SSgt Craig Hadrych playing chess in a pub in England
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I am in the process of putting together a new post on this blog in which I will have annoted games from Staff Sargent Craig Hadrych's recent success at the The British Combined Services Chess Championships. His strong performance will now allow him to compete in the NATO Armed Services Chess Championships. I hope to have it up on this site as soon as I have a bit more time to put it all together. Below is a portion of his email to me:
Dr. Mieth,
I don’t know if you remember me or not. Brief history, I am chess lover, like you. I am a good friends with Tom Warner, Don Hoak, Eddie Mark, Lionel Davies, Glenn, etc. The whole Chess gang if you will. Currently, I am stationed at RAF Mildenhall, UK with the US AirForce. I remember meeting you a few years ago at a tournament in Tonawanda.
Tom and I go way back. He taught me how to play chess. We keep in contact. I don’t get to visit Eden and the WNY chess scene as much as I would like, because of military obligations.
Tom said it was ok to send you stuff about my chess events. I am starting to play more events in England. I would like to become a master at some point. Currently I am rated USCF 1823, so I have a long way to go.
Tom showed me the website a while back, and I am regular visitor to the site. I try to visit it at least once a week to see what is going on in my home town. I really appreciate you hard work and care you take in creating a nice website. I am very impressed. You do a great job.
Recap, I sent Tom three of my games from a recent tournament I played in called The British Combined Services Chess Championship. I was unable to attend the US Air Force Chess Championship held in Arizona due to work, so I went to this one instead. It was great fun.
I never annoted my games before, hopefully I did a good job. It had a lot of fun writing about my own games and thoughts. I didn’t realize how much hard work it is.
Morevoer, I forgot to add that I took 1st place in the annual Knock out Blitz tournament going undefeated. Secondly, We were lucky enough to meet GM Ray Keene, the first British GM. He did a lecture about Bobby Fisher and went over some of his games and took questions. "
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Ray Keene was not the first British Grandmaster - Tony Miles pipped him to the title by a few months. I hope Keene didn't describe himself as Britain's first GM.
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