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3 Reasons Why Chess is a Game Worth Playing

CM Chessdemon2019

Apr 16, 2020, 8:29 PM | 3

Chess is a wonderful game, a simple board game at first to one of the only board games a computer calculate fully. It has so much depth, yet it is extremely simple. 32 pieces, on an 8 x 8 board, different pieces move differently, etc.

Many people have heard the saying, "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master." Chess is truly a game that takes a lifetime to master, and only needs 30 minutes to learn the rules. Even Magnus Carlsen, the world champion, still draws and loses against other players.

It only takes Wikipedia one article to explain the rules of chess, chess simply does not need 30 articles to explain it just because it is so easy, yet so complicated and beautiful at the same time.

However, that is just one of 3 important reasons that chess is worth playing. Chess is simply the best board game, or even the best game in general.

1. Chess is a simple game with complicated meaning

Take the Najdorf for example, one of the most complicated openings in chess arrives in just 5 moves! Arriving at the najdorf is extremely easy. It is

But is it really that complicated? Yes. The Najdorf is one of many lines, and every line used to be simple because we did not know how complicated lines in chess were going to be. Back in the 15th century, there were no computers and analysis websites, so people learned chess by themselves with no outside help.

This is the reason why there are stronger and stronger world champions and candidates matches. The more advanced computers there are, the more complicated chess becomes. We have reached a point where some lines are too deep for us to calculate, so we have to memorize them. Puzzles are a way to improve calculation so here is a simple one. White to move and win.

Technology is making chess more complicated, which is why we should play it. No other game starts off so simple and ends up being one of the most popular board games in the world. Chess is worth playing to admire its simplicity but it is also extremely complicated due to growing interest and technologies.

2. Chess activates the mind

Chess is a well-rounded and complicated game, so much in fact that the International Olympic Committee fully recognizes chess as a sport. Chess is a mind sport that need both hemispheres of the brain to play at your best; this activates the mind and exercises your brain. In fact, professional chess players can live up to 14 years longer than others that do not play chess!

The reason behind this is because when your brain gets a workout, like playing a game of chess, your brain cells get used to the strain of thinking and get stronger, thus making your cells live longer. When chess activates your mind, it can cause you to live longer. Here is Yuri Lvovich Averbakh, the oldest living grandmaster, celebrating his 80th birthday. He is 98 years old as of 2020.

Barely anyone is able reach 90 years old in their lifetime, and Averbakh is almost 100! Looking at how many chess players reached their 90's completely blows my mind. They have played chess for such a long time, so much so that exercising their minds by playing chess allows them to live longer. Chess is a wonderful game to play, it activates the mind and lets you live longer, something we should appreciate about this beautiful game.

3. Chess is a game for sportsmen

This is by far the most important part of chess. Chess is classified as a sport, so we should start comparing it to some sports. Extremely unlike other sports, chess starts off by shaking the opponents hand. In any other sport, opposing players or teams are never as friendly. Basketball and baseball both have trash-talking. Hockey is way too physical. Chess, however, is not something that requires physical strength, but requires sportsmanship and the mind.

In fact, there is a FIDE rule that says that players must shake hands at the beginning and finish of every game. There is also of code of conduct for the players that all players must follow. This is the beauty of chess. You can view it as an extremely iconic game, people are fair sportsmen in chess, something that almost no game or sport can be perfect with.

People are opponents on the board, but they are friends off the board. Every top grandmaster is friends with one another, and all of them are kind without any sort of hate.

There are too many reasons why chess is the best game and sport, it is simple, yet so complicated. It exercises the mind and has so much beauty inside it. Finally, people are sportsmen, we lose games, even the best players lose games. However, the best grandmasters all kind to each other, each and every one of them being a good role model for any chess player.

I hope this makes you rethink why chess is a beautiful game, and why it is a game worth playing.

Thanks for reading!

CM Chessdemon2019

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