I Play Email and Online Chess

I love to play online and email chess. I learned how to play chess when I was 11 years old, but didn't really have many people to play against. Those I did play I used to beat, but I'm not sure any of us really understood the game all that well.

My senior year of college, I had a roommate who was a ranked junior player in NY state. He started to play me often, and he beat me almost all the time. However, I did learn a few things, and I even beat him a few times. But, back in the day, the game had to be played right then and there, with someone across from you with the board, cardboard or wooden, and pushing the pieces around.

Then, I'd graduated, and though my friend lived in the same area I did, we didn't see each other all that often. When we got together from time to time, we'd play a game here and there, but he was the only person I knew who played the game.

Fast forward about 10 years, and suddenly I'm on the world wide web; this was January 1996. I'd had a computer before then, but we were still doing bulletin board things, and no one was playing chess. Well, one of the first things I happened to fluke into was this chess site that helped set up games with others all around the world. We play through email, sending moves to each other, sometimes playing multiple games and tournaments, and that was pretty neat.

Then I discovered real time chess online through one site, and that was fun,... for a minute. What I learned was that, if I was ahead, the other person would just stop playing, and you didn't get either a win or loss from that game; how fair was that?

Finally, I discovered a different type of online chess site. In this case, I receive email notifications that it's my turn to make a move, and I go online, make my moves, and then move on. I'm one of those very fast players, because I just don't have the patience to sit down and study each move for hours at a time; not my style. I want to play a bunch of games, and I can say that I'm not bad, though I'm not great. For me to be great, I have to take a lot of time and study the board. I have won one chess tournament in my life, and man, that was mentally draining; it was also for money.

So, there you go. It's one of the very few true pleasures I have in my life. I'd love to play more people that I know, but if I have to stick with people I don't know, it's all good.