There was a time when it was a computer-less world and one had to depend on one's in-house powerhouse, the brain, to get ahead in life. Today, however, things are a lot different, and technology, in the form of its most ubiquitous manifestation, the computer has become a part of our daily existence.

In the early days, when I began playing chess, all I had as my support and learning infrastructure were chess books, which doubled up as reference manuals of key games and instruction guides for checkered board buffs. Procuring these latest publications and keeping abreast of the freshest chess magazines wasn't an easy task, let me assure you. For a young person, it was a costly passion to maintain.

However, all that changed when the computer, and more recently, the Internet arrived. Believe me, it was like a revolution had swept the Chess world. Suddenly, one had access to databases containing millions of games (apparently, between 200,000 to 250,000 games are added every year) and even follow chess events happening around the world, move by move, at the click of a mouse. The arrival of the Internet and the WWW spawned thousands of chess sites, where lovers of the game congregated, interacted, discussed games and even watched the mega battles.

Today the computer is the digital peer you can't do without. It helps me to evaluate positions, keep track of all the games played and makes my preparation available to me at the click of a mouse. I have played against certain strong chess programs and also worked in the preparation of chess programs. This gives you an insight into the calculative ability of these machines. If I didn't use computers, a lot of my time would be lost looking through games (2.5 million known games and growing ),. My notes and constant updates I make in my preparation will not be available in an easy and user- friendly manner. Moreover, a computer is very useful in evaluating positions. A computer enables me to be more efficient with my time and more effective with my chess.

Clearly, we are part of the computer age, and technology is touching more than just the chess world. Look around you and you will know what I mean. Computers are everywhere-and you need to befriend them if you haven't already.

So get cracking and try and lay your hands one of those readily available PCs. If you don't have one at home, check out a nearby cyber caf, or then enroll for a short computer familiarization program with a reputed IT learning company. The sooner you learn to work on the computer, the better for you. Using this wonderful device you can be connected to the outside world, keep in touch with your friends and "chat" with new ones every day. The Internet could also serve as your giant encyclopedia-your source of information on various subjects that relate to your school or college syllabi or any other area that interests you.

The computer can also help you create awesome presentations, to add glitz to your academic projects and wow your teachers and friends.

Keep this one fact in mind-computer knowledge is becoming a given for all higher educational programs and most importantly, jobs. Most companies require their future personnel to have hands on experience of computers, so don't forget to include acomputer course in your "to-do" list when you begin preparing for your perfect workplace.

Even four-year olds can now navigate the world wide web, so why not you?