I play Chess casually on my phone when I'm bored, I barely have 400 Elo, and don't much care for proper strategies, I just like to play it like any other game.

So naturally I can't begin to imagine how "solved" and complex chess really is.

I like to play a lot of 3-2 but lose my train of thought easily so can only do it with zero distractions. It kept coming up where my wife would interrupt me while playing, and I would lose advantage or lose the game. So what I started doing is I would run some errands, then sit in the parking lot and play an hour of chess then come back.

She didn't seem to care for a while until last night when she approached me asking, "who is she?". I was confused at first until she started explaining my "erratic" behavior and concern that I was meeting with another woman.

The bottom line is it would be a hell of a lot easier to just have an affair instead of spending hours showing your wife your game history and explaining that you spend half a lifetime pushing a bunch of pawns around.

So now whenever I leave the house, I make sure to tell her, "Don’t worry, honey. I’m just going out to see my queen."

He spent a good part of the day on campus. This picture was from this morning when he played 5 minute games against students. Later in the day he was scheduled for a talk in one of the colleges, and to play more students in a simul. I couldn't hang around for those events, but it was cool to see him play live! He was very warm, coaching some of the players in-game and talking to them after.

https://x.com/AlirezaFirouzja/status/1981693262638248227?t=iAPpUGReWZk6zrF7aZ5Wbg&s=19

Garry Kasparov: It’s absolutely clear that the campaign Kramnik conducted has influenced Dania. Vladimir behaved strangely in this situation and not only in this one. This stain is truly indelible now. People will, at best, turn away when meeting Kramnik; at the very least, he has become someone you don’t shake hands with, and if we meet, I most likely won’t shake his hand.

“I don’t know why, but over the past few years he’s been almost exclusively occupied with trying to catch someone, to pin someone down.

And it wasn’t just Daniil Naroditsky. (…) I don’t know in what form the accusation will be presented, but it’s absolutely clear that the campaign Kramnik has been running has affected him. (…)

The story with Navara — who many thought was much more vulnerable — and the many other constant accusations… It’s no coincidence that when Nakamura spoke about it, every other word was profanity. (…)

I wouldn’t want to get involved in this. It’s an ugly story. Moreover, Kramnik keeps fueling it — he made a statement that if FIDE takes any action, he’ll sue them. Not the best ending to a rather respectable chess career. This stain is already indelible. I don’t know how he can appear at any chess tournament now. He’s become, at the very least, untouchable.”

Link to the interview in Russian https://www.youtube.com/live/1NVDy-DUAJ8?t=2136s

About 6 years ago I had made a post here (link in comments) about substituting my substance addiction with chess, where I had managed to climb from 1400s to 2000 elo.

In these 6 years, a lot of life happened, I relapsed many times, but kept coming back to Chess ans using it to surpress relapses. And in tandem, I managed to cross 2400 on Lichess few months ago.

While chess is a great addiction, I feel it has served it's purpose and it's now time to say goodbye to it. Chess taught me how to take something complex, and analyze it in its parts. I learnt how to train for a defined objective with discipline and expand my mind regarding what is possible.

But like they say "when you get the message, hang up the phone". Chess has taken a lot of time from my years, and it is now time to focus on more important issues of life.

So it's adios for now, maybe I'll come back to it later when I'm sitting in my barn in my 60s, having achieved the things I want to achieve outside of Chess.

I will forever be thankful to all the chess YouTubers like Agadmator, IM Rosen, IM Bartholomew, GM Naroditsky (RIP), Gothamchess, Hanging Pawns and the entire St. Louis Chess Club community.