People i know, know i love chess, but look at me as if i have something seriously wrong with me then either walk away or change the subject.
Jon says hes fed up of hearing about it or will just smile politely at me with his headphones on. My mum says "thats nice dear".
Typical scenario - people ask " Oh and what do you do in your spare time" - - i play chess - - " O-Kay and moving straight away from you and onto the next person" ..
i am a chess-a-holic and i try to hide this fact with my friends.
may be i am a bit embarassed about the fact.
Like you said gumpty, I suppose if you break the stereotype of a chess player then your interest in it could be a talking point amongst people. Briefly.
If however you look like a fat Harry Potter and smell of tweed then you might not want to mention it.
I've just recently started up the game after a twenty year absence and am loving it. It has become all-consuming though which I may have to do something about.My girlfriend for one has banned all talk of it. She's tired of asking 'What do you want to do tonight?', only to hear 'The Smith-Morra Gambit?'..........
haha well doesnt come up in conversation and i have better things to bore my friends with - besides it isn't just chess that i remain somewhat quiet about but also my interests in other things such as philosophy and writing. like my family and sister's boyfriend kinda know that i play - just aren't quite sure where... as for most of my friends it just isn't really worth getting into - besides chess is more of a hobby for me than a livelihood.
I am a chess fanatic , and everyone who knows me will tell you so ! In my mid 20s I was scheduled to work overtime one weekend and missed work to go to a chess tournament. When I returned I was called into the bosses office and he asked me one simple question and I was fired when I answered honestly. His question? He asked me which was more important to me, chess or the job and I said chess ! Top that ! It began in the early 70s due to Fischer and even my huntin&fishin buddies thought something was "wrong" with me when I started missing huntin and fishin trips to go play chess tournies instead... 
Chess is a puddle where a gnat may bathe or an ocean where an elephant may drown, as they say (and as I can best remember the quote), and I love the game and all its fascinating facets and characters, but damn! it sure can suck up all the time you'd want to put into it. Nowadays I say nothing about chess to anyone. If some non-serious player asks me a chess question I aim to answer but keep it short. Let me and another afficionado get together though and the hours can fade away with tales and lore and tidbits, and there's always something interesting that can be demonstrated on the board. Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy. I think that's one of Tarrasch's.
Ben Franklin said "Life is a kind of chess." I find that to be true but at the same time I find that not everyone understands life the same way. So chess has its appeal but it doesn't appeal to everyone.
I to do not fit the stereotype chess player mold.
I do not have the look, my job is not cranium related, and my past
accomplishments are all related to hockey, cigars, gambling, and
believe me I look like I have spent my life smoking cigars, gambling,
and playing hockey.
One nice thing about when you don't look the part, is when you
enter some one's home and notice a chess set positioned in a
prominent place. Nothing beats the innocent,
"Oh, is that a chess set over there?"
If someone asks about my hobbies, I'll certainly mention that I enjoy playing chess. However, I'm just as certainly not going to make a point of discussing it in every conversation I have, either. That's pretty boorish behavior no matter what the topic, and I'm sure it's no more interesting to my friends than their detailed descriptions of their latest frags in Unreal Tournament are to me.
I discuss it when people are interested but I don't like to brag about it, just like I don't brag about how good I am at other things as people will feel inferior or think I have a huge ego, and I don't know to much about the history of the game or the players so I couldn't discuss that with anyone.
I bleed chess. I enjoy playing so much. It is certainly a treat when I can play someone OTB. Thankfully in the US the whole computer wave brought geekness into the OK realm. I have yet to get a reaction other than 'you must be really smart'! To me that's a pretty good thing for people to think about me. One thing I do so enjoy is when I can do conversation-kill with people who just ask about my life in a totally non-caring manner. Someone will casually say 'hey, how's it going?', and then I get the chance to rattle off a 20 min retelling of my epic battle against Rael or how I'm studying for a chess tournament or how I can't wait for my chess book in Russian from Ebay to arrive or how I like the look of the blood rosewood over the regular rosewood pieces. It is just so lovely to torture fake people with something they will find as mind numbing as chess. That alone makes this game worth playing.
OK im a chess nut, everyone i know knows im a chess nut, my wife, my kids, my mates,my neighbours, i even bore my work mates senseless talking about tal and kasparov (WHO??).I am totally open and honest about my fascination with our wonderful game, i dont really give a damn what anyone else thinks about it, but to be honest most people seem interested and are quite suprised that i play chess to a reasonable standard since i suppose i dont really fit the stereotype. Lets face it, chess has a pretty poor 'cool' factor with the general public, chess players are thought of as 'nerds' 'geeks'etc etc, and i was interested to know how many of you members are still 'in the closet'?? Are you embarassed by your weakness for chess? do you only tell close family and freinds? or like me are you totally open about the whole thing? If you are a teenager, do you think that being a chess nut will affect your social status in a negative way? or dont you care? come on guys and gals be honest! :-)My way of thinking is that you should be proud of who you are and proud of what you like in life, and people can like it or lump it. I think for those of you who do admit to being embarassed about your love of chess( i know you exist) , it would be really benefitial for you to take a deep breath and shout at the top of your lungs 'I LOVE CHESS!!' you will feel better afterwards. If people dont want to like you for who you REALLY are, then why do you want to know them??