Mark Heimann
Outside of computer science I have the chance to participate in many activitites. I am thankful for the lessons I've learned, the memorable experiences I've had, and the gracious and talented people I have come to know through each of them.
Chess
I am an International Master, one of the highest titles awarded in chess. Over the course of my competitive career, I have won several national scholastic championships and state open championships, as well as national collegiate team championships from my years playing chess for the WUSTL and U of M collegiate chess teams. In the 2018 and 2019 PRO Chess League seasons, I played for the Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers; our team made the playoffs in 2018. In 2020, I also played first board for the Michigan team that made it to the finals of the inaugural online States Chess Cup. For several years I also taught chess in private and group lessons, organizing intensive chess camps as well as after-school programs.
- An article I wrote for Chess Life on achieving my first norm toward the international master title as a non-career chess player. Nominated for "Best Personal Narrative" award by Chess Journalists of America.
- Another articleI wrote for Chess Life covering the US Amateur Team North Championships, where I and a team of several University of Michigan alums competed in 2023.
- Winning scholastic national championships and qualifying for the World Youth Championships and the All American Chess Team growing up.
- My college team's National Division II Championship victory in the 2012 Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship, where I played first board. Two years later, Florida State University's first board scored a large individual upset over me in the first round of Pan Ams and wrote an article for US Chess about it...you can't win 'em all :) congratulations to him on a well-deserved victory.
- US Chess News coverage of the 2020 States Chess Cup playoffs, including my annotations of two games I played (one was another upset loss in the finals :) although the other allowed us to advance in the playoffs)
- A kind feature by the WUSTL student newspaper, picked up by Chess Daily News, covering chess and some of my other interests (e.g. music).
Powerlifting
In graduate school, I took up lifting weights as a nice contrast to the abstract and cerebral nature of research. This eventually led me to the sport of powerlifting.
I have qualified for the USA Powerlifting open division national championships multiple years (in 2022, I competed in it simultaneously with the historic National Open chess tournament, coincidentally held down the hall!), and as of 2023 my competitive results rank in the top 2% of raw, drug-tested male powerlifters worldwide according to the Open Powerlifting project. I also am a national referee and have refereed multiple state and national powerlifting championships.
Creative Interests
I also play a fair amount of music. I own and play a variety of instruments, of which one of my favorites is the hammered dulcimer. I've played it in a couple of weddings and other assorted events, and you can hear a bit of it in an EP some of my talented college friends put together. At last count I've performed or recorded on five musical instruments.
I enjoy cooking and baking, mainly because I prefer hobbies to chores and when I reached adulthood I realized that feeding myself would have to become one of those two things.