Hi everybody!
Merry Christmas! Hope the holiday is going great for you.
I'll get straight to it. I have decided to try and win a chess competition at the age of 41.
My highest rating ever was 1300. Now I'm probably around 1100! I don't concern myself with that for now though.
I will be writing on here to record what I'm up to and recount some past games I have played in all sorts of places against all kinds of people.
In psychiatric hospitals (not as a patient as a auxiliary nurse all though even I admit it was hard to tell...) in a gymnasium cupboard, on planes, trains and in automobiles, in New York, Turkey, Colombia, in fields, on rough council estates, in historic ale houses and finally in my parents house every Monday playing against active and retired hooligans, scientists and artists.
I have played against people from all over the world OTB not on the internet and against players far far stronger than me.
Funny stories abound and are coming your way.
My success (or lack of) will hopefully entertain or maybe delight you...
I am a Pilates instructor by trade and also work as a service provider bringing motivation and movement for stroke patients and people suffering with dementia.
Definitely not your average 41 year old. I feel much younger than my years often forget myself after jumping on my kids skateboards or staying up watching films etc. I have a beautiful family, nice house and stay in really good shape but my bug bear is never achieving anything in chess.
All I want is to become a good club player and win some silverware. This will be a weight off my shoulders definitely.
You may find that odd but Chess is my dark mistress, I walkaway from it for years and come back. Rinse and repeat. Never done anything worthwhile though.
I have no natural talent I'm aware of other than a love of the game that is very deep so the work will be hard and long (that's what she said).
Well, that's enough for this post.
Thanks for reading, I'm off to study some chess...
