Chess has no future

Nah, too cheery, not angsty enough.

Maybe something like Linkin Park - "I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter".

This is true for anything you want to persue in life. No matter how good you get, there are jerks who will try to bring you down.

If this bothers you, then you should just never try anything in life because you will face this.

this is good. Thanks guys. p.s. love the song suggestions.

Chess is not any sort of achievement. The fixation that many forum members have with titles, including the laughable one of "Expert" level is immature.

Titles are there for the benefit of tournament organisers offering carrots. They're like badges in the Scouts. Napolean understood this psychology when he was derided for introducing military medals - other western nations soon followed.

I love chess, but have more respect for someone who is fluent in more than one language, or is a good car mechanic, or an excellent cook etc etc

Why would you respect an 'excellent' cook over someone who plays chess?

As A professional cook, I can tell you, learning to be an 'excellent' cook is MUCH easier than learning to be a good chess player.

Just like the saying, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. What is considered a worthwhile achievement is at the sole descretion of the person doing the work.

I've got respect for good cooks. I wish I had one to cook for me.

I can play chess...if I took it seriously, I might make a decent rating...

But I've been trying to cook for years...only my dogs will eat my cooking.

There is quite a lot of physical exertion involved as well :-) Cooking well is much more useful. A good cook will earn far more than a good chess player - that's without even pinning down what "good" means...cooks are wanted because food and good food is important.

Incidentally I know two siblings , one of whom is titled and a jobbing sort of player - nice bloke. I know his sibling who is still a very good unstudying  chess player and what used to be called a "self made" man, big style...with other achievements as well !

Poker has no future

Online it hasn't - sooner or later people will know it's rigged. Bricks and mortar poker will thrive....

Now is a gift, that's why it's called the present !

A below average chess player is more talented than J K Rowling IMO !

Oh, that goes almost without saying.

I wouldn't necessarily as a measure of achievement. I'm sure Kim Kardashian makes more money than most scientists, but I'd consider what they do more of an achievement than sex tape/reality show fame and an inflated ass.

Yes. Smart. Talented No ! I started reading one of her books because my teenage nieces liked her. I thought it was the most derivative amateurish rubbish out - but in business terms she has realised there is a market for it. Just like rap music, deep fried mars bars and soap operas etc

Oddly enough, the marketers of a child's construction set discovered that boxes with two boys on them sold better than a boy and a girl....

Nice to see it is not just us Americans who, supposedly, are suckers for rubbish.

To write the drivel she does, one must subject onself to a certain degree of sustained mental torture. So in a way she has earnt her money.

Tolkien Copy + "Hollywood Style" child centred most important person in the universe ~ the special annointed/awaited one = £££

"A secondary secondary world"a.s byatt