The Day I Lost Interest In Chess

I had a friend who was really into chess.

I knew the rules and enjoyed friendly games, so decided to accept the challenge to play him.

He mopped the floor with me.

This happened several times.  Many times.  I never came close to winning.

I asked how to improve my game.

He loaned me a book on chess.

Winning at chess is best described as rote memorization and pattern recognition.  Then an if/then chart from there.

It's why computers can finally beat people, they have enough memory to store every combination and run the if/then too fast for the human to access the same information.

If you've an excellent memory and an eye for the patterns, then you're going to win.  Every time.

It's hard for me to think of it as strategy any more.