My online chess addiction was ruining my life. Something had to change | Stuart Kenny

I didn't like the person it was making me, but a few strategic moves later, the calm and mystique of the game returned

Perhaps it was when I missed my bus stop so I could finish a three-minute game of online blitz chess that I realised I had a problem. Or when, instead of getting off at the next stop, I started another game on chess.com. I certainly had no qualms about the resulting half-hour walk home, narrowly avoiding lamp-posts as I continued to line up ill-fated pre-moves against anonymous opponents.

Blunder. Resign. New game.

Stuart Kenny is a freelance travel journalist and editor

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