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Member Since:
Nov 21, 2010
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Last Login:
May 27, 2012
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Profile Views:
4091
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Points:
4984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7hd209WDAU&feature=related
My father introduced me to chess when I was seven, and I've loved the "game" ever since, although serious study has been quite sporadic with me. I remember how much I loved opening the wooden box and removing the intricate, medieval styled, "carved" plastic figures from their individual molded velvet homes. I remember the king and queen had finely detailed and solemn faces, as well as long robes with many graceful folds. The knight was an actual knight in armor on a horse in full battle regalia. The pawns were little identical men in very detailed, but not pompous, battle dress. I even remember how they smelled - you know, a kind of, uh, well, a plastic smell, that nevertheless was almost intoxicating to me, because I was about to have a great mind adventure on the board with my father, who never, ever let me win! Oh well, at least I knew he was being honest! Later on in life, I was asked to "manage" a wonderful chess club in San Francisco, even though I was only a rank amateur, and still am. The club was in an old victorian building and it had a fantastic used bookstore in the back. That was an experience I will never forget - all the regular players helped me out with running tournaments. I was absolutely floored when suddenly at one tournament, several famous Russian grandmasters showed up, as well as the U.S. Chess Champion, Walter Browne! Well, of course, the club didn't make enough money to sustain itself - the owner was a chess lover and promoter who meekly hoped the players would at least buy a few chess books to help keep the club going, but no one had any money then, and least of all chess players, so the club closed down - but what a memory! At any rate, I'm so pleased to have found Chess.com and right now am immersed in the Tactics Trainer, a great learning tool.
I love the beauty of chess, and I often wonder exactly how it was created - it is so unbelievably mysterious, profound and endlessly challenging.