Don't worry, you're not over the hill yet! What's more important than your age is your love for the game, the desire to improve, and an ability for visualization ("mental rotation" skills, as they are called....or "spatial relationships"). There are plenty of players who got involved in the game at a later stage of life that went on to make a name for themselves. Remember, that the main rules are "always have fun" and "always let BACKSTAB win". If you do those two things life will be more pleasant for both of us!

Yes, I think it is generally accepted that playing by itself is not the best way to improve. Check out my previous columns......there are several that focus on ways to improve, and I don't want to repeat myself here. There you will find a terrific list of books, chess programs etc. The main thing is study master games (there are databases all over the internet) and analyze your own games, with an emphasis on why you lose and fixing those mistakes.

You aren't the first to wonder why I bring my knight back to it's original square on the 3rd move! Actually 3. Nb1 is an idea of ex-world champion Vassily Smyslov, and the idea is to allow the white bishop to capture the a2-g8 diagonal on the next move, now that black's "d" pawn have advanced too far to block it. Blocking with the black bishop doesn't usually work out well, as 3....e5 4 Bc4 Be6, 5 Bxe6 and then Qh5+ wins. So black must spend some time preparing Be6, which fully justifies the "waste" of time.

Now, If you want me to explain you why I play 1 h3 and 2 a3, that's probably a whole column! Or maybe a website!