> Any chess players out there? My brother has been playing chess seriously for three or four years now and less than a month ago got me into it, too. The last time I had played chess was when my brother and I were kids, and we played where the object was to capture all the pieces, not to get the king. (We'd sacrifice the king to keep a more mobile piece, if need be.) I remember we'd sometimes just get down to a queen each, and we'd zing them across the board, every which way, not realizing the only hope either of us had of winning was to make an obvious mistake.

Sigh... Chess is one game I do wish I was better at. Back in Junior High or so I was pretty into it and played in a tournament or two on my school's team. I haven't played seriously since and now suck. I maybe play it every now and then but it's rare. I enjoy the game but I really don't have any sense of long term strategies (other than to eventually capture the king). I basically play with maybe one or two moves ahead in my mind, which I realize is not too great. I really don't have much else to say other than I wish I was better but that every Chess book I've tried to read quickly lost my interest and thus it's unlikely that I'll improve in the near future...

Stephen