At least according to this article in The Columbus Dispatch by Shelby Lyman. I happen to agree with it.

In chess, it’s the player who can calculate far ahead, play without seeing the board or take on dozens of opponents at once.

It’s an acquired skill for any professional to instantly grasp the essence of objects of his expertise.

Playing 20 or 30 chess games simultaneously might also seem like an extraordinary feat, but we’re all capable of focusing our attention serially over a large group of objects.

Even blindfold chess is essentially a common phenomenon. We all habitually see and contemplate the world’s many complexities.

Yes, we can potentially and impressively do many things that we might consider outside our expertise — such as acquiring seemingly unattainable skills in the game of chess.

And like anything else it just takes a plan and some hard work.

Smoke Signals: Where have all the chess men gone?

In this article, Tim Troglen, laments the fact that he receives a chess set as a gift and can’t find himself an opponent.

It began when a good friend of mine, originally from Glascow, Scotland, gave me a hand-crafted chess set as a gift. He molded the pieces out of lead and painted them himself.

They depict medieval pawns standing in protective service of the royal house of king, queen, bishop, knight and rook. Each piece is on a round-wooden base — 16 dark and 16 light.

As friends admired the pieces being spread out on a small table, I would ask, “Do you play?”

The answer was routinely, “no.”

I had a new chess set and no one to play with.

I was a bit down. Chess is a very special game to me. My favorite opponent and the person who taught me to both play and love the game, my dad, died about five years ago. And each time I see a chess piece, play a game or set up a board, I feel a bit closer to him.

I’m somewhat sympathetic to the author. I don’t have a lot friends who play chess. I spend most of my chess playing time with a computer.