How long have you been playing chess?

I haven't played at all, except for one so called game where I blundered away the queen on the fifth move, said the hell with it, and resigned. 

I actively played a few months on here in march/may 2009, and then started again this February. Before that, most of what I learned was playing my brother (who later became around 1600) and grandfather (Don't think he was ever rated) on the rare occasions.

It's good to hear about all these chess players and how long they been playing. We can also tell when they are cheaters because their rating is so high and yet they claim they've only played for about a year etc.

I was an inquisitive kid. My parents would buy me science books to answer my questions.  I must have asked them about chess because I remember finding a kids chess book. I don't remember playing with either of my parents.  I don't think they knew how.  I learned the moves and was intrigued with the game.  I think I was about 9 years old.  

Since then, I have alternated between total neglect and rampant obsession every 5-7 years.  I'm 32 now and this phase of obsession has been the longest one yet.  I've been playing regularly for about 3 years now.  Last year I played in my first tournament.

So how did you do?

No. But her oldest son plays a little.

 I don't know if I'll ever play or not. I might just keep piddeling with the tactics, and computer.

I started playing in june last year.

Five months, if you don't count the decades when I refused to play, because my husband always beat me.

Since Smyslov was world champion.

Let's see now. I started playing OTB in the early 1970's, stopped for about 20 years since there was no one to play against in my new residential area, downloaded my first chess engine ("Psi-Chess") into my Psion Netbook (the world's first subnotebook computer) in 1999, downloaded Shredder and Crafty a few months ago, and began playing Online at this site since a couple of months ago.

Not exactly sure.  I think I was about 11 or 12 and I played all through high school.  And then I only played occasionally after that then about three years ago I started playing online.  I really enjoy the game and am glad for computers otherwise I probably wouldn't have started again.  It was my wife's suggestion.  I will turn 60 in May.

I learned the basic moves of the pieces as a kid (maybe 6 years old?), but I didn't know all the rules, like castling, en pessant, etc. I remember seeing that there were things like chess columns in the newspaper and chess books and being curious about the game, but never taking the time to learn about it. Then as an adult, about 10 years ago, I played a casual game against a friend, and I remembered my earlier curiousity. So I went on the internet to research more information, bought a beginner's book from a used book store, and the addiction began.

I actually took about 4 years off along the way, so I've played seriously for roughly 6 of the last 10 years - long enough to know just how much I suck.

One year, give or take. Never played OTB though.

5 yrs

I played in my first tournament 47 years ago.

Long.

6 years.

years ago then came back about 6 months ago