Chess & My Life: Lessons from the 64 Squares
Welcome, my dear readers, to this blog. First of all, Happy International Chess Day to all of you! When I first started playing chess, it felt different. It wasn't just about moving pieces; it was about thinking, planning, and learning from every single move – mine and my opponent's. And what better day to think about this than today, July 20th, International Chess Day! It’s a day to celebrate this amazing game. For many of us, it's a chance to remember that very first move or when we first got curious about chess. As a low-ELO legend, I'm always looking for ways to improve... and coincidentally, my annual 'opportunity for improvement' (aka birthday) is on July 25th.
Over the years, chess has become a big part of my life. It's given me a special way to look at problems, make choices, and understand myself better. In this post, I want to share what I experienced due to chess and how it impacted my life, starting with how I even found this great game. So, if you want to read my journey to remember the one you lived, let's go.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. Blogging
5. Conclusion
My chess story isn't exactly "born into a chess dynasty." My sister and I were just two bored kids during the COVID-19 lockdown in India back in 2021. We were stuck at home, bouncing off the walls, so we went online looking for games. That's when we hit up Poki.com (A free website with a collection of online games) and found this game called "Master Chess."
Now, let me be clear, we were terrible. Like, laughably bad. The bots on that game absolutely crushed us. It was a massacre! But here's the funny part, by getting smashed repeatedly, we accidentally figured out how the pieces moved. "Oh, so the horsey goes in an L-shape! Got it. Still losing, though." It was learning by glorious, consistent failure.
The next year, probably tired of watching us get digitally humiliated, we got a real chessboard. Actual chess pieces! Fancy! Our terrible games continued, but now with satisfying "thuds."
Then, in December 2023, after being away from chess, I once again got interested in chess due to the ChessBase India YouTube channel. There was a whole world of chess out there! That pushed me to make my first Chess.com account in July 2024 after being recommended by a school friend. I started playing with that same school friend online, @Ishan_Grandmaster5, and slowly, very slowly, things clicked. I even closed that first account to start a fresh one, which is this one itself. And that, folks, is how I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to win or lose my next game! And for you all, this was my first game-
Just when I thought I had figured out chess (spoiler: I didn't), another twist arrived. I was publishing blogs on Chess.com just to grab those cool achievements like "Soapbox," "Printing Press," and "Good Read" with a name of "The Chess Cafe". My strategy was basically find random chess info, paste an image and then hit publish. High quality, right? (It was not).
Then, one fine evening, I got a message. Turns out, I was invited to a club called "Blog Champs" by a Top Blogger, @VOB96! This club holds blogging tournaments, which sounded both terrifying and awesome. I joined Blog Champs Season 8. It had two qualifier weeks, and for the first one, I whipped up my blog on Mikhail Tal on the very last day, thinking, "Hey, I'll totally make it into the top 20, easy!"
Results came in. Out of 51 contestants, I came... 45th! Yes, almost dead last. My immense hard work and last-minute scramble clearly paid off.
But hey, you learn, right? For the next qualifier, I actually tried hard. Like, really hard. I wrote a blog about funny chess stories! And guess what? I jumped all the way to 11th place! Still, only the top 8 qualified, so I missed out. But seriously, that jump felt like winning a championship. It taught me that effort really does make a difference.
Thanks to Blog Champs, I've also made some awesome and really good friends, like @IFQA, @squirlte, @Anna_chess11 @Alina_Bakhtina_24 and so on, which is super cool. I also got mentors like @VOB96 and @KevinChessSmith. And now, I've even snatched two medals in The Blogger Awards v2.0, their twin club that hosts monthly blogging comps. So, yeah, I'm still trying to improve my blogging game, and I've got high hopes for Season 9 of Blog Champs. Wish me luck!
When we talk about chess, everyone's usually speaking about Magnus Carlsen or Hikaru Nakamura. And yeah, they're amazing! But honestly, I think us low-ELO players – the ones who hang pieces, miss easy mates, and sometimes forget which way the knight moves – are the true backbone of chess.
Think about it:
• We are the vast majority! For every super-GM, there are thousands, maybe millions, of us just trying not to blunder our queen in the first 10 moves. We make up the giant base of the chess pyramid.
• We are the learners. Every single person who becomes good at chess started right where we are. Our struggles, our "aha!" moments, our slow but steady climb – that's the real engine of chess growth.
• We keep the lights on. We're the ones subscribing to Chess.com, buying books (and sometimes leaving them unread, shhh), and making the chess world vibrant. Without us, who would watch those super-GM games?
• We are relatable. When a top player blunders, it's a shock. When we blunder, it's Tuesday! Our games are full of drama, unexpected twists (mostly self-inflicted), and pure, unadulterated passion for the game, win or lose.
So, yeah, while the pros dazzle us with their brilliance, let's give a huge shout-out to all the low-ELO legends out there. We are the heart and soul of the chess community, constantly learning, improving, and sometimes, just barely surviving a game. And that, in itself, is pretty awesome.
Two months ago, just when I thought my chess life was settled into online games and blogging blunders, and we were studying the whole bunch of chapter in eighth grade, a new chapter opened: school chess! My friend, Ishan Singh (the same one I play on Chess.com with), came up to me and said, "Hey, trials for the school chess team are happening. We gotta go!"
My immediate reaction? "Dude, we're like, 600 ELO. We can't go! We'll just embarrass ourselves!" I tried to argue, to escape, but Ishan was relentless. So, I sighed dramatically and went along.
When we got there, it seemed like a proper crowd of boys. Most of them, bless their hearts, seemed to only barely know how the pieces moved. Some even looked like they were trying to explain the rules to themselves mid-game. Slowly but surely, the group thinned out, and guess what? It came down to just me and Ishan! We both got selected! I still don't know how that happened, but hey, we're on the team!
Since then, I've already participated in one tournament, bagging a respectable 3.5 points out of 5 rounds. Not too shabby for a 600 ELO legend, right? Our big goal now is the DAV Cluster Tournament Bihar 2025 happening next month in the Under 14 category to bring glory to our school. Now, if you're scratching your head wondering what a "Cluster Tournament" is, think of it as a regional showdown organized by DAV Sports where different DAV schools in our area (like Bihar) duke it out in various sports, including, you guessed it, chess! It's basically our big step before potentially going to even bigger, scarier tournaments. Wish us luck!
And let me introduce my awesome squad:
•Aditya (@adityabhardwaj_123): Our captain, the super solid one, and my friend since way back in 2nd grade. He's the calm in our storm.
•Karnav (@KarnavKumar): The youngest and, hands down, the most innocent. He's our secret weapon of cuteness and smart moves!
•Divyanshu (@Divyanshukkumar): Our 7th grader, who's always light-hearted and keeps the vibes chill, even when we're stressing over a checkmate.
•And finally, me and Ishan (@Ishan_Grandmaster5): Officially the funniest of the bunch. At least, we think so.
So yeah, that's my bizarre journey with chess. From getting obliterated by bots on Poki to trying (and mostly failing) to be brilliant on Chess.com, diving headfirst into blogging, and appreciating all my fellow chess strugglers, it’s been a wild ride. This game has taught me patience, how to shake off a mistake, how to actually focus, and even how to write a half-decent blog post (most of the time!). And once again, Happy International Chess Day to all of you!
How about you? How did you get hooked on chess? And what hilarious or useful lessons has it taught you? Are you a fellow low-ELO legend? Don't forget to tell in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
See you in the next blog. Till then goodbye, keep playing and stay happy!
