I started to play chess in 1993 vaguely seriously. The trigger was writing a chess program and finding that it could thrash me. I thought this was ridiculous, so decided to learn to play properly.
I played for about five or six years, but then ‘retired’, and, besides the odd game on chesscube.com, haven’t played much since.
Perhaps thanks to teaching my son and the fear that he could soon beat me, I’ve recently been getting back into chess and today am coming out of retirement to play in the DSK Open.
It’s been quite fun to prepare. When I played before, my tactical skill was much weaker than my endgame skill, so I tended to play carefully, steer for an endgame, and try grind the opponent down.
My preparation has mostly consisted of time on Chess Tempo, a tactics site, and a quick read through the odd opening line. My tactical skill has possibly even improved, but my endgame is very rusty, and much weaker than it used to be. Should be fun!