My Chess History

My parents bought me a chess set when I was about nine or ten years old (early 1980s). I don't remember if I'd asked for it or if they surprised me. I taught myself the rules but had no one to play against. The set sat mostly dormant until my freshman year of high school, when I had a geometry class that only required 10 minutes to do an hour's worth of homework, and anyone who finished early was allowed to play chess quietly in the corner. So I began to play against other classmates. That's when I finally heard of en passant and learned how to castle. Our school had a mostly inoperative chess club, which I joined, but all we did at meetings was play chess (badly) or watch others play chess. (No affiliation, no ratings, no competitions, no instruction, no guru to prod us along.)

I enjoyed some chess in college (early 1990s) but learned I wasn't good at chess AT ALL. Though I beat a few friends regularly, when I entered a tournament it was easy to see I only made it past the first few rounds because my opponents were complete beginners. (I think I finished third or fourth, but only because my final opponent made some uncharacteristic blunders.) In the next year's tournament, more of the participants knew what they were doing and I didn't stand a chance. I was also working full time to pay my tuition and so I couldn't devote much time to chess.

Later (late 1990s), while working long night shifts at a supermarket, I played speed games against my boss during our breaks, and finally learned how to do forks and discovered attacks. After a couple of years, I was the undisputed champion of the MegaMarket night shift in Jacksonville, Arkansas, a rightly unrecognized title. But again, I was working full time (60-70 hours a week) trying to survive predatory capitalism and so didn't have time to study chess.

After that, I kept my board but almost never played.

In late 2020, I became interested in chess again, mainly because the pandemic limited activities for my children and I was looking for things for them to do. My old chess board from the 1990s was on the top shelf of the hall closet, so I taught chess to my 7-year-old son, 10-year-old daughter, and xx-year-old spouse. We discovered Chess.com (and Lichess a couple of months later) and all four of us joined.

Although my spouse and daughter quickly grew disinterested, my son (now 8) and I continue to play almost daily, both online and over the board. I bought an openings book (MCO-15) and a couple of other beginner books and I feel like I'm finally learning some basic principles that I should have learned 35 years ago.

Online, I mostly enjoy correspondence chess ("daily" on other sites), because it allows me to check in at my convenience and make a move. I intend to attempt more Classic and Random time controls as I improve my openings and trap-recognition.

Thanks for reading.

(The photo is of my 1990s-era chess board, which I finally had to toss out.)