Over the next three years, I lived in England, playing regularly at the Scarborough Chess Club and in inter-scholastic events as my school's first board. One memorable success in this period was getting a win against Bent Larsen (1 of only 4 achieved) when the Great Dane conducted a 74-board simultaneous exhibition in Teesside, England. A less enjoyable, but similarly memorable encounter was getting crushed in the first round of a tournament by top-10 GM-to-be Jonathan Speelman.

After returning to the states, I continued playing rated chess tournaments, but started shifting my focus to weekend table tennis competitions, seeking physical exercise as an offset to a mostly sedentary IT job. It's interesting that USA Table Tennis uses the Elo rating system, borrowed from chess. During this period, when I was generally curtailing active tournament chess play, I got one of my best results. A lucky last-round draw against GM Niaz Murshed allowed me to finish in a tie for 2nd at the 1990 Maryland Open, but the more accomplished and deserving Allan Savage (NM) won the Maryland State title on tiebreaks, even after losing a heartbreaker to GM Max Dlugy in the last round.

In 2007, I started to run some small days camps that combined chess and table tennis. The camp was designed primarily for kids, but some adults participated and enjoyed it. This was the derivation of the handle CHESSTTCAMPS, which I'm keeping even though I'm unlikely to try running one again.

In 2015-2017, I started part-time chess teaching with Silver Knights Enrichment and also Curie Learning Center. SKE focusses on elementary schools in Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. I found it a very satisfying experience and met some great teachers.