Hi, I'm Mike. I'm a 48-year-old chess Master. For the last 10 years, my chess career has consisted of drinking beer and playing casual bullet games online.

But recently, I got a crazy idea. I signed up for the Daniel Naroditsky Rapid and Blitz Memorial in Charlotte over the 4th of July weekend. It is an 11-round gauntlet against the best players in the world. Out of 75 registered players, I am the literal 75th seed.

Thankfully, my good friend GM Eugene Perelshteyn has agreed to be my "Mickey" and train me for this David vs. Goliath showdown. He's overhauling my openings, fixing my time management, and trying to get me to survive against 2700-rated Super-GMs. Eugene is documenting the whole journey on his Substack: https://eugeneperel.substack.com/

I've set the goal to $5,000. This will cover the tournament entry fee, flights, a hotel for the long holiday weekend, and—most importantly—it will allow my coach GM Eugene Perelshteyn to travel to Charlotte with me to be in my corner for the 11-round gauntlet.

If you want to support an "old guy" living out his chess dream and taking on the titans of the game, I would be incredibly grateful for your support. I promise to leave it all on the board!