I have only had recent exposure to chess which makes me, at 28, I fairly old novice. I became interested when I first discovered what an ELO rating was and then in quick succession found out that my lab mate and friend had a rating of 2300!!! An international master right under my nose. As young Academic I am always interested in solving problems so I have been fervently trying to improve my game over the last 4 months, hopefully soon I will get my own rating and go from there.