He supplemented his chess earnings with various odd jobs such as being a messenger and working in a mail room.

He has won clear first three times (1982, 1997 and 1999)[10] and tied for first in 1993 but tie-breaks gave the title to GM Michael Rohde.

[13][14] In 1986, Bonin took a trip to the UK to play in the Lloyds Bank Master Chess Tournament.

In 2007, Bonin competed in the US Chess Championship Tournament consisting of thirty six players gathered from the best in the country.

[18] In 2005 he competed in the New York Masters [1] events winning three tournaments in a row, defeating Grandmasters Leonid Yudasin, Alexander Stripunsky, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, and Kamil Miton.

In March 2012, Bonin's life as a prolific but struggling chess master was again profiled in The New York Times.

[21] In 2015, Bonin played a blitz match against FM Asa Hoffmann billed as the "Iron Man" vs. the "Gladiator".

[22] In 2016, Bonin authored a book with Greg Keener entitled "Active Pieces, Practical Advice from America's Most Relentless Tournament Player" with many of his best games (Mongoose Press).

[1] He tells his students to control the center, place pieces on optimum squares, to be flexible, and to learn from their losses.