently, he's a 41-year-old sales manager for a communications & electronics company. He's also the forum host and an administrator with About.com's Chess site. He and his wife live in Alabama and have three beautiful young daughters.
Bryan learned chess from his father at the age of 8. His father taught him through a trial-and-error method, slowly learning from his mistakes. He didn't really play anyone in chess until high school. There he played in the school's chess club for a couple years.
He went to the University of Rochester, where he pretty much forgot about chess. Throughout his undergraduate education, he estimates playing perhaps 10-15 casual games. He attended the Masters Program in School Psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo (from which he recently graduated). It was during graduate school that he heard Caissa's call.
Bryan joined the United States Chess Federation in 1999. Uneducated in formal strategy and tactics, he had some difficulty in his first few events. After purchasing a couple chess books, he found that he was obsessed as he learned about the different openings, tactics, and strategies. His first published rating in 1999 was 1058, but since then he has been steadily improving with his current USCF rating at 1556. His best results include 2nd place in the U1400 Section of the 2000 Cleveland Open and tying for 2nd place in the U1600 Section in the 2001 Marchand Open.
He describes his chess style: "I like aggressive, tactical games. I enjoy sharp positions with open piece play and my openings tend to lead toward these. I will often give up a pawn or two for the initiative (more than that usually isn't on purpose). Sometimes, I end up paying for over-aggressiveness, but win or lose I make sure the game is interesting."
He plays often at the Rochester Chess Center in Rochester, NY. Online, he plays on both FICS and ICC as bscastro. Recently graduated, he is currently seeking employment as a school psychologist in the Western New York area.
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