I would have loved to learn the game in my younger years, but never really got the chance .  I have always been fascinated by the game and watching the people with looks of concentration on their faces.

I would love to play a game of chess with anyone. Message me maybe we can play for some MR monies. 

I haven't played much chess in a long time.  My grandfather taught me the game, and taught me the value of patience and ruthlessness.  He has since passed away, and there's really nobody left around me that plays.

When I was 6, my daddy promised he would give me a trophy if I beat him 50 times. He never did.

Sore loser.

I used to play when I was much, much younger at school.  But as I got older I stopped as none of my family were interested, and it became less and less fashionable.  

I've been playing a lot of the French, especially in blitz lately and it's been doing me well. I need to brush back up on white now that I am understanding things a bit better. 

I play, but not too often. I am supposed to play again with Honesty... but we're also supposed to try Go. 

Finding the time is an issue though. 

Queen's Gambit was great for helping Chess make a comeback. Best way to learn chess is to play.. ideally against a computer and ask for hints, or halfway switch sides if it's kicking you around too much, and see how it weasels its way out.

Another good way to learn is end-game, just having 3 random pieces each and see if you can learn how to checkmate a friend.

I know all the basic rules form being taught as a kid, but I don't think I can really think enough moves in advance to be any good at the game. It looks very intense and interesting in movies and tv shows, it just isn't anything I really played much. 

The problem with training with a computer, is that they don't make "human-like" moves and mistakes. They're even trying to use bots that were set up studying players games at different elo ranges, but other than that the computers are quite "unnatural" from that point of view. They would usually play very well, throwing some bad moves to make it balanced, or play more constantly with moves that are considered to keep a certain balance between white and black, but still very different from the average moves humans would think making.

I sometimes use the lichess puzzles to destress. It can be feel very rewarding once you find the right solution, and your focus will entirely be on the puzzle, so easy to forget outside pressures for a while

Ahh, Chess is a good game of strategy and fun to play after you get the hang of it and I use to play it all the time and it's a good stimulus for the mind but not many play the game but if you can find a few that do play, it's worth the time and a lot of fun.

Looks like there are quite a few chess players here and some GO players. Perhaps a chess tournament (like poker) for the MR community could be of interest. 

I like the game of chess and think i play ok, that is till I play against somebody who is actually ok and then proceed to get bullied around the board until I ultimately lose not seeing the simplest of moves against me

as young well basically as kid i used to play it a lot now to be honest from time to time i go play game or two on random website i google but i am not good hahaha

I used to play as a teenager, mostly used to play against my step dad & family friends. I played a few games at school but got bored as no one in the chess club could beat me, also preferred to spend breaks on my BMX rather than a class room hahaha.

I havent played in a very lon grime bit I would be up for a couple of games one time.

But it would be time dependent o would have that it could be UK friendly. 

Let me knw

I like the idea of a MR chess tournament! But I imagine finding a schedule that works for everyone could prove difficult. Is anyone watching the Carlsen invitational? I think the rapid format is the best to spectate, since you won't be staring at a game for 8 hours, and the quality of play is still pretty high compared to blitz

Anyone down to play some Rui Lopez variations?

Anyone who likes playing chess but is frustrated by how much of it is "memorize these particular combinations and how to counter them" should check out Fischer random chess, popularized by Bobby Fischer. The back row is shuffled, so it's more about pure strategic thinking than memorization.