New in chess; is it the best chess magazine?

Originally posted by nimzo5
As I recall two events back to back sucked me into chess. First a friend of mine had a copy of NIC down on the trading floor and when he showed it to me I was blown away- I had no idea that chess had serious competitive tournaments ( I thought it was a depression era game that had long since stopped being played)

The second was then talking to another frie ...[text shortened]... lya Gurevich and could play through them, I was hooked...

So tldr is I am biased towards NIC.

I had the same experience with Chess Life! I was a junior in college in the spring of 1987, and I was in the stacks at the Library, and found the magazine by accident.

I first reactions was "Wow, they have a magazine and TOURNAMENTS! I have to check this out!"

Like many beginners, especially younger ones, I had a very naive and inflated perception of my own abilities, the game's ability to humble is what still attracts me to it.

From CL over time, Soltis taught me to be open-minded and to always question chess assumptions, Alex Dunne introduced me to the world of postal chess, and Benko has been my monthly endgame instructor.

In many ways, sites like Chessville or Chesscafe or the sites by Silman or Heismand can and do perform these same functions for newer players, but CL for me is what NIC was for you. Sometimes magazines serve as detailed brochures for the game, and we all end up buying a timeshare!