Can one suck at chess?

Just wondering.

Most of us think of ourselves as sucking because we desire so much more than we achieve.

'Course they can.

I'm awful at the game. But I love playing anyway

If you just play a game once in awhile, you probably will......

not, better do not suck while playing

I'm not sure if that formula works. I played a lot of basketball and never was good at it nor did I ever improve.

Sucking is too easy.

I get progressively worse at chess the shorter the time controls are :).   I'm good at analyzing a position one piece at a time, I'm absolutely terrible at pattern recognition.  So yes, I think one can suck at chess because I absolutely suck at bullet and blitz, although I'm pretty damned good at just about anything game 90 or longer :).

That's pretty deep.

Are you saying that it's extremely difficult to find someone who truly sucks at chess, i.e., possesses absolutely little to no aptitude?

i think not

Ive lost 10 straight. Im the worst ever.

Oh no! I just placed fishing line weights in my cheap plastic chess pieces so they wouldn't slide around my tiny study board. I'm sunk!

Ohhh!   Time for a cool lesson in logic and conditional statements :)   [amature philosopher at work...]

There's two kinds of conditional statements.  Kind 1,  something is a necessary condition.   For example, it is necessary for a car to have loads of horsepower for it to be fast.    Kind 2, something is a sufficient condition.   For example, it is sufficient for a car to be a formula 1 racecar for it to be fast.  

His statement is that not playing much chess is a sufficient condition for probably sucking.  The negative corollary statment that logically follows is that playing lots of chess is necessary but perhaps not sufficient condition for probably not sucking.  In other words, it says that with little practice you'll probably suck, but doesn't say anything about how you'll be if you practice a lot :o.

So after classifying the statements under the headings "sufficient" and "conditional", is there some conclusion you want to draw from this other than 'insufficient data to draw a conclusion', Travisjw?

The basic idea is you can't be really good at something without practicing, but just because you practice a lot doesn't necessarily end with you being really good at it.

Okay, yakushi12345, I'll buy that

As humans, our capacity to accomplish in various fields of endeavor is shaped by strategic choices we make to define ourselves through certain sets of activities and interest. Developing a chess talent requires considerable study and application which some of us would rather not enter into. It is a convenience for those of us who make this kind of a decision to then say " I suck at chess."

I seem to be pretty good at it.