I'm an average player. I have always been facinated by the game. The most difficult part of Chess for me was to find an opponent who was good enough to make it interesting and bad enough that I could still win sometimes. In June of 2005 I discovered correspondence type chess on the internet. This is absolutely the best way to play chess. I don't use databases or computers but I study chess books and they help improve my game. Chess is my Zen - My Golf - and thank god it's not Hockey.