Checkmate! (My Chess Journey, Part 1)

Chess is a game suited for pretty much everyone. Whether that person is a beginner or a professional player, it's a great pastime. But not everyone plays chess, and not everyone knows how to play either.

Above is one of the winning games (by checkmate, playing as black) I have under this account (I have had several accounts in the past - kept making new ones since I forgot the passwords). This is very high level compared to where I was not even four months ago. But what happened? Relax, sit back, and grab a snack while I tell you my Chess Journey.

Me playing chess started when I was around 7 years old. Me and my dad were at the store and I pointed to an interesting looking board game and asked "What's that game?" He looked at me like I was crazy and didn't know anything about the world. Likely I didn't. So that day me and my father went home with a chess set.

As soon as we got back, we started playing. He taught me how pawns work, how knights move and how it makes them insane for forks, how bishops, queens, and kings move. He taught me my base knowledge of the game: checkmate your opponent before your opponent checkmates you. He destroyed me in our first game. And our second.

As time went on, I practiced and got better every day. I joined the local chess club. I was the worst on there, but that didn't stop me or demotivate me. I stayed locked in and learned to an extent I didn't think was possible. And one day, after I came home from school, I braved the worst: I challenged my dad to another game of chess.

This challenge was special for two reasons. 1; This was our 250th game against each other. 2; This is when things would change. We played. My opening? King's Fianchetto. My dad's opening? I don't know. He played a random one that wasn't even played that much. My opening was immaculate. He threatened my knight. I defended. If he was surprised at my newfound knowledge of how the pieces actually work and work together, he didn't show it.

We played the longest game we've ever played against each other. I can't remember the exact number of moves, but it was well over 50. Now mind you, this game was being played shortly after my older brother (older by 2.5 years) had finally beaten our father. My dad's winning streak was lost. With me to continue his losing streak, the pressure was on. My brother came down and watched. My mother got home from work and watched the game as well. Now the pressure was even more immense.

At long last, I promoted my pawn to a queen. This was the first time I had ever promoted a pawn to anything. My dad's facial expression went from relaxed to serious. He knew he was in trouble. He pushed his pawn. I captured it. His last piece other than his king. Now it was down to the challenging part of the game: checkmate with my king and queen without stalemating him. This took a little while.

Finally, after what felt like forever, I got him into checkmating position. I smirked and moved my queen and... checkmate! I finally beat my dad at chess. My brother smiled. My mother smiled. My dad had a look of absolute shock. He couldn't have lost. Not to his youngest child. But it was too bad. After three years of little to no improvement, I finally beat my dad. I wasn't making mindless moves. I thought, and I thought ahead. My moves took a while to be made. My thought process? Trade, trade, trade. Get rid of pieces (I didn't know it was called 'material' at the time) that were not needed. Had I not played the King's Fianchetto opening, I would have played the stupid ICBM opening (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile).

But regardless. I reveled in this win. This was my first major milestone. Beating my dad. I learned a day later that his Elo, which I had no idea existed a rating system for chess, was around 700 Elo. This was insane upon my hearing, since I learned my Elo was pretty low compared to his (At the time it was about 250, if that).

Thank you for taking your time to read Checkmate! (My Chess Journey, Part 1)

If you liked this story, stay tuned for The Mountain (My Chess Journey, Part 2). Also if you liked this story, consider commenting if you have any questions and follow me for more!