What got me playing chess

I was born in the pre-electronics era. My leisure activity was primarily getting out on the street and playing cricket, football, hanging around, you know 50's and 60's stuff. Where we were even TV was "primitive" to say the least - a colour TV was a filter screen with green on the bottom and blue on the top - I kid you not !.

A lot of time was spent with family doing family stuff and in my case that was playing cards, all my family played all sorts of cards - not bridge though we were very working class, and chess. Everyone in my family played chess and from an early age, and having 11 siblings plus the extended relatives the games were pretty serious. Nothing like sibling rivalry. It was also played a lot at schools in those days as we did not spend all our time glued to mobile phones and game pads. So I played till I was about 15 when we emigrated to Australia and i started work !, and I found out about girls (sadly they did not find out about me), discos, drinking and gambling.

I did teach both my children how to play and now with my grandchildren i have found a new life in chess as i have taught them and play them whenever I can get them unglued from the DVD player or the play station. In trying to get them playing i have found all the fantastic live resources on the web, including this one of course, and lots of chess software that allows me to play them on-line. Also I now play the computers to play at nice beginner levels so i don't get too depressed at being hammered all the time. I also now watch lots of tournaments on live streaming, one great thing about the new electronics age, and boy do i get a buzz when occasionally, just occasionally, i see the move that the GM recommends as the best next move.