Need Your answers.

My ex-boyfriend used to play chess with me. He was 82 years old and delusional, kept rambling about openings and tactics in Albanian. He died manually last year so I could finally collect the inheritance money. I also had to clean out his nasty 19th-century furniture, along with his Purling London chess set. I sold it on eBay for $20,000 and the buyer had a Lichess link in their profile. I clicked on it and that is how I discovered this site and started to enjoy the game.

The more historically accurate chess beginnings for me were as follows...

When I started high school, my buddy joined the chess team. I wasn’t interested, partially because I wanted to socialize in the cafeteria during lunch (the chess team met during lunch hour), and because there was a stigma in the 1990s and I didn’t want people to think of me as a nerd. I tried out for the wrestling team instead.

So some time went by and that buddy of mine kept bringing it up, and he would occasionally load Winchess (windows chess... we’re going back a while here) and I would entertain him by playing a game or two. He would win with a scholar’s mate or just fork all of my pieces away. He kept suggesting that I come out to the chess club and finally I was like “Fine.” I went because I liked my friend, not because I had any real interest in chess. So I started going, and they would destroy me when I played so I did a lot of watching... eating my daily Poutine (fries with cheese curds melted by a nice thick beef gravy... so tasty). This was grade 9. In grade 10 I tried to make the team and didn’t make it... they had me and some other guy play a match to determine who would get 4th board and I lost.

So I kept going, and kept losing. But because of all of those losses I improved quickly and closed the gap between myself and the rest of the team. By grade 11 I was third board. By grade 12 or grade 13, I was alternating between 1st board and 2nd board.

My rise was fairly fast, but only because I lost so much and had daily access to stronger players. By grade 11 I was attending a local chess club and my interest in chess had been firmly established. I’ve taken some long breaks from chess as an adult, but those were my humble beginnings. I learned by losing, a lot.

@Aragorn-Elessar said in #7:

Publishing a story won't be so easy. I doubt anyone would read your books.
So at what cost would chess players tell their story/bio? And what else would OP do by writing those stories wihout publishing?

@Ben10Tenyson said in #9:

Isnt it like oxymoron
It's actually antithesis and there is difference between the two. And I will not delve into that by going off topic.

Meh. Let him write his book. You can use my story if you like. Who knows. Maybe someone will read it. I’ll never discourage someone from trying to do something productive. I hope his book does well.

@Le_Patzer83 said in #14:

Meh. Let him write his book. You can use my story if you like. Who knows. Maybe someone will read it. I’ll never discourage someone from trying to do something productive. I hope his book does well.
It's better to publish a book rather than keeping it secret and he's no Anne Frank whose works will be read/remembered by all!

i started playing chess when i was in my 1st grade
i that time didn't like any physical sports and chess was only hobby available at that time
and we got to play 3 hours a week in 1st grade on a particular day and the only non-physical game was chess
that is how I started playing chess

@Akbar2thegreat said in #15:

It's better to publish a book rather than keeping it secret and he's no Anne Frank whose works will be read/remembered by all!

Lol!! I was thoroughly amused by this. Thank you for the good chuckle. Give him your story Akbar.

@Le_Patzer83 said in #17:

Lol!! I was thoroughly amused by this. Thank you for the good chuckle. Give him your story Akbar.
But I was speaking truth not joke!