The greatest game known to man. So much so, that even now, computers
still struggle against international and grand masters.(It is though only
now a matter of time). I am an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to chess.
At UCL, I used to play both chess and backgammon. In fact, I used to play
a professor who had won the Nobel Prize! Of course, I never managed to
beat him. I once tried to persuade him to play me at backgammon, but was
beaten back by the rather disdainful reply that "I do not play games of
chance!". My chess heroes are Fischer, Kasparov and Bill Hartston (British
Champion, media person and writer). I play against the PC mostly. My ChessMaster
5000 gives a very challenging game and tells me that I rate approximately
ELO 1800. I must confess though that if I have to play more than 30 minutes
each, I become slightly bored. I am also rather partial to blitz chess.