My dad taught me when I was in grade school. I played through HS and college. I lived next door to an awesome player in college that played against one of the chess games back in the early 80's. He's let the game take 24 hours to decide on it's move and then immediately make a move. He didn't lose very often. Somewhere in the house I've got a chess computer, but I haven't played in years. I took an elective an college "The Logic of Chess" - a 3 credit class that met once a week at night. The teacher was a chess master and the class a blast. He'd teach openings, middle game, and how to close and then we'd play games.
My dad still gives me grief when a few years ago we were at a cigar bar and a woman asked if I wanted to play chess. I let her have my queen in the first few moves, and still beat her so she walked away mad. My dad said that I could have at least let her win so I could get her phone number, but I told him that if she can't beat me at chess when I am playing without a queen and haven't played a game in 5 years then it isn't worth much.