chess fad?

[jdd2]

Has anyone heard of this? wapo.st/41bMf4N It seems like great news.

(I played a lot in the early 70s, the era of fischer-spasky. But really none since then.)

[howard lee]

Flummoxed? That's amusing. Two of my younger coworkers have begun a daily chess game to fill the time between edits and assignments. Do you think it may stem from the same impulse of younger people to embrace film photography and vinyl records?

[drlj]

We always had a sizable chess club at school when I was working. We had a hard time finding enough adults who could play to supervise.
I think some kids find the mind exercise stimulating.

[millring]

[Cornflake]

I played chess a lot when I was young. There wasn't much else to do. I studied openings and famous games by the masters. I mostly played with my older brother. I remember that chess got very competitive. Egos were involved. In our older years we played a few times when we were visiting each other and decided that putting egos on the line wasn't a very good idea.

There was a regular chess column in the Houston newspaper.

[howard lee]

My cousin and I used to play chess frequently when we were kids. The summer we were 11 years old, he came on vacation with us to Cape Cod. One afternoon, he played a game against my father, who prided himself on his superiority to children in every way. When it became obvious that my cousin was about to squeeze my father into check-mate, we both started giggling. My father, who hated when the two "idiots" broke down into hilarity, seized upon the opportunity to get angry and threaten to walk away if we didn't stop the laughter. Of course, this made us laugh even harder, and my father did walk away—he knew he was going to lose and there was no way he was going to let himself be trounced by an 11-year-old who was convulsed in laughter.

Ah, the memories.

[epaul]

I haven't played in several years, but I have watched "The Queen's Gambit" twice.

[Russell Letson]

I suspect that chess has an enduring appeal to kids--I was taught the moves at around age 10 and played informally in high school (chess club was social rather than competitive). In college, that social space was occupied by card games (pitch, hearts, even knuckles), but the combination of skill, competition, time-filling, and social connection remained.

[Marshall]

On a pop up on facebook this morning I learned the Moors in Spain introduced Chess to Europe during their reign from 711 - 1492 in the Iberian peninsula.

[Dub]

My brothers and I were taught to play chess as children. Our father and his brother loved chess and played every time there was a family get-together. It could be Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, all ready to serve, but no one dared interrupt the chess game.

To my brothers and I it was just another board game until our teens when we began bringing books home from the library outlining strategies and games between famous masters. I didn’t spend enough time to be really good but I got so I could hold my own. Now I haven’t played for many decades and probably don’t remember any of the useful strategies. I do have a very nice Kingsway Staunton set put away somewhere. I keep meaning to find it and set it up but I’m repeatedly overcome by indifference and lethargy.

[james]

I used to be a reasonable player but over time found that playing sufficiently competitive games became too mentally tiring and stressful. I'm more of a backgammon chap these days.

Hopefully the school chess players don't copy all the Queen's Gambit girl's play enhancing, pill popping ways.

[RickW]

I think you can attribute some of this to the Queen’s Gambit’s popularity. It was the top TV show that year. I used to play some, but never could get my head wrapped around the strategy much.

[Village Idiot]

Playing chess has always been in spurts for me. Either I'm playing a lot or I'm not playing at all. When I'm playing a lot, which has been way over a decade ago, I'm pretty good. When I haven't been playing, which has been way over a decade, I'm terrible. Playing chess is not like riding a bicycle.

[Marshall]

Apr 16, 2023 13:52:16 GMT -5 james said:

I used to be a reasonable player but over time found that playing sufficiently competitive games became too mentally tiring and stressful. I'm more of a backgammon chap these days.

I play Go Fish with the grandkids.