Chess had become an essential part of my life before I knew it

When it comes to any competing board games with standard game rules and many pieces, I am that one boy who was disinterested. Though as a kid I occasionally downloaded puzzle games—such as Sudoku, Cut The Rope, Draughts—on my phone, I only did it to kill boredom. I never imagined competing in these games, thinking only for high IQ geniuses to sharpen their calculations. How I got into playing chess

4 years ago, I became a university freshman. Part of the excitement since stepping a foot in the university gate was to be part of the upcoming university event. "Freshy Games"— a sports event held in the first months of the academic year for freshmen, is a tradition for team building, ice-breaking, and training management along with leadership for new students. The annual event runs for a month, with teams of 3 faculties competing in various sports for medals.

Back then, I was hesitant to give a shot at any competitions but still wanted to be the cool guy who fights for the team. I explored choices in which I can be on the same page as competitors from other teams, and I can quickly train in a month. Chess was one of the competitions among many, which my team had difficulty in recruiting players for. I thought I could quickly study its game rules and train in a month. I applied with a lack of confidence, but great determination.

It only took a day of binging chess videos on YouTube, and around a week of tinkering chess boards against bots (because none of my friends play, it is uncommon for an Asian teenager to know chess) to familiarize chess rules and start 'playing'. I was convinced that I was well trained and can at least try playing legit chess.

Still, compared to anyone with experience, I was just a beginner who only knew the basic openings. There were definitely a few who learned chess way before I did, and some of them sat in front of me with a chessboard and a chess clock. Fortunately, I placed second runner-up in the competition. My team cheered me up, reminding me that nobody could do better, and nobody in the team would have given a shot except me.

Chess became part of my days

I heard that if one does something consistently for 21 days, they turn that thing into a habit. Yes, I could not just leave chess at that. During years of college, I would watch chess videos on YouTube to take quick breaks from my studies. Chess.com, Lichess, and various chess YouTube channels were places I frequently visited. If I had any 5 to 10 minutes window, sometimes my friends would see me tapping chessboards on my phone screen.

I learned more chess openings, learned to develop patterns, learned to predict, learned to trade pieces. These things are fundamental in chess. However, the uses are not limited to chessboards. The ability to predict a few moves(steps) ahead, the ability to synergize units, the ability to evaluate outcomes, isn't this something quite applicable to other things?

Still, I am not good at chess. I only placed 1400-1600 in ELO. However, my interest in chess had also brought me to explore its history. Chess opening had been around for many centuries and many chess openings were named after places or people. Even when I am not competitive in chess, I always have fun watching chess games and discovering interesting variations.

Watching chess games move by move prompts me to try and predict the next moves, and I always feel great about making correct guesses. There are billions of possibilities of how the chessboard will turn out, and each chess game has the possibilitiy to be one never seen before in history. It really brings out the creativity in players and audiences.

Chess is an amazing game where one does not have to invest too much to enjoy, both as a player and a viewer. I never regret getting into chess. Some days I play 2-3 games of chess, some days I spent hours thinking of the next move, some days I go to sleep after watching some mind-blowing combinations on YouTube. Chess had become a part of my life.

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