My Return to Playing Chess

At my office, a vigorous chess tournament started up, and on a lark I joined in. The last time I played chess was in high school in the 1980s!

I learned chess when I still in elementary school. My two brothers and I played using a chess set with ornate pieces. I'm not sure who introduced us the game, but we easily learned the rules and played against each other somewhat regularly.

Seeking to learn more, I found chess books in the library. I replayed games from those chess books, and I thought myself proficient. As much as I geeked out on chess, I never joined a chess club or got myself ranked.

For my return to chess, I first downloaded an iPhone app. My first opponent was from India, and I quickly lost our speed-chess match. The current tournament is also timed chess, but we have three days to make our moves. I think I'm improving.

I've enjoyed relearning the nuances of the game. I especially like playing online. The tools allow me to replay any of my matches. There are even websites that analyze games. Learning and playing chess has been enhanced in this Internet age, and I'm glad to be back at it again.

For any players, I encourage you to find me. I'm on chess.com: rickumali.