Or perhaps more like an egg.
I have wanted an additional worthwhile interest since forever, and was almost giving up in the recent months. “Maybe I’m just not a ‘hobby’ kind of person.” “Maybe I’m already doing enough interesting things.” “Maybe this feeling of wanting something in addition to what I have now will pass.”
Then, about a week ago, as I started watching heist-related Netflix documentaries, Netflix started recommending me chess-related documentaries as well. That inspired me to search on Youtube “how to play chess,” and I found GothamChess.
I cannot explain why it was that, when I looked up chess-related things a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, etc, Levy didn’t show up on Youtube. It appears that he has been popular for so long. Yet for some reason, when I dabbled (barely can call it dabbling, really; can you call a few searches “dabbling” in an area?) with the chess topic before, he just never showed up in my results. He looks sort of like Harry Potter, so I think I would’ve remembered his face. IMO he is also charismatic in the most entertaining, educational way, so yeah, definitely, I feel like I would’ve remembered him…?
Anyway, I found one of his super-beginner-level how-to-play-chess videos and…
Wow! He is such a great teacher! I think if I hadn’t found him, I would’ve stopped “dabbling” in chess once again, like a year ago, two years ago, etc, etc. But somehow he showed up this time and made everything so crystal-clear and interesting. For example, he doesn’t start teaching chess by covering 1923902491202 rules; instead, he tells you the essentials first to get you started.
Surprisingly, this is absolutely NOT a skill that every teacher has. Now I’m a week into the culture of chess. Even if I only improve very slowly in the game itself, I think this is already a huge win. This whole culture of loving something that is so approachable yet difficult at the same time–I love it!
Chess is so global and also local. It’s so online but also so offline. Friggin’ babies play chess, and then there are the centenarians playing. This is amazingly beautiful. Also, apparently, chess underwent a “pop” phenomenon during the COVID era; people were stuck at home and played chess like crazy. Now there are Youtube influencer chess battles hahaha I do not usually watch entertainment-related Youtube content, so I have no idea who those people are, but obviously everyone besides me know who they are. These are million-subscriber Youtubers learning to play chess from Levy, tamagochi style. It’s quite an interesting arc, storytelling-wise too. Anyway, now, because of chess, I’m being exposed to this whole world of Youtube influencing. Seriously, I don’t know why all these interesting aspects escaped my notice all the previous times I looked up chess. It’s inexplicable.
So yeah, now I’m a chess egg.