Here We Go Again

You may notice that all my previous posts concern diabetes because I have it and was OCDing about it at the time. Now I have something else to "compulse" over which happens to be playing chess. I learned how to play when I was a kid. By "learned," I mean learned the moves, no tactics - no strategy. I played intermittently through high school and college. I never spent much time studying the game, or anything else for that matter, but I could hold my own as long as I didn't mistakenly play against somebody that had invested time and effort in learning how to "really" play. After college my involvement quickly decreased to zero About half-way through my 69th year I made the decision to give chess another. For one thing, I wanted to really learn how to play properly. For another, I'm old and have been advised by reading and other folks to get my brain active to slow down the loss of thinking ability that a lot, if not all, of us experience as the tears start piling up. I've read that this is a young person's game, that a person at my age can't become a competitive player. I would respond to this theory in the word's of one of my favorite characters, Col. Potter on M.A.S.H., "Mule Muffins." The nay-sayers claim that we geriatrics don't have the stamina or endurance to last through extended periods of sitting and thinking. Well young buckos, at my age sitting and thinking are two of the things I do best. So, here I go actually devoting time, effort and practice with the aim of becoming at least an adequate player.