My Chess History

I can't remember who taught me to play chess, maybe I learned from a book, or someone at school taught me.  I'd like to think it was my father.  He had a small wooden chess set with intricately carved metal pieces.  I remember playing periodically with my dad throughout my childhood.  My dad wasn't very good and took a ridiculously long time to make moves.  We had a few old chess books around the house, I remember looking through them and trying to play through some games, but at that time, it seemed too much like a textbook and I couldn't really get into it.

During college, I started playing chess more often with my best friend Will.   He was much better than me, versed in openings and theory, we'd play 5 minute blitz games, most times he would stomp me. His favorite chess book was My System by Aron Nimzowitsch.  I bought the booked, liked the writing, but again couldn't really get into it.  At that time, I just liked to play for fun with Will, loosing most games and having no idea about openings, tactics, or strategy.

After college, I really didn't play chess for 15 years.   Then, last Summer, Will told me he was playing on chess.com.  I logged on and started playing some games. In a few days I was hooked.  And I was finally ready to delve deeper into the game.  I wanted to learn everything; the history, theory, tactics, strategy, openings, everything! 

At thirty-six years old, I probably won't ever be a great chess player.  Between work and family, there is a limited amount of time I can dedicate to the game.  But, I think I can be a good chess player, I would even settle for average. 

My goal in the next four months is to reach and play comfortably in the 1400+  range in Standard - Live Chess games.  I'm currently around 1200 but have spent most of the past year playing Blitz games, which, I'm going to stop for a while as I frequently loose on time.  Also after reflecting on the recent articles https://www.chess.com/article/view/get-better-at-chess-for-everyone-comparison by NM Dan Heisman, I need to spend more time thinking about my moves.