I first became interested in chess at the age of 5 when my dad bought me a chess set. However, not until the age of 17 did I begin to take the game a little more seriously and studied it for some time. The reason for my hightened interest was largely due to a friend who was so much better than I was that it took a couple years (or so it felt like to me at the time) until I could match his play. After a long break in between, I picked up the game again and now play here from time to time.