Ron had tried to teach her chess, but Hermione showed no aptitude for it. It could have been because of the teacher—Ron was a natural with strategy games, especially ones with clearly defined rules, but he struggled to impart this knowledge to others. In his defence, however, Hermione was not a particularly engrossed student when it came to chess. Partly because she found it boring and hypothetical, a useless exercise in intelligence, and partly because Ron was always such an excellent chess player. 