Chess, chess, chess
I started playing chess on chess.com in 2013. I used to play video games on my computer but after graduating from high school I said goodbye to my digital friends and uninstalled Steam. I was playing what felt like a lot (on average 3 to 4 hours a day), and I was about to move to Paris to begin the classes préparatoires: a two-year intensive Maths and Physics program that prepares students for the French engineering contests.
Unlike the engineering school I later joined, the classes prépa are an extremely old school environment where nothing is digital: blackboards, mandatory fountain pen with black ink, and overhead projectors, but no computers. My only distraction was watching YouTube during study breaks.
I was reintroduced to the game as an adult by the video game influencer Hutch (before his political Twitch career). I was also fascinated by the blitz commentary by Chess Network who has been making videos since 2007. One day I realized I could open a new tab and immediately be playing for 10 minutes against someone else in the world, and I've been playing most days ever since. (Honorable mention to chessbrah who made me feel that playing chess was actually fun and cool)
Playing chess online is very special. Thanks to the Elo ranking system, you are always playing someone who's approximately the same level as you. Playing chess when I was 600 Elo is the same feeling as playing chess at 2000 Elo: it's the same excitement, the same disconnection from time and reality, and the same frustration when losing. Every game is a battle that you fight for the dopamine hit of winning (maybe). But losing a few times in a row makes the rest of your day miserable. So is it worth playing? What's the point in spending thousands of hours doing it if the downside of losing overcomes the joy of winning? (besides learning to recognize flags) (at least, does recognizing the absurdity of it make me more free?)
I don't have answers yet, I just keep playing because it's the default thing my brain wants to do on my computer when I'm not working. I might as well document the journey and set some goals.
I never felt like learning chess theory but for Christmas I got a chess book "1. d4 The Catalan" by Boris Avrukh. In 2026 I'll try to dedicate time to practicing theory. Reaching 2000 Elo in Rapid on chess.com in 2025 felt like an accomplishment. This year I'd like to get closer to 2000 Elo in Blitz. Happy new year!