Once a club player (best BSF grade 120), I played weekend congresses for a few years during a period of unemployment about 15 years ago. Now a busy person working for a living means I'm now a casual player who dabbles occasionally.

I was first exposed to chess in 1972 when the match of the century took place and the greatest ever player BF took the world title. The elegance, complexity and mystery of chess struck me and I learned the moves from my father, surpassed him then developed-self taught using the first generation of dedicated chess computers. Total %age leisure time playing chess is very low but I keep coming back to it. I am a sportsperson mainly having dedicated to table tennis for about 30 years now. When young, I was unsure whether to dedicate to chess or TT. My then TT coach, friend and mentor asked me to answer the following question: Which activity demands more for you? I had to answer TT because it is so completely demanding of commitment, training, skill, fitness, mental control, competitive drive. Chess has similar qualities except the physical, but I decided to give it up as a serious persuit and played TT to a decent level. Now my body cannot always cope with the demands of TT and so I am once again returning to chess. At the moment I lack the depth of understanding, experience and consistency to be a great chess player but I am hopeful that my competitive edge developed from years of sport can be transfered to the black and white squares. I have played some nice games but often get tangled up by more knowledgeable players. TBC...

xennamorph