Like many of his contemporaries, he began playing in the aftermath of the World Chess Championship 1972 between Fischer and Spassky.

He joined the Tacoma Chess Club in September 1972, and is still involved with the game almost 50 years later.

He has two grandmaster (GM) norms and missed a third, at the 2000 Paul Keres Memorial in Vancouver, by half a point.

He also won the 2001 Lindsborg Rotary Open, a three-day event, ahead of three GMs and three IMs.

In 1990, Donaldson was elected to the Policy Board of the United States Chess Federation.

He married Elena Akhmilovskaya, a member of the Soviet women's team, during the 28th Chess Olympiad (Thessaloniki 1988).