Back on the Board: My Return to Chess After 2 Years

Published July 2025
Two years ago, I thought I had played my last serious game of chess.
In 2023, I stepped away from competitive play. School took priority, and between assignments, exams, and everything else life threw at me, I made the tough decision to put chess on hold. I didn’t know if I’d ever come back. I told myself, “Maybe this is it.”
For a while, I didn’t miss it—or maybe I just didn’t let myself. No online blitz, no opening prep, no weekend tournaments. Chess quietly disappeared from my life. It was a clean break. Or so I thought.

Fast forward to July 2025, and somehow, I found myself registering for the Cape Winelands Open. No preparation. No warm-up games. I didn’t even brush up on basic tactics. I just showed up—with zero expectations and a vague hope that I still remembered how the pieces moved.
And then something unexpected happened.

Not only did I enjoy every single game—I finished 3rd in my section.
Was I rusty? Definitely. Did I blunder? More times than I’d like to admit. But somewhere in the middle of all that, I reconnected with the part of myself that used to love this game. The part that thrived on the tension of a close endgame, the satisfaction of finding a quiet move that turns the tide, and the joy of just sitting across from another player, trying to solve the same puzzle from opposite sides of the board.

I didn’t come back for trophies. I came back because chess—somehow—called me back. And I listened.
To anyone who’s taken a break, or is thinking about stepping away: it’s okay. Life has its seasons. But if and when you come back, even unprepared, even unsure—you might surprise yourself.

I certainly did.

— Branden Strauss