Redescovering chess in Portofino

As I wrote in my earlier post, chess was an integral part of my childhood but I completely abandoned playing it by the time I was 9. It took me almost 30 years to rediscover the beauty of it and that happened on a summer trip to Rapallo and Portofino on the Ligurian coast of Italy.

Rapallo once was a place where many people from the Armenian diaspora took refuge. It was no surprise that I found chess tables on the main square of the city.

But I rediscovered my real love for chess in an unusual place, on the harbor of Portofino. Here I met Martin who played chess with a friend of his while sipping wine. We stayed at the same hotel and next morning at breakfast I asked him whether he would play a game.

It is unusual to go to one of the most beautiful places in the world such as Portofino and only play chess for two days but that is what we did. It brought back memories from me and it was surprising how I did not forget a thing about chess, although my abilities to play the game were less stellar than they were thirty years ago.