[mingusrude]

I too came back to chess. The weird thing is that now at age 48 I'm obsessed with it while when I was young (I played from very young until approx 15) I never really liked it. It was something that you were just supposed to do. I played in a club and played regional and national tournaments with varying results but it was never enjoyable. Had i known the word then, I would've said it was a grind.

I taught the kids as soon as they were old enough (age 4-5) but they never liked it back then either, it was something I think they did because I wanted to do it and I only wanted to do it because it was something my dad and grand fathers did with me.

And then, booom! When my son was approx. 15 a couple of years ago he met a few friends at school and chess became something highly competitive and I was drawn into it again and suddenly, it was so much fun and I was completely engulfed by it. And my kids were also drawn into it (I have a daughter too).

I used to study openings as a kid but hated it and now, it's the best way to spend an evening. Now I play almost daily with the kids (one daughter that is also playing) and after my son moved off to uni it's how we keep in touch (but he's effing killing me with the London System).

Youtube channels? No day is complete with out a game from agadmator's channel.

[innocentoldguy]

I had the opposite experience. I was really into chess when I was a teenager, but after getting back into it in my 50s, I find it a bit "samey." I also picked up Go and Shogi. I like both of those games better than chess because they both seem to have more variety between games. The Duck Chess article from HN yesterday did pique my curiosity though, so I'll have to give that a try.

[vikingerik]

Have you heard of or tried Chess960? That's one popular solution to the sameyness of chess, randomizing the starting positions of the pieces on the back rank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960

[innocentoldguy]

I had not heard of Chess960. Thanks for the link.