Editorial

I would have been five years old the first time I played chess. A paper board came free with a jar of Horlicks, with plastic pieces that had jagged edges. My mom taught me the rules, and I played her and my sister a couple of times, but my attention span lasted only as long as the next Toonami hadn't aired on Cartoon Network. Eventually, one game led to a terrible fight with my sister and the chessboard suspiciously disappeared. To be honest, I don't think I noticed.

Last month, however, I was listening to a friend talk about Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen's feud. While I was fascinated by the drama, I don't think I thought about it much until I went home, went to my YouTube home page and witnessed the magic of the algorithm. Videos from GothamChess and GMHikaru started popping up. I clicked on one video, and then another.

Since then, I can say I have grown a new obsession. I play and lose to the bots on Chess.com for hours every day, watch YouTube content on chess and understand nothing, and I love it. For now.