You like chess? Then you'll ♥️ these guys.

Like everybody else is America, I watched The Queen's Gambit on NETFLIX. (Short Version: it was great and Anya Taylor-Joy was brilliant, and after seeing her in Emma, The New Mutants, and now this, she has become one of my favorite actors. I mean...I didn't even know it was the same person at first.) And like a great many people, it made me want to play chess...which I haven't done in quite a few years. (I just read an NPR article in which the Director of Marketing at Goliath Games said sales of chess sets were up 1,048% at the end of October. As in a week after The Queen's Gambit was available.) And even though I don't live with anyone who is up for a game, my #1🌞 told me about a website where we could meet up and play.

It's https://lichess.org, and you can either set it up with someone you know and play them, play people you don't know by offering a challenge, or play against the computer. And oh...it's free.

I've done all three versions. I've enjoyed playing #1🌞...though he's a busy 🐝 and it usually takes several days to finish a game. He's also better than I am, so I really sweat these games out. I've tried playing against a person I didn't know...actually I did it by accident...but it ended up not being a very enjoyable experience. When it was clear that this other person was going to lose, s/he just quit playing...thus insuring that I couldn't finish the game. It was a bit frustrating. However...I sent a message to the Lichess Folks and lo and behold, the truculent opponent reappeared to finish the game. (I've since learned that you can put time limits on the play, which would make it impossible for someone to leave you hanging in this way.) So I might have another go at this at some point. But mostly I've played against the computer. It has its own frustrations, though. When I play against Level 2, I find it very difficult not to win. The computer regularly makes really stupid moves. Unfortunately, when I play against Level 3, I almost always get my ass soundly kicked. (I've beaten it twice...and I've played dozens of games.) So I do wish that the slope was a little more gradual there. But hey...did I mention that it's free?

And it looks like it's doing a brisk business. Whenever I check in, there are 25,000 to 50,000 games going on. Might be worth a peek.