Personal Reflections by Angel Barbosa

I first learned how to play chess as a kid. Like a lot of people, I picked up the basics early, how the knight moves, how to castle, how to checkmate, how to lose too, lol. But I didn’t stay with it. Life moved on. And for a long time, chess was just something I used to know.

That changed after I turned 50.

What started as a casual return to the game quickly turned into something much more regular and surprisingly intense. These days, I play a lot of online bullet chess. It’s fast. One minute per player on the clock, no time to overthink. Just instinct, some very short thoughts on what to move, and rhythm. Bullet forces you to be present, to see the board and pieces clearly and act without hesitation.

It can be challenging and nerve wracking and can really drive you crazy, but I love it.

There’s no room for distractions though in bullet. Every move counts. You can’t fake your way through it. You either see a super quick tactic or move or you don’t. And when you don’t, you lose fast.

What I didn’t expect is how much playing this way would affect the rest of my life.

Bullet chess sharpened how I think under pressure. It trained me to stay calm while thinking fast. It made me better at catching patterns quickly in work, conversations, and decisions. It even helped me embrace mistakes. Because in bullet, you’re going to make them, all the time. What matters is how you recover and keep moving.

Even outside of bullet, I’ve come to see the game as something bigger.

Chess, in any form, teaches you to plan, to focus, to stay grounded. I always feel like I walk away with more than just a win or loss. I walk away with practice for discipline and clarity.

I do love gaining points for my ratings though, can’t lie about that, but I also play because it makes me better. A better thinker, a better learner, and a little more present every day.

And these days, chess is everywhere. Online chess has blown up. Sites like Chess.com, Lichess.com are super popular. There are chess Twitch streamers, new and crazy tactics, speed runs where players try to gain rating points very quickly, and chess tournaments are streamed live from all over the world. It’s become part of the culture now. I think that makes it even more fun to be part of it.

And the players are like pro sports figures now, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, they are stars in their own right with a ton of popularity. And there is a new generation of players like the current world chess champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, who is only 19 and plays like a computer!

So it’s been really great rediscovering something that I loved so much early in life. And I am grateful to be back at the board, rather the screen, and enjoying every minute.