How did you get into chess?

Do you remember what caused you to start playing chess?

YES I DO

• Looked at smartest people ever; found chess player magnus etc
• Looked into him... wiki etc so decided watch some games
• I watched vs hikaru etc on chessbase India and other channels I think
• I played some anonymous games on chess.com won my first surprised
• I opened my account... I am sure I read some articles before and learned fools mate was fasted mate so I named myself after it... NEVER HAD 1 FOOL MATE by me  
• Played computer (IDK before or after I made account)

Irrelevant, I recommend disregarding this post entirely.

My father taught me how to play but did not teach me important tactics. I hadn’t really gotten into chess till I found chess.com. There I watched the lessons and got better and better. In January 2021, I was 300 or 400. Now, I am 800. And also got popularity in chess.com

Hikaru..

Isn’t that the head of doggo and the body of the Attack Titan Eren in your pfp?

My father taught me how to play it and I kept playing it until I entered the high school I stopped but before a tow weeks I watched a series about and it was amazing so I got back playing it.

Before the Internet, one of my elementary school teachers taught the entire class how to play chess and there were enough cheap chess sets in the classroom for all. It was interesting so I joined the chess club but eventually it got replaced by going home or to a friend's place to play video games. 

Fast forward 10+ years to an age with the Internet. As an adult I moved to a new country where I didn't have friends so I decided "Chess? sure why not?" And here I am (and I'm probably much worse than when I was as a child) 

As a teenager I liked video games. There was some online play, but the internet was still new, so people mostly played with their friends.

I was annoyed that I would be better than all my friends at whatever game I decided to get good at. I was also annoyed that after a few years people would move on to new games.

So I decided to play chess because:

1) I would always be able to keep improving.

2) No matter how good I got, even 50 years later, I could go to a tournament and meet someone better than me.

I actually read the rules to chess and go, and didn't know which game to pick. After looking into it, I saw that there weren't many go tournament in the US, so I chose chess.

I did play some go with my brother and a friend at school, but I never got beyond bottom beginner level (probably played 10 games total in my life).

My grandfather may he rest in peace... Tought me the rules when I was 8 or so... Didn't play again until I was 15 when I randomly beat the "best kid in the school" without knowing anything. He litteraly had to tell me it was checkmate, it was a complete accidental mate and everyone was preplexed...

Next time I played I was 28., opened account.. Climbed slowly from 500 to 1400 + -  now I'm 30  

I wish my grandfather could see I've become half decent.. I mean I'm bad, but precentile 93, he'd be proud... 

There is a sh**post i saw on YouTube about chess, i think it's called Chess-Pawn-Requiem. Looks fun so i started playing it myself.

Sometime around 2:15 they could have used this

-

I was 15 and working part-time clearing tables in a local café.

Every afternoon there was this old man who sat by the window… Every afternoon he'd set a board and pieces in front of him and sit patiently waiting for victims.

When I was clearing his coffee cup, he asked if I wanted to try my luck.
"Nah, I'm working… and I don't… I know how the pieces move, but that's it."
"I'll teach you."

So that's how it started, and teach me he did. After my midafternoon shift, we would spend an hour playing a game.

Every move, he would question me. "Why?" at first, it was annoying, and I nearly gave up, but after a week or two, his questioning made sense.

"Take that back and try again." Was his mantra. look for the weak and defend against the strong."

He introduced me to his local club, where I got immersed in Chess. I became a serious tournament player. I gave up playing competitively in 2006 but have never been able to let go completely.

I think it was in the Godfather movie where Michael Corleone said

"Just When I Thought I Was Out. They Pull Me Back In."

Chess is like that.

Fun story.

Nice look at your rating now sniff WOW

Haha,
I was a reasonable OTB player back in the late 90's and early 00's.
But those online ratings don't mean much. I play on here for fun. Too old to take online seriously... But put a board and pieces in front of me, and the brow furrows, and I get all cantankerous just like the old fella who taught me all those years ago.

My cousine once showed me the game in their house. Taught me the rules and we played a few times and i lost all those games if i recall correctly. Then i never played it again.

After an unknown amount of time later my another cousine wanted to play with me on a miniature chess set but this was a better cousine and he showed me some tricks like scholar mate etc. and the game grabbed my attention this time. he also gave me a book about some chess principles.

then i met my first cousine again later and destroyed him.

this was when i was 8-9 i guess, about thirty years ago.. there was no internet and information used to spread by your cousines

waching other people other people play chess

using crack