Chess: a game that's losing it's value?

But not for the "it's" part right?

Why do people always bring up things going off-topic like it's a blemish?  What if you had a bar conversation where somebody sat there insisting that we stay on whatever the opening topic was?  Would anybody even remember it after a while?  One of the virtues of good conversations is that they tend to veer about and torque and yaw, following the mental vagaries and caprices of their many participants.

Actually that has long seemed to me one of the inexplicable whims of the English tongue.  Really "its" should be spelled "it's"...but presumably some jackass a long time ago decided that that would interfere with the "it is" contraction, and thus sowed a bit more confusion and mayhem into the world of orthographics...one which (in the case of English at least) was already woefully fraught with such perils.

Depends on what you want I guess. Some may like the fun of banter, while others come to the topic hoping to discuss it, and then are disappointed when they find there is no one left to discuss it with anymore. The two often blend somewhat though, and I don't mind a little of both.

Certainly this topic has resulted in many interesting sub topics that were interesting to read.

I agree.  But people frequently tend to bring a "traffic cop" tone to bear on such matters...as though anyone wandering off toward a sidebar is guilty of some sort of infraction.

Another thing I don't get is putting punctuation in the quotes when ending a sentence. For example, in a sentence like She said "Hi." I would think either the period should go after the quote or there could be two periods, like She said "Hi.". One period to represent the quoted statement and its end, the other to represent the entire statement. I would think a period in the quote only represents what ever is in the world of that quote . Rules are rules I guess.

"Rules are conventions" is more like it.   Especially when it comes to things like punctuation.  Look at the way old poets used to punctuate their lines...

It's been awhile since I had a bar conversation with a red-haired sock puppet, the last time that happened I think I must have had several gibsons prior to the conversation

And I have never had a bar conversation with a guy who looks like Joaquin Phoenix that time he went on Letterman!  But that's one of the beauties of saloon discourse:  it opens us up to so many things.

True enough, and the Trotsky thing was rather piquant!  You do have to wonder though what the rest of the junta was thinking when they kicked him out (and then later on plugged him).  Apparently Marx wasn't the only one who wasn't a Marxist...

Wow, am I getting even weirder than usual?  No doubt about it, I gotta stop reading this:

Well since you seem to think you know everything, tell me how I'm wrong.

Hey, you're the one saying most everybody else is a moron, bud. 

Am I wrong?  Look at the world around us and how most people generally behave.

For the most part, its not intelligently.  Chess is a game that requires intelligence.  This is a pretty simple concept.

Or simplistic... 

Keep on patting yourself on the back though, pal.  That's what chessplayers often seem to do best.

Yes, I am quite good at that.

Chess is an awesome, rich, deep and exciting game.  Why shouldn't we celebrate our love and passion for it?

But many intellectual things are ridiculous.

Oh, I don't think that's true...

No, it's you!  Ya big bully!

Is that true?  The dimensions are different?