> Sigh... Chess is one game I do wish I was better at. . . . I basically play with maybe one or two moves ahead in my mind, which I realize is not too great. . . . 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.

I think you have to have an obsession with the game to really improve beyond a certain point. You pretty much have to be pathetic. I'll admit it -- two nights ago, I researched some opening moves on the web, found a great one, and I couldn't get to sleep that night for the longest time, because I was going through the moves, defenses, and variations, and so forth in my mind, anxious to try it in the next day's lunchtime game. I did, won a free pawn, then didn't recover from it as I should have and lost my knight -- but then forked his rook from him. So it worked out, and now I know how to avoid losing the knight.

It's not yet clear whether my sudden excitement about the game will turn out to be a genuine life interest or just a personal fad. But I'm not really given to personal fads -- those who know me I think would pretty much all agree that I take my time deciding what to pursue with my life, but once I make a decision, stick with it to the end. Plus I've always thought chess was a game I would love and eventually be good at (I *love* analytical/combinatorial stuff like this) if I let myself -- but never did, preferring to keep that time open for my other pursuits. Oh well.

I've got a long way to go, but it's the journey that counts.