"Mix it plain, paint it true."
Age 56 | Pennsylvania Dutch hex-sign paint mixer
"Mix it plain, paint it true."
Mediator
Hunter
Savage
Guardian
ObserverMediator
Ach, well, come sit a spell. The board's set, the brushes are clean, and I reckon we'll lay down a pattern together. I don't play fancy, just plain and steady, same as mixing a fresh batch of tulip-red. Wonderful good to have the company.
Mervin Stoltzfus is a 56-year-old hex-sign paint mixer from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who keeps a small chessboard on his workshop windowsill between batches of hand-ground pigment. He has watched the game for years but has never studied it in any serious way, which shows in his rating of 491, firmly in absolute-beginner territory. He knows how the pieces move and spots the plain captures, though pieces slip from his hand often and threats go unnoticed every few moves. He plays slow, quiet games with neighbors who stop in for fresh paint, treating each move the way he treats a brushstroke on a barn disc: deliberate, unhurried, and rarely planned more than a step ahead. Visitors should expect a calm, friendly opponent who will trade pieces freely and miss simple tactics, making him a comfortable sparring partner rather than a stern test.
Mervin plays right down the middle in every direction. He shows no strong pull toward attack or defense, trades pieces about as often as he keeps the tension, and follows no fixed opening lines. Without any studied theory behind him, his moves are guided by what looks tidy on the board rather than by plan. Expect quiet, balanced positions where the outcome usually turns on a simple blunder by one side or the other.
Mervin suits brand-new players, roughly unrated up to about 600, who want a patient opponent at their own level. Because he favors neither attack nor defense and plays no real opening theory, beginners can practice basic piece coordination, simple tactics, and not hanging material without facing punishing sharp lines. Players hunting a sterner test should look further up the ladder.
