Do we really get to know our chess opponents and friends?  Probably a lot less than other interests.  The local chess club hosts quite a spectrum of players.  Unfortunately, many of us never really get to know them.  I remember Bob Musicant, who was a tournament organizer in Norwalk, CT.  When he died much younger that he should have, we heard amazing things at his funeral about his intellectual achievements that many of us had never heard about.

I try to be an open minded Christian and I hold a BA philosophy degree.  I once asked a minister and a chess player if he saw any specifics in the Bible that applied to chess; he quoted from the verse that said that "the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour."  I wonder sometimes if we don't lose sight of the larger human context as we get caught up in chess.

Does anyone have thoughts here on the connections of belief systems to chess?  Thanks. 

I believe that chess is just a game. However, it's a mathematical game which can act as a form of meditation. When you're playing chess you're not thinking about all the crap in the world.  

I try and avoid most of my fellow chess players, I disagree with many over a lot of issues.  The only universal factor among us is that we enjoy playing chess, and I doubt some of them actually enjoy it.

And that qualified as an answer to you?

Except of course the mathematical crap. 

I think that the second you start to "elevate" people because of their performance at chess, you're going down a very bad road. It is all for fun and experimenting.

I was thinking more in terms knowing chess players beyond the game, not judging or evaluating them.

I was privaleged to know Dr. Emanuel Sztein, who taught at Yale.  Cross-disciplinary studies is a vastly growing field.  Very few people are good at only one game. 

Very few people are good at even one game.

Since you like to feed two birds with one slice, I wanted to ask if you prefer to fellowship with your brethren or evangelize those whom aren't?

I have another question for you. It is to not only give you food for thought, but it will perhaps tell you somethings about me. Here goes,have you given any thought to what it would be like in heaven? I am willing to discuss such things while we play. If you are still interested.

I find that, for me, face-to-face contact seems to create a situation in which the majority of the time is spent on intellectually superficial subjects. Online formats such as chess.com, facebook, and blogs seem to provide an avenue for more in depth conversations and more mind to mind communication.

Each situation has its own opportunities and its own potential drawbacks of course.

 That should be a profound discussion...

Take that back, infidel!

"So, what's heaven like?"

"Pretty."

"Hmmm...I always pictured it as more fluffy than pretty."

"It's kind of fluffy."

I am a Christian who believes in reformed theology and the idea that everything is ordained down to the last particle. I believe in the doctrines of predestination and election and I use chess as a gym for the mind to help me think logically when it comes to my beliefs and other areas of life. As I said, I believe everything is predetermined which does not mean that I sit back, play sloppy chess, and say "what's meant to happen is meant to happen." It simply means that I going to give my best, but I have an understanding that everything is under God's control so I'm not going to stress over the game, which I feel actually improves my play since I'm not overly concerned with the result of the game. I don't beat myself up when I lose, I learn from my mistake and play the next game out with the same understanding. I feel that one can not separate their life philosophy from what ever they endeavor to do in life. However, I do believe it is possible for one make chess bigger than God. Once you do this I feel you've made a huge mistake. Jesus first, others second, yourself last. JOY. Then you you can use the rest for chess. These are just my beliefs-not trying to force them on anyone. Thanks for the interesting topic!

LOL trysts.

I picture it as rather the same as the first few billions of years before I was born.

For those that understand the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, and election and reprobation (not sure if you include that one or not), and the context and limitations of human free-will, most of the arguments against Christianity fall flat. 

My current atheism, is a twig. It is a subset carried out to its logical conlcusion of a bigger branch: supralapsarianism. This was in turn a branch off of the tree of reformed theology. 

Every now and then, I reach the end of a twig, or it breaks, and I have to get a bit more fundamental and find another branch.

 Hmmm....

I agree. In fact, I think it is not only possible, but impossible not to. I think a Euclidean point in space-time is already bigger than god.