05 Dec '20 03:23Here's an article by an American woman journalist who's an
enthusiastic but very weak chess player.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/02/chess-person-covid-cathartic-queens-gambit
"I never thought I was a chess person. Then Covid came, and I've found the game cathartic.
Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit has thousands of people interested in chess.
The game is a great personal comfort for me."
--Nancy Jo Sales
"I’d never really realized before that it (chess) is a battlefield.
Playing chess is like being thrust into an episode of Game of Thrones.
As I lay in bed at night, unable to sleep, anxious and fearful about
the plague that was whipping through the city, taking the lives of
thousands and then tens of thousands, I was advancing across the
field like a wildling wielding its spear. Sometimes, in my imagination,
I was Boudicca, the legendary, first-century redheaded Celtic queen
who waged war against the Roman invaders. I loved hearing the
thunk of the app when my piece would land, taking out an adversary.
Chess is combat. And it’s exhilarating."
I don't perceive chess in such naively breathless romantic terms.
I think of chess in almost completely technical terms.
I do attain a glow of quiet satisfaction about after a well-played game.
"So I asked my daughter, who is 20 and lives with me, to sit down for a game.
She beat me in four moves. I was astonished! How did I still suck so bad?"
At least she's honest enough to admit that she 'sucks'.
She really should try basic lessons with a very patient chess coach.
enthusiastic but very weak chess player.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/02/chess-person-covid-cathartic-queens-gambit
"I never thought I was a chess person. Then Covid came, and I've found the game cathartic.
Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit has thousands of people interested in chess.
The game is a great personal comfort for me."
--Nancy Jo Sales
"I’d never really realized before that it (chess) is a battlefield.
Playing chess is like being thrust into an episode of Game of Thrones.
As I lay in bed at night, unable to sleep, anxious and fearful about
the plague that was whipping through the city, taking the lives of
thousands and then tens of thousands, I was advancing across the
field like a wildling wielding its spear. Sometimes, in my imagination,
I was Boudicca, the legendary, first-century redheaded Celtic queen
who waged war against the Roman invaders. I loved hearing the
thunk of the app when my piece would land, taking out an adversary.
Chess is combat. And it’s exhilarating."
I don't perceive chess in such naively breathless romantic terms.
I think of chess in almost completely technical terms.
I do attain a glow of quiet satisfaction about after a well-played game.
"So I asked my daughter, who is 20 and lives with me, to sit down for a game.
She beat me in four moves. I was astonished! How did I still suck so bad?"
At least she's honest enough to admit that she 'sucks'.
She really should try basic lessons with a very patient chess coach.
