RICHARD ARNOLD - Club Stalwart

Richard Arnold has been a club member for around seven years. Since joining Waitemata Richard has been a stalwart member, supporting club events and doing his stint on the commitee.

He credits chess with significantly improving his mental stamina. Richard remembers when he first came along to the club, he had trouble concentrating for twenty minutes at the time; after a short period he was able to focus much longer and analyse far more easily.

But Richard has many other interests outside the royal game. A Quantity Surveyor by profession, he is also a talented artist, painting mainly landscapes for the past four years. Some of his work has been exhibited at the Royal Easter Show. Richard also plays the piano and looks after two large dogs.

He has two adult children, both of whom live in Auckland. His son is a Computer Analyst, who plays a good social game of chess.

Richard himself learnt the game in his native England around the age of ten, but played only spasmodically over the years because of family and business commitments.

Health problems have currently forced him to cut back his chess playing, but Richard remains as enthusiastic as ever about the game - as evidenced by his seven chess sets, including a chess computer.

"It's a challenge", he says. "When you're playing chess you forget all your worries. You forget everything else."