We are all born equal, just as the starting position is always the same. But what we do with that life is our choice. Exciting or dull, a masterpiece or a patzer's hack, sacrificial attack or positional squeeze - how we live our life, how we play the game, that is down to the personal decisions that we make.

The opening is our childhood, when we grow and develop. To some it may seem like a boring phase that they just want to race through. But it sets the pattern for the rest of the game.

And then the middlegame, our adult lives. Now we are in our prime, with a board full of pieces and anything is possible.

Finally comes the endgame and old age. We are slower now, and the reduced number of pieces on the board remind us of the friends we have lost, and the physical attributes that we are gradually losing.

All games end. Win, lose or draw, eventually comes the time to put the pieces back into the box, pack away the chess board, put the clocks and scoresheets back in the cupboard. Then it's time to leave the club and discover that in the three hours we have been here it has become late evening, cool and darkening as the light fades.

Just like the game we have been playing, and the lives that we lead, each day too presents us with a cycle from dawn to dusk.

I am not being disrespectful, just terribly , horribly shocked!!!!!

I met him several times. (Once in D.C., once in New York, and again at one of the "islands" tournaments.)

All my heartfelt thoughts for a good life ... Carry on, carry on. (I know its going to be hard, but you have to try. I don't think Craig was the kind of guy who would want you to quit.)

I knew him peripherally ... which is - to be honest - not very well.

I think I know some of your pain, my wife died of cancer January 13th, 2010.

Here is an example of his guitar playing: