I started playing chess when I was 12 years old. I remember my brother teaching me all of the basic rules and I also remember thinking that it was the most complex game on Earth. Ok, not really, but it was pretty difficult at first. It took a while for me to understand how all of the pieces moved, especially the knight. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that it could only move in an “L” shape, and that it was the only piece that could jump over other pieces on the board. But my brother (who is quite patient), endured my endless questions, and somehow taught me the rest of the rules. After he showed me how to set up the board, we finally began to play.
That first game of chess was so much fun! It was completely different from every other game I had played at the time. It was so challenging and exciting. I never knew what was going to happen next, and it took so much thought and patience. I couldn’t just rush through it like I did with other games—I really had to take my time and try my best to think several moves ahead. I made a lot of mistakes, but as we played more and more games together, I finally got the hang of it, and that’s when I really started to love chess.
My brother and I played almost every day when we were kids, and we always had a blast, but as we both got older and found new hobbies, chess kind of got lost. I didn’t really play again until last year. It was the beginning of summer and my niece and I were doing a lot of volunteer work at our local library. It was very fun and rewarding to be able to help out with the special events and programs that they had every week. One of the programs that I participated in and really enjoyed was the weekly chess event. It was free to the public, and kids and adults could come to learn the rules or just play for fun. I only played in a few games, but that was all it took to rekindle my interest in chess.
So, a few days later, I started playing chess against a computer, but that just wasn’t the same. I wanted to play against real people that I could talk to and learn from. So I looked for an alternative, and that’s when I discovered online chess, which turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. I thought it was amazing to be able to pick up a game of chess and play whenever I wanted to, and it was great meeting so many other people who shared my love for the game. But I have to admit, even though I loved playing chess, I didn’t really know that much about it. I still only knew the very basic rules that I learned when I was a kid, so I lost quite a few games at first.
I didn’t improve until I met a really talented player online named Eric, who just so happens to be the editor of this magazine. Playing against him completely changed the way I approached the game. He taught me so many things about chess that I just didn’t know before, and he encouraged me to study books about chess, which is something I never did. With his help, I became a more confident and competent player, and I finally started to win. He’s been a wonderful chess tutor, and a great friend as well.
To me, chess is so much more than an amazing game, it’s something that I could never stop learning about or get bored of, and it’s something that truly makes me happy.
Felicity Ann Smith was born and raised in Southern California. She is a part-time seamstress and a full-time bookworm. In addition to chess, she enjoys volunteering at the library, and playing the ukulele. This is her first published article.
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