I've been a chess teacher now for two days, and I'm impressed that I've made it this far.

Teaching chess to excited bunches of seven year old children is one of the weirdest things I've ever done. And I've ... well, never mind. I'm sure I'll come to that sooner or later.

But teaching chess has been an interesting experience, too. I've learnt that there's a substantial difference between being good at a particular activity, and being able to help others become good at that activity.

Some of the other chess teachers I've met are at the Grandmaster level. They're very, very good at chess.

But they're not so good in the teaching area. And they hit an absolute nadir in the hair area.

Apparently, Grandmasters just have to have weird hair. In this area of human endeavour, weird hair is somehow compulsory. Neatness, in particular, is strictly prohibited. Expansive afros are still popular in the world of professional chess players, especially afros which are naturally grey. And if you've never seen an afro on a fifty year old man with grey hair, it's quite a display of plumage. Especially if the man in question has a dramatically receding hairline, so the grey afro actually starts a good number of inches after it should.

At the moment I have relatively short, neat hair. As a result, I have now accepted that I will never make it as a professional chess player.

But I might still make it as some kind of teacher, though.