I'm not actually sure when I learned. It was almost certainly before I was ten, but I just don't know when I learned how to play. Keep in mind that was just learning how to move the pieces, not actual good play. I was still playing 1. h4 until the age of 12 before I quit for two years and picked it up again at the age of 14.
I started playing when I was five. However, my father totally lacking any educational skill would never let me win (I used to throw pieces at him only fueling his amusement); Good thing my grandfather was a more benevolent teacher and kept my love to the game alive. The end result of such practice is that I gradually became better at chess and more in control of my temper.
I was about 8, my parents taught me to play and at my primary school on Friday afternoons we played chess, each taking it in turn to play the teacher. I'm sure this is extremely rare and probably isn't allowed these days due to enforced curriculum, but I'm so grateful to Mr. Rudd and wish I could thank him!
I was eight; my younger sister taught me after she learned from the neighbors. I played with my siblings and others who lacked any appreciable skill for several years. When I was fifteen I learned some basic strategy from a friend who owned a chess book, and within a few months I could beat him, the new kid that moved in next door, and my father. Chess books at the library were the key to my improvement.
Wow, I'm jealous of all of you who learned so young. I didn't learn until I was 33. I'm 36 now, and I wish I could make up for the three decades of practice I missed out on. I learned when I bought a Macintosh computer that had a chess program installed. It kicked my tail over and over. So I bought a few books, and now I'm hooked...
Scott
ya i know hey..lucky kids learning so young.. well there is this one person who learnt really late 30 or over and became a GM. he wrote a book too i think called GM at 50 or 60 or something....
its intresting how lots of new player play 1.h4 as their opening move....
i'm pretty sure either i played h4 during my first game or my opponent did cus i remeber his rook coming into my backrank via the h file and wipping out my back rank...
maybe it was the a file...anyways same difference...
I played a game against my dad when i was about 10, but he wouldn't play me again after that. I decided i wanted a nice chess set at the age of 23 and spent 3 months on and off looking for one. When i found the one i wanted i played a couple of games against my housemate and then descovered yahoo and it's been downhill from there!
I learned when I was about 9 or 10, I think.
My Dad has this awesome marble green/white chess set, and I gather I wanted to play with it. Thing is, after the first time I beat him (quite a while later), he'd never played me again... leading to almost 20 years without a regular opponent.
Yay for RHP for getting me back to the game.
