What is your story? How did you start playing chess? What have you, and are you doing in chess?

Well, it's a simple tale, with no woe. However, settle in for a trip back in time!

Years, ago dad taught us the rules of chess as kids, just loved the game ever sense.

Hi i cant wait to read the next stories !

I loved the story about the chess square in Asheville. I'll have to check that out next time I'm in the neighborhood. I'm not sure we have something like that here in Atlanta, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. We're lucky to have Ben Finegold here and the new Atlanta Chess Center that he and his wife founded. We did have a place like that in Cambridge, Mass., when I was growing up -- outside the Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square. Do people still play chess there, I wonder?

 

As for me, I think I started around 7 or 8. I played with my father a few times but he quickly lost interest because the games took too long and he didn't like to calculate. Around 12, 13 and 14, I played a bit in school and nearly won our school tournament, except I missed a skewer with my bishop in the endgame, so I came in second. I still remember that! However I never took it seriously and stopped playing around 15. We didn't have a serious chess team or anything, so we all just played casually, and that tournament was the only one held in our school in all the years I was there -- just a one-off. 

 

On my study abroad year in college, I went to Vienna. (I'm from the US.) In my dorm there, the students were all from Austria (some from Hungary) and everybody played chess! I was so surprised because that's not the case here in the US. I played some of the guys and they thought I was good so they said I had to play the top player in the dorm, whose name was Ignaz (an unusual name for us Americans, which is why I still remember it). He was like the local champion -- no one could beat him. It was a long and good game that I eventually won. I went into bookstores and saw they had chess magazines and tons of chess books. I never realized chess could be so big. I bought a few magazines and got really into it for half a year while I was there, trying to study the game for the first time. Again it didn't last though. Once I got back to the US, the scene was so much quieter that it was hard to find inspiration. I did play a few guys in my college chess club but I didn't find it that interesting so I stopped. After that I would play a game casually with a friend once in a while, but hardly ever.

 

I did enter a tournament once, just for kicks, while I was in England, around age 22. I lost all 3 games and they asked me not to play in one round because there were an uneven number of players and I  had the lowest score and no chance of winning anyway. Embarrassing. I just dug up the score/move sheets a few days ago to analyze my games. Nothing much to analyze -- not bad positional play in two of the three games but blunders cost me. 

 

Fast forward to last summer (I'm in my 40's now), when a friend of mine invited me to play chess while we were out on a trip. He teaches chess to elementary school kids at his school, even though he's a self-acknowledged patzer himself. We played two games, both of which I won, and I was inspired again. Then I came across chess.com and all the videos on YouTube etc. I was amazed at how much one can learn and do online now. 

I've now been playing and studying pretty seriously for the past 3-4 months, doing tactics every day, playing a variety of games, and watching videos and the online tournaments and matches that are streamed (which are fun and addictive). I counted the other day and saw I had played 150+ games since last summer, which is surely more than all the games I'd played in my life up until last summer. Slowly I am seeing improvement in my game, which is great. When I started, the Tactics Trainer on chess.com actually hurt my brain to do. I could do a few but if I got stuck it would be physically painful! Now it's so much easier. 

I am looking forward to playing in a few more tournaments (played in one here in Atlanta in December) and getting a proper rating. I have to say it's a real joy to rediscover this game and how much fun it is after a hiatus of 20 years or so.

These stories prove that chess is human. Computers may find the best move, but humans with our flaws make interesting moves in chess and in life. Join us and leave your story. Be a part of this human experience. 

True words!

One day I was bitten by a radioactive patzer.

I am 55, was born in Brazil. I learned the rules from my brothers in the 1960s. I decided to play a tournament at the school, I don't remember at which age. With zero knowledge on the game beside some of the rules, I got mated in two after I decided that move a pawn in front of the King would be dangerous.

I learned that this game is actually somehow dangerous, and I will never forget my shame when my opponent began to shout loud "mate in two, mate in two". I thought I would never come close to anything similar to a chess board in my life.

I went to Switzerland in 1988, and I began to play again in a job as a sport teacher in a rehab clinic in 1998.

Several of the patients learned to play in the prison, and I decided that chess would be an interesting hobby for the people.

I bought first one book with photos of positions, as I thought the strange chess notation would be too difficult to learn :-)

And I began to search for a nice old chess board and set and never stopped searching and became a chess collector.

I am really not talented, but I like to read chess books, and because I read so many books I also got better with the time. I have a better knowledge in openings than most players in my rating.

As I give chess lessons I am interested in chess learning and teaching. I am since one year a huge fan from the website Chessable, which helped me to understand better the game.

I am rather competitive, for example in tennis, and I only play tournaments when I think I have a real chance to win it. Stupid, I know. But I have great pleasure in playing against colleagues, something like 4 to 8 games per week. And Daily Chess here.

Over the years I have met such amazing people through chess. As I read these stories I feel like I have met a bunch more. Like I know you. 

This morning I've been thinking about the answer to the question why I play chess. That's probably a whole other topic.

Then someone should make it!

I originally learned how to play chess about 1.5 yrs ago by @sawelt, but now the results against him are mixed.

Newfoundland Canada

I am 51 and started playing chess two months ago on my own. Someone gave me a chess set for Christmas and since then I haven’t stopped playing. I don’t get to use my chess set there is nobody to play with or who likes chess but I play on chess.com.
I am not that good yet but I expect that after just playing for two months

LoL actually I thank her for getting it

"As I was improving in chess he was improving his mental health. The medicines became less and less and he started to participate in family  dinners."

 

That's so beautiful, Deirdre.  Thanks for sharing your story.

Read these stories and share your own. I think you will feel a much more human connection to your opponents here on chess.com.

I think I should read a few, that would be cool.

Amazing story, Deirdre. Thanks for sharing that. 

Thanks for sharing Deirdre!!

Deirdre!  Thank you for your amazing story!

@ DeirdreSkye

nice piece youve written . . .

DENVER