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I probably wasted my money, but I just ordered a copy of Fritz 12, the latest version of the best chess-playing software available for a personal computer.

Frankly given my lack of practice these days, I could probably be beaten by my dog or by a talking smoke alarm. Still, I persist in wanting to play.

Certainly all of the existing chess programs I already have - including Fritz 10, Chessmaster 10 and several free chess programs - can beat me at a rather embarrassing level. So F12 is easily overkill if I'm looking for an e-opponent.

But I live in hope. I was once a much stronger player and I sometimes fool myself into thinking that, with a little practice against my digital opponent, I could revive those skills. Probably true if I was in my mid-20s. In my late 50s, my brain is probably so ossified that any hope of significant improvement is self-delusion. In the 70s and 80s, I played chess daily, often staying up all night playing chess with friends. Nowadays I'm happy when I can play monthly. And more often as not, that's against the computer, which beats me without gusto or verve, merely mechanical skill.

I don't have a lot of opportunity to play chess these days, outside the computer. My best opponent is an old friend who lives...

Long-time chess rivals Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov will be sitting down for another match, this week, in Valencia, Spain. In a story on the BBC website, this week's 12-game rematch takes place 25 years after the two the-Soviet chess legends first competed. That historic match was for the world title.

But the two have aged. Kasparov, now one of Russia's opposition leaders, is 58. Karpov is 46. This reminds me of the great matches in the late 19th and early 20th century when players like Lasker and Steinmetz continued to fight at matches long into their senior years. Over the years, world champions have gradually been getting younger. Kasparov was was only 21 when he took on the 33-year-old Karpov, in the 1984 match.

That match was both exciting and controversial. Karpov looked to be the sure winner with a 4-0 lead, but a series of draws followed. Kasparov won his first match in game 32 nad slowly crawled back to close the gap at 5-3. But the match was inexplicably stopped by the head of FIDE (World Chess Federation) on alleged health grounds.

Although both players wanted to continue, the five-month long match was over, with victory awarded to Karpov.

The two squared off again in a 1985 rematch, when Kasparov beat Karpov, an in turn...