He was introduced to chess by his parents at around age 10. He attended Clover Park High School and Lakes High School in Tacoma, Washington, playing on the chess team, then entered Northrop Institute of Technology in Inglewood, California as an aerospace engineering student, where he became president of the college chess team. He played his first major chess tournament, the 5th American Open in Santa Monica, in November 1969. The event included Walter Browne and Larry Christiansen and was won by Ray Martin. Wall placed in a middle-table position.

In September 1970 Wall joined the U.S. Air Force and the next year he was assigned to Beale AFB in Marysville, California, where he was a crew chief on KC-135Q tankers, refueling SR-71 Blackbird aircraft. He organized a chess club there and wrote a chess column for the base paper for three years. He also played for an Air Force team called The Flying Knights and played in several Air Force Championships.

In December 1971 he was assigned to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, where his job was the aerial refueling of B-52 and SR-71 aircraft. When off-duty he played a lot of chess at the Naha USO chess club. While on leave, on June 30-July 4, 1973 he played in the first World Open, held at the McAlpin Hotel in New York. There were 725 players, a record for U.S. chess. The event was won by Walter Browne, who scored 9/10. Wall scored 5-3 in his 8-rounds section. Upon returning to Beale AFB, he became a U.S. Chess Federation certified tournament director and directed dozens of chess tournaments. From 1973 to 1974, he was assigned to U Tapao Air Base, Thailand as a crew chief on KC-135Q tankers and B-52 bombers.

In 1974 he was temporarily assigned for 5 months at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. He organised several chess tournaments in the island. In August 1974 he was inducted in the USO Hall of Fame for his chess activities overseas. He was honorably discharged in September with the rank of Staff Sergeant and returned to the U.S., settling in Statesville, North Carolina. In February 1976 he won the Wilkes County chess championship. He was elected president of the Wilkes College, Mitchell College and Lenoir-Rhyne University chess clubs. In September 1978 he became president of the North Carolina Chess Association. He is a past Secretary of the Chess Journalists of America and a past vice-chairman of the Southern Chess Administration, serving as a delegate in the US Chess Federation from 1977 to 1983.

In 1979, Wall was commissioned an Air Force officer after attending Officer Training School. He was then assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio where he won the base chess championship multiple times and directed dozens of chess tournaments throughout the state.

In March 1980 Wall was editor of the Dayton Chess Club Review and Vice President of the Dayton Chess Club in Dayton, Ohio. In September of the same year he was elected president of the Ohio Chess Association. In April 1982 he co-edited the Ohio Chess Bulletin and wrote his first book, 300 King's Gambit Miniatures, published by Chess Enterprises, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.

In 1982 he was nominated as United States Chess Federation (USCF) volunteer of the year. From 1982 to 1986 he was president of the Dayton Chess Club and from 1986 to 1991 of the Palo Alto, California chess club. From 1992 to 1997, he was president of the Kelly AFB/Lackland AFB Chess Club in San Antonio, Texas. In 1995, he retired from the Air Force after serving 25 years. From 1999 to 2002 he was president of the Melbourne Chess Club in Melbourne, Florida.

From 1995 to 2000 he served as Sysop for Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone and directed several on-line chess tournaments. From 2007 to the present, he has been a moderator at chess.com.

In 2003 Bill Wall sponsored the Bobby Fischer display at the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami. He is a contributor of ChessGames.com, of Black & White, a chess magazine in India, and of chess e-books for Gambitchess.com. He has written over 600 chess articles.

He is married to Lois Hubbard Wall and currently lives in Palm Bay, Florida, where he is also a tennis instructor.