I'm Darren Turpin, gardener at Ordsall Hall and Gardens in Salford, allotmenteer and occasional blogger (allotmentnotes.com / orchardnotes.com) based in Manchester, UK.

I'm a reasonable but horribly inconsistent chess player, and have spent most of my 15+ years on RHP in the 1300-1500 rating bracket as a result. (Try to catch me when I have more than 20 games on the go, I'll usually play too fast and make a blunder-move at some point...)

I'm happy to chat during the game: gardening, growing your own fruit & veg, books, real ale / craft beer, football, cookery, music, whatever. But if that's not your thing and you'd rather just play, no problem.

I don't take time-out wins unless the game is obviously long-dead (1-2 months with no moves), or the tournament system forces an auto-time-out.

I usually only accept random challenges from fellow subscribers.