Unsurprisingly, I got into chess after watching Queen’s Gambit. Well, I started playing a week before watching the TV show, but it was in preparation for the show, so I can say that it was because of it.
I’ve played only a couple of times as a kid, so coming back – I had to learn all the basics, but that was the easy part. Doing the daily puzzles and practice on chess.com opened the world to me.
I haven’t played against a human yet, I am eager to learn some strategies, and beat the bots at least until simulated 1250-1500 rating. I would like to be at least partially prepared, so right now I’m doing puzzles every day, and on days that I have the brain power – I try to beat bots.
The funny thing is that this holiday season I promised myself that I won’t play games, but I am cheating on that with chess. Because, chess is a game, but it doesn’t feel like it. It has been played for so long that it’s in this grey area between a game and a sport, at least for me. Still, it was funny that I cheated on my promise, with the argument that it’s not actually a game.