Personally, I've known how to play chess since I was about 4 but had no idea it was even played professionally until I watched Kasparov vs. Short in 1993 (the whole match was shown on english tv).

That should say: 'What inspired you to start playING chess?' :-)

The idea of a game so easy to learn but so difficult to master, nay, one not truly mastered even by its greatest ever players. A game of near infinite positions and complexities.