Introvert meets extrovert on train

I was on the train to London (2hrs+) to see a friend, sat in the back left corner of a carriage where hopefully no one could see me playing chess on my laptop.

The very first stop a Greek man about my age (27) gets on and sees I’m playing chess and wants to play me (still 2hrs left of my journey)…

I really didn’t wanna do this, I didn’t wanna chat and I definitely didn’t wanna play chess with the guy. I told him “ok after this game” - proceeded to make that the longest game I could possibly drag out.

Out of nowhere he pulls out an industrial sized tub of fresh blueberries and offers me a handful - I declined.

It gets to our game of chess and we began talking about the game and eventually he’s telling me all about his life and he seems to be the happiest guy ever.

He asked for a rematch after he beat me and it’d be too awkward to say no, so I agree. We ended up playing about 5 intense games of chess together.

I loved it. He was such a great guy, we talked about the last 5 or so years of our life and before I knew it we’d arrived in London and I was disappointed it was over!

I didn’t have anything to worry about, as an introvert I’ll still continue to dodge conversation as much as I can, but at least now I’ll know that small talk with strangers isn’t world ending.