There is nothing wrong with being an atheist - I myself am either that or a deist - but please keep such topics to the Open Discussion Forum.

Luke_Skywalker wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

Luke, if I say you don't exist, you do after all.  Hard to lie about the truth.  If you don't want to believe, fine, you can deny the truth.  But telling others God doesn't exist won't change the truth. 

Good one...

 Thanks!  I didn't know if you had ever heard it the other way around before, kind of an old saying... :-)

Luke_Skywalker wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

Luke_Skywalker wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

Luke, if I say you don't exist, you do after all.  Hard to lie about the truth.  If you don't want to believe, fine, you can deny the truth.  But telling others God doesn't exist won't change the truth. 

Good one...

 Thanks!  I didn't know if you had ever heard it the other way around before, kind of an old saying... :-)

your powers of reasoning is beyond comparison... keep it up.

 You cannot reason with someone who is unreasonable.

Don't worry Luke, I won't bother with this conversation any longer.  Kind of sad to deny truth right in front of your eyes.  To call something irrational that you don't have a clue about is pretty sad.  I guess you deny all things that you have no clue about, and you make sure your opinion is voiced loudly to others.  You keep believing in nothing, and I will believe in God, and I won't respond to the next thread you leave if you choose to leave one, since it won't matter to you anyway.  Please don't make comments that you intend to answer with insults.  It is not the best practice, regardless of what we believe.

Yes, please restrain yourself Luke. Show some respect. You don't have to hate someone just because they disagree with you on one issue. Please go to the Open Discussion forum I mentioned earlier for religious and political religious debate. As for BirdBrain, all I have to say is that we must agree to disagree on religion.

To answer the original poster's question, I would say it is worth it. It makes you look at the world differently and probably makes you smarter.

Feldmm1 wrote:

To answer the original poster's question, I would say it is worth it. It makes you look at the world differently and probably makes you smarter.

 Amen!

TheMoonwalker wrote:

Hello,

Chess is a sport (or not) that you have to practise a lot to become a master.

Now, the question is: Is it worth to spend hours to learn and practise the game of chess?

Many people say that chess is just a waste of time, and many people end up as crazy after having played for a lifetime.

However, these people are probably people that don't play chess themselves.

What are your experiences?

Moon...!

For one you could read Garry Kasparov's ( born Weinstein) book " How life imitates chess", just remember that he was one of the longest reigning chess world champion, I believe the other one was Alekhine, I think he reigned for 26 years.

Next is where you spend your time or your hobby is your  own business. If playing chess is your Nirvana!, so be it. Naturally as long as it does not interfere with all of your other life's components, wife, kids, work, etc..

I liked the comment by Luke, is he poor?, who cares as long as he and his family is happy and can get by by it's ok, too many people worship material posessions

Next "crazy", interesting subject by all means, did you know that Einstein was dwelling in intellectual solitude in his later years. He used to spend time at the park talking to children.

I am saying this because all geniuses, IQ 175+ are unique people being one in about 3 millions person on earth, with close to 6,000,000,000 or 6 billion persons on earth means that only 3,000 people are geniuses and a few like Kasparov and Fisher and Tal and Alekhine are part of this group.

Last point but not least a genious is very close to being a  person  that is close to dementia, I am not saying that he is I am merely saying that it does not take much to trip over the wire and become one just like Bobby Fisher.

Besides the entertainment element, I don't think chess has any other outside benefit, other than exercising certain parts of the brain.

Snookslayer wrote:

Besides the entertainment element, I don't think chess has any other outside benefit, other than exercising certain parts of the brain.

 Chess like any other activity is not separated from our life scenario, chess is what you get out of it and what you do with it , do take a moment and think about this . Chess will contribute to your life as you see it applicable, but you must first see the application, are we talking about spatial vizualitation or problem solving technique or simply about a better understanding of life's meaning. Chess like all of the games or activities transpose in our daily living in a very subtil way, we are the one to find out the path.

If you go to see the show on broadway and really love it, this is enternainment right?, do you not tell some people and share you passion for that moment and perhaps entice them to go and see it?

iI is the same for chess, what you put in is what you get out of it.

Just remember: "when you can snatch the pebble out of my hand you will be ready to go" , Kung Fu episodes many years back.

Are you ready to use the chess pebble in your life?

You have to find the way.

Philosophical yes, but so true!!  

It might make you think a bit different.

Yeah, good. I hope that even though the aim is not to become the best in the world, that chess can give me something which other people lack, and in this way, it is good to play.

Thanks,

Moon...

I play chess to use my brain because I'm getting old and they say problem solving can help to postpone the onset of alzheimers - and chess is like science, art and poetry - and I like to use my brain because I don't get to use it very much on my job. 

think about this $$$$$$$$$ if you play 25 hours a week...

and do so for 50 years... that's

    52 weeks times 25 = 1300 hours a year

CONSIDER ADULT FUN AVERAGE @ $10 A life hour i.e movie, bar, dinner! etc!

times 50 years times 1300 hours a year =  65,000 hours! ( wow )

 times $10 per adult fun hour x 65,000 hours! ( YOU SAVE $650,000 )

  ---- Just a new way to look at it, WE all work, but how we spend our down

time can BE EXSPENSIVE... Building your mind, and saving money doing so looks

good to me! hope at least one of you looked at this and LOL a little, I am sure

a few of you checked my match, but it's strong! may you live to play 10,000

more games of chess all!

"if you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same" - you've learnt the lesson of chess!

Chess might help in Draughts, if you are awesome at chess you might be good at Draughts too ?! Like me.

heh... cool!

Rael wrote:

It's about as useful as taking an English degree in school so you can be a skillful poet...

Oh dear God I've wasted my life.

 Just for you Rael, a short poem

Po.

(With grateful thanks to the Lords Python)

Of course chess is useful beyond just being a game! Duh...

- You can buy some really fancy chess boards and pieces and use them as decorations in your home.

- You can buy collector chess sets and bring them to the Antiques Road Show when it visits your area. (Can anybody say Star Wars Chess Set?)

- In a pinch, you can use the pointy head of the bishop as a toothpick.

- You can vent your frustrations and swipe the king off the board as you storm away. (Can anybody say Irina Krush?)

- You can dump the pieces on the floor and introduce a new game to your kids: 32 Piece Pick-up!

And that's just a few of the things that chess has to offer beyond just being a game!

Sorry, I haven't read through the responses, but I have some thoughts.

1. Several years ago, a hedge fund advertised in Chess Life to get new employees. Clearly at the time they thought the answer was "yes". The fact that they no longer advertise, well, perhaps they are too busy spending their advertising in the poker world.

2. I'm sure all of you are amused as I am at how often some writer or some CEO makes a stupid chess analogy. So - no, running a company is not the same as finding the proper move in chess. And making an unsolicited bid for another company is not the same thing. Just because something is "strategic" doesn't mean that it relates to chess

3. That being said, I believe that I, more so than people that I am around, tend to look further into the repurcussions of some potential action. So, in that regard, chess is useful.

4. Maybe the most important one is at the early schooling stage - and I know there are some experiments on this but I am not familiar with the results. How would a grade school's performance be affected if you introduce a chess curriculum in grade 4 (for example).

Comments welcome