My dad taught me when I was around 6 how to play the game. I've played around 3 games a year until I stumbled upon RHP about 3 years ago. Since then I've been working hard but making little progress.

No idea...probably when my dad taught my brother and I insisted he show me how to play as well. That was ~20 years ago, and I still can't beat my dad regularly, even though I now play here and OTB and he only ever plays once or twice a year.

Me and a few friends learned the game together.Only 2 still play,me obviously being one of them.

Not a very interesting story I'm afraid

toet.

A female teenage baby sitter taught me and one of my younger brothers when I was 8. She was like a big sister, so I would slot this in the "taught by sister" category.

Paul

I read a book called Through the Looking Glass when I was 6 or 7. Learned how to move the pieces from a guy who learned the game in prison 21 years later.

My dad bought me a chess set a few months ago,from then on started my passion for chess. A documentary about Susan Polgar 's chess skills is what got me interested in the game.

I don't remember exactly how I learned to play. Only that I was nine and a friend of my mother somehow was involved.

I was around 10 and my best friend, at the time, taught me to play. The only catch was, he didn't tell me all the rules. We would play and he would spring castling on me but I didn't know that was a play. Figured that out, played another day and here comes en passant. I never could beat him. Today he is in the Master category. I am in the class D category. I wonder if I still don't know all the rules?
🙂

When I was five years old my dad sprung out a $3 set he bought at Toys 'R' Us and asked me if I wanted to learn how to play. He taught me, and we began playing extensively afterwards (when he used to travel, we'd play online on yahoo chess while talking on the phone). We used to have 100 game 'matches'. Slowly and steadily the ratio moved towards my favor, and when I was 11 I finally became a stronger player than him and beat him in the latest match 58.5-41.5. We started the next match and I was leading with a score of something like 21-3 (I was rapidly improving at this time) when he stopped playing with me and we ended our matches.

When I was a child my parents would buy me a magazine for kids called Golden Magazine... this is a very long time ago (1960's). One month it had an article in it that gave a little history of the game and explained the rules. I asked my mom if I could have a chess set and she came home with a small plastic set a few days later.

I guess I should call Dad and see if he remembers? Vague memories of being 6 years old with a set of cheap plastic pieces and a black and red checkers board. I learned the pieces and the classic first 3 moves of the Ruy Lopez and thought I was King of the world. My uncle played me and checkmated me quickly and left me crying. Years later he admitted he cheated and didn't even know the moves when we played!

Another question is how did I get here at RHP? I've been here almost 3 years, but I can't for the life of me remember how I found this site?

Originally posted by tbsmith918
When I was a child my parents would buy me a magazine for kids called Golden Magazine... this is a very long time ago

I was three or four and my dad picked me up and threw me at the chess board. I crashed into the board and the pieces were scattered about the room. He told me to set up the board again, so I did, and he lofts me back into the chess table. My mum, who heard the clatter runs in and asks him what in the hell he's doing. My da turns to her and says " It worked at the lake."

Originally posted by MontyMoose
Such a fine magazine! I read every page. Someone actually cared about children and let us spend some time with a world beyond what we saw every day. (Don't get me started on the Hardy Boys!) 🙂 Did you move on to Mad and, later, The National Lampoon?

Originally posted by cheshirecatstevens
I was three or four and my dad picked me up and threw me at the chess board. I crashed into the board and the pieces were scattered about the room. He told me to set up the board again, so I did, and he lofts me back into the chess table. My mum, who heard the clatter runs in and asks him what in the hell he's doing. My da turns to her and says " It worked at the lake."