1. e4 ...

I want to play more chess. By “more” I mean “more than one game each year.”

I don’t want to play random people, I want to play against people I know, or at least have some reason to socialize with, other than “FICS says we’re a match level-wise.”

The problem is that when I ask someone if he’d like to play, he always responds, “You’d kick my ass.” I guess people think I’m a chess fanatic. I’m not. Even if I have it in me to kick ass, I get no practice, because no one will play with me. I gave up on go (sort of) because no one wanted to learn, and I figured that chess would be easier: most people already know how. Everybody says they like chess, but nobody wants to play. I don’t get it.

Written on November 23, 2004