Hello!

Notice the forum was empty and thought I'd get us started.

Where is everyone from and how did you get into chess?

Hey there  I'm a 21 yo student from Romania, i used to play chess with my father and brothers when i started school but i didn't study it or play for the win at that time. But recently my older brother saw "The Queen's Gambit" and wanted to play chess again, so i obliged and discovered it's really exciting and fun. I even started to study (just finished Bobby Fischer teaches Chess and started A. J. Gillam's Simple Checkmates) so i could beat him more often xD. How about you?

Hi! I'm 16 and from the UK and I only started playing chess a few weeks ago because of Kevin's streams so I'm an absolute beginner, but I beat my dad the other day and I've never been happier to see him so annoyed

hy im 23 from tunisia studying in romania atm, i started playing chess as a kid with my brothers but gave it up quickly due to the lack of players in my area but got invested again after the first pogchamps

Hi everyone! I'm Emily from the UK, I'm 25 and I played a lot of chess as a teenager but I haven't played in about 8 years. I also got into chess after Kevin's stream! I've been playing and puzzling and doing lessons on here now for about 8 days and I don't think I'll be stopping any time soon.

Congrats for beating your Dad PeskyBones! It took me years and years to be able to beat my parents!

Hi! I'm Simon from Belgium and I'm 16. I've never played chess 'seriously' until the end of last year, when I started to get into it a little more. I'm now at the point where I easily beat my parents and only my elder brother (who also is on chess.com) offers a challenge. I love watching Levy and Anna on yt or twitch!

Hi! I'm Adam from Hungary, I'm 30. I played chess as a kid with my friends, I even went to a chess camp one time. In high school one of my friends played on national level, I never had a chance against him . I was 3rd once in a small competition in my home village, about 10 years ago, but haven't played since then. I found Anna's twitch channel and chess.com early this year right before pogchamps, and I am playing and learning almost every day since then. 

Hey! I'm Brandon from the US, and I'm 23. I wasn't into chess at all until the big twitch boom, and after giving it a shot, I discovered how fun it actually is! I'm still pretty terrible at it, but I've been trying to keep up on my lessons and puzzles so I can improve! Unfortunately, none of my parents play chess, so I don't think I'll have that amazing "finally beat my dad" moment, but I'll be happy enough if I ever hit my ranking goals!

Hello  I am Marcel from Germany. I am a 26 year old mathematics student. I started playing chess at the age of 7-8 years playing with my grandpa, who told me the rules (may he reast in peace). I also had a small chess computer as a kid, but gave up playing at some time in my teenage years. Since i am a twitch junkie, PogChamps 2 got me back into chess. I started playing on this website around August last year and climbed from 800 to 1200 in Blitz also due to Anna's educational streams. Awesome to read your stories 

Yay!!!  So glad to hear so many of your stories so fast!

I'm 33 from Southern California in the US.  Like many others in the community right now, I rediscovered my love for chess during the "Queen's Gambit Boom".  

Let's keep them going! 

hello

how is every buddy doing did you dues watch the anish giri and mvl game on hirkarus stream 

I did!  Giri is a beast.

Hey! I'm Chris from California and I'm 29! I used to play chess a long time ago as a kid when my grandfather taught me. I tried doing chess tournaments once or twice, but my parents never really were able to get me motivated and feel driven to apply myself to really grind and improve for my hobbies back then, so I never got farther than playing occasionally in elementary school.

I got back into chess last summer around the time the big Twitch boom happened, like others have mentioned, though it happened sort of serendipitously because my friend in Germany got into Chess.com with his friends, and I've been playing and learning just about every day for the past year. After watching Queen's Gambit with my partner, we occasionally play each other OTB and online when the mood strikes. Since a bit before Pogchamps 3, I've really decided to take the time to learn from streamers and communities like this one and try to "master" my first couple openings, take some courses, and self-study as much as I can while keeping it low-stress and positive.

from the US, and got into Chess after i watched xQc get mated in 6 moves, and then i got one reccomendation for a Daniel Naroditsky video on YouTube because of it and it spiraled into this

Southwest FL USA, formerly Boston area. Picked up chess as an adult, played at MetroWest CC, then volunteered for the club and at the state level. My chess went stale over the last few years and I'm starting to refresh my interest, where I found streamers like Anna.

I'm from the US and I got into chess from The Queen's Gambit Netflix series. I have always had a niche for chess, but the series made me take initiative and start playing chess as an actual hobby!

Hello!

I'm a 16 year old student from Greece. I knew how chess was played from a young age and played with my grandma. I wasn't really interested in chess until recently, when The Queen's Gambit was released and tournaments like PogChamps received a big audience.

Hi! I'm Gena, from France. A friend of mine bought me a chess board for my birthday 3 years ago because she thought it was the perfect game for me, and she taught me to play. I immediately fell in love witht the game of course, and now I'm trying to actually stick to it a bit more so I can improve. Everyone have a nice day; I loved reading your stories, thank you for sharing!!

Hello, I'm Efe from Nigeria. I got to know about Chess when i was 12. My older brother used to play it and it always fascinated me but I just never understood it / got the ideas. I started taking it more seriously in December last year when I started taking Chess.com's lessons. I have now really improved and I am now rated 1200 in Rapid. I found Levy, Anna, Hikaru, and the Botez sisters around the same time and they've been really helpful, especially when i watched their pogchamps lessons.