I first met Jim in a corr960 game 19 months after I had become a caissa member.
I asked him his first name and he said it was Jim. I said that was a great first name. I told him that my chess handle was selected after my uncle who was named James Joseph Stack so I took the handle JJStack to remember him. My uncle never really played chess but he taught me how to play pincochle and he was very good at cribbage as well. youmayresign said he loved to play pinochle and last played in college. youmayresign was a University of Maryland graduate. YMR was also a fan of Star Wars movies and I remember him hammering me in a 960 game when he said he had to get back to his movie. YMR never seemed to play down to lower ranked players except when he joined a tournament where neophytes like me joined in the game to see how good the players like YMR, Pazuzu, Blither were. Naturally I lost to both Pazzuzu and YMR but did manage to beat the two other opponents...........more to come....

Ratanous (YMR) turned me on to this chess site back in the late 90's. We met playing Basketball at the local Rec center and discovered we lived only a mile or so apart in a rural area of Harford county, MD. We would visit several of the East coast wildlife area along the Atlantic or The Bay. A fine Birder indeed.

Jim did not have a lot to say in our chats nor did he have many words to say on the bb as well. If ever there was a person to live up to Shakespeare's saying of brevity is the soul of wit, it was Jim and he got his message across with very few but important words. One of the first things he said to me was that he thought he would lose the game to me soon. I told him don't bet on it. He was being complimentary but I knew better. YMR and I played mostly 960 corr games and I finally beat him in a game not long ago. I never beat him in a game of chess and I wish we had played more of each to be honest.
...more to come..

I never knew his name... I played many games with YMR and don't remember beating him much (if at all) He usually got the best of me (and I would resign). It saddens me to hear of his passing.

And on that note, I know very few of my opponents actual names. Mine is Glenn. And I picked the handle "Sasha" back around '97 because it sounded Russian.

Thanks for sharing Glenn. My name is Joe in case you forgot. I guess I was more curious about the first name thing back in my beginning days as a member than most people but I wanted to find out the name and whereabouts of some of the players, especially those from USA. Like jackflanders, I was convinced to join caissa by a high school friend that I met up with after our college days. It had been about ten years since I last played a game of chess. Spud, SVM, albell and Sasha were the players that played frequently in the beginning in corr games as I lost the ability to play live games which I loved after the first year. Spud (Stuart) was the first guy that I played in a corr game. I think that we beat up on each other to the point where our winning percentage went down but I had a lot of fun in those games

I figured that YMR was one who liked the great outdoors but did not know he was an avid hiker and birder. One summer a couple of years ago, I told YMR that I was headed up to Maine for vacation and that I was taking the western route through PA because my younger sister wanted to stop off and visit with her college friend from UVA who happened to be living in a small town near Lancaster, PA. It was great to see the Amish way of life and the fresh food was fabulous. YMR joked are you going to hunt moose? LOL I said no Jim. I am no hunter. YMR later told me that he had a favorite pancake house near York, PA and we talked about meeting up one day for breakfast and chess, but YMR saw that the travel for me to the site was too much as compared to where he lived somewhere north of Baltimore as he put it so we never met in person.

Once I returned from Maine, YMR and I resumed our game. He asked me did you see any moose? I said no only large mosquitos and large pancakes with blueberries, lobster of course and other great seafood. I asked him in an earlier dialogue some time ago if he was an Orioles fan and he said yes. I told him that I rooted for the NY Yankees. He did not get upset. Tonight the two teams are playing again and both are at the bottom of the division so far. I have seen baseball games in the old Baltimore stadium and Camden yards but it has been 12 years or so since I have been to Camden yards.

I just saw the post about Youmayresign. I never met him personally but have enjoyed playing him over the years. Something about getting him to resign. I thought he had just disappeared as so many other players have over the years. My hart saddens knowing I will never see his name again. I wish you had nor resigned.

Well this brings back memories. I remember YMR but we were never close and only played sporadically. I was thinking of this site today so I decided to pay a visit. Nothing is like it was. Am impressed with the changes.