Never played chess enough to be competent at it. I did beat my late wife in a poolside game on a miniature board in about six moves. I never decided if she didn't want to play and knew how to end the game, or if I struck a moment of talent. Likely the former. I had a friend at work, occasional lunch partner, who was a chess master in his 20's and 30's, and had "retired" to concentrate on the game "Go," another really subtle multi-layered competition. This guy was also very verbal, so that's why we had a good time yakking. We'd get some line of jokes going and couldn't quit. He had/has an interesting contrarian streak that sometimes rubbed colleagues wrong, but we got along well. He has a doctorate in biophysics but worked as a technical editor.