(Essay)

At the start of a new year or even before people resolve to achieve something to improve their life in one way or another. The most common resolutions are about losing weight, spending money frugally, etc. When I was going to the Gym in Fairfax, Virginia the parking lot in January used to be full due to new members joining. The attendance would gradually go down by the end of February. For most people keeping a resolution is a major challenge.

I normally do not make a New Year’s resolution. There is nothing I can think of that I need to change. I have been disciplined in my daily life. I am relatively healthy as appropriate for my age. I continue to keep myself engaged in my hobbies of writing, and participating in yoga and other exercises during a week.  My wife and I travel to new places when we feel like it.

This year I made an exception. I decided to learn to play Chess. Why do you need a resolution to learn a game, you may ask? I will tell you why.

For the Christmas of 2023, we bought a chess/checkers set as a gift for my grandson Kieran, then nine years old. We were going to keep it in our house so he could play the game when he would be visiting us. He already knew the game and was pretty good at it. I did not know the game at all. I had heard from some of my friends that it is a challenging game and helps to improve one’s cognitive ability. I played the game with Kieran a couple of times. Every time I lost. I had read the rules, casually, from the pamphlet that came with the game’s package. But I did not remember them when I started playing. I did not know how many pieces there were in a set nor did I know how and in what order they were arranged and how they moved. Once we started the game Kieran moved his pieces so fast and captured my pieces that it was getting embarrassing. So, around Christmas 2024 I decided that the only way I was going to enjoy playing with Kieran was for me to accept the challenge of learning the game.

I borrowed books for beginner chess players from our local library. On the jacket of one of the books, the author stated that she learned the game from her nine-year-old son who was a British Under 9 champion. It took me a week to understand that chess is a game of war. The two armies, a white army, and a black army, are positioned to fight each other. The game aims to capture the King of the opposite army. Each army has sixteen pieces. I learned about the Pawns, the Rooks, the Knights, Bishops, Kings, and the most powerful Queens and rules for their movement across the board (battlefield). I am trying to understand what it means to Capture, Check, Castle, Check Mate. I learned that there are hundreds of ways to start a game, what is called “the beginning.” Several books have been written on this subject. I had a feeling it would take a while, maybe a few months or more to be able to play reasonably well.

I took the chess board and the pieces out of the box and placed them on the coffee table in our living room. This way it would be in front of my eyes as a constant reminder to inspire and motivate me. I joined the chess.com website which offers tutorials, puzzles, and opportunities to play the game with a robot or a live person. I tried playing with a robot once. What I liked about it was that it offered suggestions on where to move a piece as I placed my cursor over it. These were just recommendations and not suggestions which were good to refresh the rules. My first game with the computer was a draw.

Encouraged by my progress I decided to play the game with Kieran a week ago. I lost again. This time he was more supportive. When I tried to move a piece to a dicey position he warned me. His sister who was watching us addressed me:

“You need to pay attention to what your enemy is planning.”

She was right. I have to get into a “War” mentality. It is not enough to know how to move your pieces, you need to look over the other side and guess what they are planning.

I have my work cut out for me. So far I have liked the challenge and feel motivated. I am not going to give up.

When I was checking out the books from the library I casually mentioned to the lady at the counter that I was learning how to play chess. She immediately looked at her computer monitor and wrote down a few dates. She turned to me and said.

“We have a chess club at the library you know. These are the dates. All levels of players can come, children and adults. No need to register. Just show up.”

I thanked her for the information. In my mind, I knew it would be a while before I could face a stranger in person to play the game. I will wait a while to be sufficiently proficient. But it was good to know that there are opportunities to learn, improve, and turn my resolution into a challenging hobby.