Hi,

I was so glad to read your commentary. I too have the monologue running in my head because I just began playing recently, having only played a total of two times as a nine-year-old child. Though I scored in the superior range on IQ testing, after two times at that game, I guess I felt inadequate and did not play again.

LOL, funny thing - there was a giant chess set at our hotel on our honeymoon this past winter, and on a rainy day, we played chess. He was explaining the rules, which came back to me, when two heavy-hitting chess players (with chess book in two) asked if they could watch. I joked about watching him instead of me, because I was just relearning, but because of some sort of language barrier (or snobbery), they simply sat down to watch - that didn't do much for my fears. They were very nice, but subsequently came questions about what age I first played chess and how long it had been, and when I made a move, they looked at each other and said, "Why did she do that?" in French, not knowing I understood them. They were kind of sizing us up on intelligence.

Eventually my husband and I quit and let them take over because it was a bit nervewracking - I was trying to re-learn the game, and they were obviously employing some strategies. I sat and learned by watching them, but it wasn't fun having what is common knowledge to be the cornerstone of your intellect sized up in an unfair assessment by two polite-but-judgmental French people, lol.

Thanks for letting me know that I'm not alone in this dialogue, and though I haven't played since last winter, I'm determined to learn this game well enough to feel less inadequate.

Funny thing - I'm really good at puzzles, logic puzzles, cryptrograms, that kind of thing - so I wonder if it just takes practice.:)

Posted by: Chrystal on February 11, 2003 11:00 AM