It has been said that “The plight of the Correspondence Chess player is to toil in anonymity to add a grain of sand to the body of chess knowledge.” As a regular part of my blog, I will now feature the often misunderstood hobby of correspondence chess. Many of the chess opening novelties we have seen featured in locations such as Linares, Wijk aan Zee and Sofia were indeed created in the lonely laboratories of the correspondence chess master. Below is February’s United States Chess Federation list for the top 100 correspondence players. Of special mention is Alex Dunne who writes a wonderful monthly article on the subject of correspondence chess entitled “The Check is in the Mail.” You can find his collection of articles here: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7527/397/
| 1 | Cullum, Chuck (12683996) | MA | USA | 2486 |
| 2 | Duliba, Edward P (10147310) | PA | USA | 2485 |
| 3 | O’Hare, Ciaran (12540472) | OK | USA | 2447 |
| 4 | O’Connell, Christopher Ian (10206600) | DE | USA | 2436 |
| 5 | Van Enk, Steven J (12729266) | OR | USA | 2433 |
| 6 | Brandhorst, Wesley (10177103) | FL | USA | 2432 |
| 7 | Greene, David F (12547622) | NJ | USA | 2423 |
| 8 | Cook, Randy (12414122) | AZ | USA | 2421 |
| 9 | Wilson, Abe L (12483963) | HI | USA | 2412 |
| 10 | Miettinen, Kristo, Maj (12486315) | NY | USA | 2403 |
| 11 | Rose, Bleys W (12405134) | CA | USA | 2395 |
| 12 | Concha, Hugo J (12464289) | FL | USA | 2391 |
| 13 | Tracz, James G (12398324) | OH | USA | 2385 |
| 14 | Brack, Frank Edward (12412040) | TX | USA | 2383 |
| 15 | Brower, Walter J (12416332) | AL | USA | 2379 |
| 16 | Langland, Thomas P (11236219) | CA | USA | 2373 |
| 17 | Daves, Dana Drew, Sr (12395110) | NC | USA | 2369 |
| 18 | Schultheis, Donald H, Sr (10183758) | MD | USA | 2365 |
| 19 | Levine, Joel (10099200) | NY | USA | 2361 |
| 20 | Keating, Robert F (12641782) | IA | USA | 2358 |
| 21 | Buss, Michael D (12437668) | IN | USA | 2355 |
| 22 | Swan, Peter Lee (10163421) | CO | USA | 2349 |
| 23 | Fass, Robert (10127319) | NY | USA | 2348 |
| 24 | Walters, Gary (12617923) | OH | USA | 2342 |
| 25 | Adams, Gary R (12515217) | AZ | USA | 2339 |
| 26 | Baffo, Jeffrey (10340195) | CO | USA | 2335 |
| 27 | Sogin, David Warren (12546407) | KY | USA | 2327 |
| 28 | Rodriguez, Keith (10118735) | FL | USA | 2310 |
| 29 | Ballow, John (12397699) | CA | USA | 2309 |
| 30 | Anderson, Laurence Allyn (12238840) | MO | USA | 2308 |
| 31 | Woodard, Daniel S (12410084) | NV | USA | 2307 |
| 32 | Stueber, Guido J (12677347) | FL | USA | 2304 |
| 33 | Schakel, Corky (10318602) | MN | USA | 2303 |
| 34 | Ryan, Patrick J (10050880) | NJ | USA | 2300 |
| 35 | Greene, Sanford I (10107369) | NY | USA | 2289 |
| 36 | Prieto, Alberto (10377811) | GA | USA | 2287 |
| 37 | Ingersol, Harry (10347394) | MO | USA | 2285 |
| 38 | Weiner, Gerald H (10061237) | CT | USA | 2283 |
| 39 | Magat, Gordon B (10088828) | NY | USA | 2281 |
| Funston, David A, P-37790 (12829713) | CA | USA | 2281 | |
| 41 | Gales, Wesley V (12487508) | WI | USA | 2278 |
| 42 | Boege, Harold W (10323126) | MN | USA | 2274 |
| 43 | Endsley, Barry E (10397901) | MI | USA | 2272 |
| 44 | Jacobs Jr, Charles A (12746276) | AK | USA | 2271 |
| 45 | Miehm, Robert (11046894) | TN | USA | 2262 |
| 46 | Bonsack, Laurence T (12500562) | CA | USA | 2261 |
| 47 | Cruz, Humberto (10231221) | FL | USA | 2259 |
| 48 | Walker, Barry Wood (12483835) | MO | USA | 2255 |
| 49 | Motta, Paul S (10435986) | OR | USA | 2254 |
| 50 | Rhodes, James E (12687721) | CA | USA | 2248 |
| 51 | Jones, Jan (12475891) | AZ | USA | 2247 |
| 52 | Ireland, R Scott (12217080) | FL | USA | 2246 |
| 53 | Dunne, Alex (10155576) | PA | USA | 2245 |
| Strock, Faraday J (12501396) | IL | USA | 2245 | |
| 55 | Cross, Gregory W (12280220) | TX | USA | 2244 |
| 56 | Hillery, John K (10010250) | CA | USA | 2242 |
| 57 | Marshall, Michael J (12126310) | GA | USA | 2240 |
| 58 | Meiners, Edwin Paul, Iii (10395801) | AZ | USA | 2239 |
| Smith, Steven Richard (11097332) | PA | USA | 2239 | |
| 60 | Calogridis, Michael S (10394546) | TX | USA | 2238 |
| 61 | Eilmes, Don P (10462398) | CA | USA | 2232 |
| 62 | Shipman, Joseph L (10114322) | NJ | USA | 2227 |
| Mcgregor, Stephen Dean (12437976) | TX | USA | 2227 | |
| 64 | Everitt, Gordon T (12201480) | LA | USA | 2223 |
| 65 | Kell, Spencer R (10431646) | CA | USA | 2222 |
| 66 | Endler, Jeffrey I (10031923) | DE | USA | 2215 |
| 67 | Brochard, Thomas W (11155669) | CT | USA | 2214 |
| 68 | Albanesi, Paul L (11033482) | NY | USA | 2213 |
| Delehanty, Thomas (12642096) | NY | USA | 2213 | |
| 70 | Poole, Kenneth J (12249130) | CA | USA | 2210 |
| 71 | Connelly, Thomas P (10132258) | VA | USA | 2202 |
| 72 | Porter, David William (12514878) | MD | USA | 2194 |
| 73 | Hensley, Michael F (12713876) | MS | USA | 2192 |
| 74 | Van Dooren, James (12658352) | FL | USA | 2191 |
| 75 | Harris, Timothy Mark (13443503) | SC | USA | 2189 |
| 76 | Robledo, Mark, Sr (12597337) | IL | USA | 2188 |
| 77 | Hampton, Robert C (10426162) | NM | USA | 2181 |
| Vaughan, James Gerald, Jr (12543480) | OH | USA | 2181 | |
| 79 | Ellis, James R (11301037) | GA | USA | 2179 |
| 80 | Radomskyj, Peter (12460475) | NJ | USA | 2178 |
| 81 | Mclaughlin, Richard Francis (12443601) | NY | USA | 2173 |
| 82 | Rogers, Bradley K (12317970) | MI | USA | 2172 |
| 83 | Addis, Edward L, Ii (10505551) | OR | USA | 2168 |
| 84 | Ovadya, Menahem (12746310) | CA | USA | 2164 |
| 85 | Barber, Richard A (10416787) | CO | USA | 2162 |
| Furse, Norman J (10890527) | KS | USA | 2162 | |
| Tseng, Wilbur (12692226) | IL | USA | 2162 | |
| 88 | Boles, Robert Lowell (10483522) | CA | USA | 2160 |
| Lauterbach, Michael (12028490) | CT | USA | 2160 | |
| 90 | Hammel, David C (10261694) | IA | USA | 2159 |
| 91 | Babcock, Thomas Charles (10841704) | MN | USA | 2158 |
| 92 | Lane, Riley E (12135170) | GA | USA | 2151 |
| Flowers, Brian R (12447657) | CT | USA | 2151 | |
| 94 | Allard, Michael N (10365520) | MD | USA | 2148 |
| Soricelli, Gerard C (12428749) | NY | USA | 2148 | |
| Hoefdraad, Gillmore Andre (12806102) | MD | USA | 2148 | |
| 97 | Murray-Miller, Morgan (12609710) | NY | USA | 2147 |
| 98 | Weiss, Lester (10279321) | IN | USA | 2142 |
| 99 | Chilson, Steven Wayne (10137446) | VA | USA | 2139 |
| Lewis, Walter J (10470544) | CA | USA | 2139 |
