Jay Bonin (born July 7, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American International Master in chess, chess teacher, author and lecturer. He is known as the "Iron Man of Chess" and is among the most active tournament players in the US, having played over 25,000 tournament games (over 13,000 games since the US Chess Federation started collecting data in 1991 and an estimated 12,000 games for his almost 20 years of tournament play prior). According to a 2012 article by Dylan McClain in The New York Times, Bonin has "probably has played more tournaments than anyone. The United States Chess Federation lists more than 3,300 tournaments Bonin has competed in since 1991, which is as far back as the computerized records go, though Bonin played just as frequently in the '80s." His peak USCF rating is 2526. Chess career; early years Bonin got interested in chess at the age of 14 while attending Andres Hudde Junior High School but did not actively pursue chess until the age of 17 when he watched the televised World Chess Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972. Bonin got hooked on chess and started frequenting the local chess clubs such as Times Square’s Chess and Checker Club of New York (known as "The Flea House" due to the fact that there was once a Flea Circus upstairs). He also visited The Chess House and played in Washington Square Park. By the end of 1972, Bonin joined the famous Marshall Chess Club in Greenwich Village, having learned about it from an opponent in a high school chess match. The 1970s Bonin's chess rating steadily improved and in 1977 he achieved the rank of United States Chess Federation National Master. He worked for the Marshall Chess Club as a manager and tournament director from 1977 to 1979. In late 1979 Bonin started teaching chess and began to make a modest living between his tournament prizes and teaching. He supplemented his chess earnings with various odd jobs such as being a messenger and working in a mail room. He would go on to earn the ranks of USCF Senior Master, USCF Life Senior Master, FIDE Master, and FIDE International Master. The 1980s On his twenty-seventh birthday in 1982, Bonin collected his first Grandmaster scalp, beating the eight-time U.S. chess champion Sammy Reshevsky at the Continental Chess Association International. He dispatched Reshevsky as black