Bad at chess

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How much chess have you played? Have you played against people around your own skill level?
Not all moves require much forethought. Some are instinctive. It all depends on the situation.

I started playing in middle school, 6th grade. One year spent learning, the other two rising to the top and winning every tournament. Mind you it wasn't a major club, a dozen kids tops, but it was fun.

Some have a knack for it, others have to train harder. Russia is a good example, with their government heavily involved, they created some of the top players, all with training. Gary Kasparov. Then there are geniuses like Fischer, who feel the game on such a deep level that it turns into an art form.

For a while I'd be completely obsessed with the game. Playing online for hours a day, determined to be great. As time goes on, I don't see the point. Fischer was brilliant, but all he did with his life was play a game.

I quite like chess, its been some years since I actively played but I was pretty decent at it when I played. As a matter a fact, the only time I ever fit in while going to school was the 4 months or so when for some reason everyone started playing chess.

I gave up traditional chess completely. I'll only play Chess 960 (aka Fischer Random Chess, aka Shuffle Chess), which involves randomly placing the pieces on the back row before playing.

It solves what I consider to be the major problem with traditional chess: the over-reliance on memorization. The first 20 moves in traditional chess are mechanical and boring, based less on strategy and more on knowing what's been played in the past.

I still suck at it, but at least I don't have to worry about my opponent beating me simply because he's memorized more books than me.