Someone once asked me to define the most important event in my life - I think I now know the answer (20+ years on). Some time between 1962/3 at the age of nine I was shown the basic moves of chess by the boy next door through a 6" x 6" hole in the fence. My parents wouldn't let me socialise with this boy because he was a "bad egg" in their eyes. After about four weeks he lost interest in playing chess with me because I was winning more than him because I had the nerve to take out a book on chess from the library and learn a little more ("bad eggs" are also bad losers). I was hooked forever - but never really played against a good opponent until I was 15 and this forced me take the next step of joining a (over the board) chess club. I now recognise that the memory learning patterns that I developed from chess have given me a 30 year career in Computer Logistics. However I have always been and will always be just a social chess player - who only has the time or patience to play rapid or lightning chess. I pride myself on being Australia's most gracious loser (at chess) - simply because my opponent has just taught me a hard earnt lesson.
My chess highlights - meeting Alexi Shirov, knowing all Australian Grand Masters (and candidates) and being arbiter at the 2000 Gay Games chess competition (if all chess players played in the same spirit as this diverse group of people from around the globe - Chess would be the dominant sport in the world!)