Last summer over quarantine, one of my best friends and I started playing chess together online.
It was just something competitive we could do while trapped in our homes.
I knew how to play from years prior, but had never taken the time to learn the game’s basic principles, strategies, or tactics. Now, I had a mission—a purpose.
To beat my buddy.
He was better than I was so the bitter taste of defeat was a powerful motivator to improve. My ELO (rating) was around 900.
We got super into it for a few months until I fell out of love with the game entirely. I looked at a board and couldn’t care less what happened on it.
Then I, along with 62 million other folks, watched Queen’s Gambit.
The show single-handedly increased awareness and interest in chess tenfold around the world. Chessboard sales skyrocketed. Chess streamers and commentator channels had enormous boosts in their following. I was a part of all these statistics.
Then something strange happened which improved my chess skills tremendously.
I got Covid.
For the first time since starting my own business, I took a week off and did nothing but order DoorDash and play chess. Five to ten hours a day.
My rating went up 100 points in four days.
Since then, I’ve played consistently online, read books, analyzed games, hired chess tutors, and spent hours watching my favorite YouTubers go over games and teach. Here’s my rating in 2021:
Today, that same friend and I are playing in our first over-the-board tournament in Baltimore.
I’m excited and proud of how far we’ve come in a year. I’m nervous to lose to an 11-year old kid. And I’m grateful to share one of my passions with one of my closest friends.
We play five games in six hours. It’ll probably be exhausting…but I’m so pumped.
On Monday, I’ll post about how it went and what I learned from the experience.
Wish us luck. 😊