THREAD The Queen's Gambit.

A brilliant and uncomfortable watch for any number of reasons. Firstly when I was 11, I was a top junior chess player. I will always rue not making a serious attempt to move on. That year was exciting.

The fact is that I was told to join my local chess club, one of the best in the country. It was located in a pub with NF connections. My folks were having none of it. And that was that.

The parallels between the chess world, and the quiz world are quite obvious. Starting with the issue of alcohol. Many of the UK's best quizzers are heavy social drinkers including myself. This is because quiz events are social events too. And drinking is fun.

But there's a very small rarefied level one up. And these people hardly touch a drop. On the one hand quite right, on the other I'm proud to have got clobbered the night before my UK title win..

Talent vs hard work. I'm pretty clever, though as Taskmaster proved, I'm also pretty stupid. The quiz world is full of colossal brains far more agile than mine. Oxbridge graduates, child geniuses, people with dopamine. Do I work my butt off to keep up, or do i stay in my lane

Is obsession worth it? It needs to be said. The Chasers and the Eggheads are the LUCKIEST PEOPLE. Our sacrifices proved to be worth it. The same goes for big money winners on quiz shows. There are others for whom pride and respect have been the only prize. Heroes, each one.

To get to the top of quiz, you have to make compromises, and you will come across as a more tedious person as a result. There are no guaranteed TV jobs or cash prizes. It's up to you to make your obsession soul-enriching rather than destroying.

This year was the year that the incredibly talented younger quizzers made their move. Hard working, fact hungry, incredibly talented superbrains who crucially had wikipedia throughout their developing years.

I could sit back and relax, and benevolently wave them on their way. Or I could be a feral Uncle Parkinson's, desperately trying to stay in the fight.

I choose the latter. Comedy, chess, quizzing. There's a narcissism to all three, an eagerness to impress. When Beth Harmon plays a game of chess, and people stand and watch - I want to still have that. My poor hubby.

Because if creepy kid from Love Actually can be a magnificent scene-stealing actor, I can stay in this game.