Ten Questions With New York Knight IM Jay Bonin

1. You play an unbelievable amount of chess. How many rated games on average per year? How long have you been doing this? Why? Do you study much as well? Don’t you ever get sick of chess?

Number of games.... Yea ive played an insane amount. 400 500 600 a year. Broke 700 when greg and John ran the nymasters. That was a great experience playing all those gms.
I spend so much time playing I have no time to study lol.

2. It seems likely you will be playing Denys Shmelov in the upcoming match with Boston. What do you think of him as a player? Could you name his specific strengths and weaknesses? Do you have any predictions for your individual game (result, opening, what the decisive factor will be)?

Shmelov is tough, not too many games.

3. Any predictions for the other three boards? (Assuming a line up of Naka Charbonneau Bonin you vs. Christiansen, Zamora, Shmelov, Williams)?

I am really surprised how we beat Philly by such a large margin. Were getting hot at the right moment. Boston is a tough team and they have draw odds so we have our work cut out for us.

4. Who are your favorite and least favorite USCL opponents and why? (You may answer individuals and/or teams)

Favorite team out side of us is Philadelphia. I have a good record personally but I tip my hat to them for improving so much and making it to the playoffs.

5. If you had to play for/ manage a different USCL team, which would it be and why?

I cannot see myself playing for any other team but the knights. But nowadays people move around...eg pascal from baltimore to us, Stripunsky from ny to queens.. Josh FRiedel from Boston to SF. Guess Queens would be next in line...proximity.

6. Describe your preparations for USCL games, including, but not limited to: opening preparation, pre-game superstitions, and interactions with teammates.

Preparation.... I go to Chessgames.com plus games from the uscl website.
Guess I am superstitious. We have the sword and the shield. It brings us good luck. It was missing for our first couple of matches. But we found them.... In storage downstairs. And the rest is history.

7. Of your USCL games, which is your favorite and why?

My favorite game this year is against Molner because of the sacrifice and the urgency of the situation. I also played a nice combo vs Pruess.

8. In recent years, a number of prose books about the chess world have been published. Have you read any of the following and, if so, what did you think: The Day Kasparov Quit (Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam), Chess Bitch (Jennifer Shahade), The Chess Artist (J. C. Hallman), Kings of New York (Michael Weinreb), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), King’s Gambit (Paul Hoffman), Engaging Pieces (Howard Goldowsky), How Life Imitates Chess (Gary Kasparov)?

Favorite Chess books.....Chess Bitch and Kings Gambit. I pay more attention when I know the authors lol.

9. Which are your top five chess-related websites and why?

Chessclub.com Uschess.org Uschessleague.com Thephtest.com Chessgames.com

10. What’s your life like outside of chess? Where do you live? What’s your apartment like? Are you still a messenger? Do you like that? Do you have any other hobbies?

Live in Ridgewood Queens for 3 years. Im a real nomad. Move around alot. A free spirit. Not working right now, but miss the courier work. It kept me limber. Hobbies... Sports, Beer, trying to learn poker.