CHESS QUOTES WHO IS RIGHT?

My Favorite chess quote is by F J Marshall, former U.S. champion which reads..

"My entire life has been devoted to the game... I don't believe a day has gone by that I have not played at least one game of chess- and I still enjoy it as much as ever"

My wife's favorite is by Bernard Shaw, Playwright which reads...

Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time.” 

But which one of us is right?

If it where up to George Bernard Shaw every chessplayer would probably have been executed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQvsf2MUKRQ

Both are right. A waste of time? A bit harsh Enjoying something is not really a "waste", but Shaw did make his previous point clear without having to exaggerate the insignificance of the time one has to spend on the game.

Shaw must have gotten scholar mated one too many times..

i guess i understand where shaw is coming from (the chess comment, not the pro hitler comment). you could argue that playing any game like this is a waste of time in light of the overall betterment of mankind sort of thing. however, you could also argue the same thing about writing short, fairly annoying plays.

are both a possible waste of time? yes. are both slightly indulgent for the people involved? yes. should they be stopped or ridiculed? in our current society i think no. if anything hedonism is indirectly valued and praised so doing something you enjoy and derive happiness from (though it may be a completely pointless happiness as far as bettering society/humanity goes) should be okay for the most part.

Thing is do Chess fanatics like us spend too much time on what is a board game? I mean if we add it up how much time do we spend per week!

Shaw's quote is merely an example of arrogance & ignorance. In essence it's no different than "soccer is stupid" or "art is gay."

actually, I think Shaw's argument is quite biting( about chess, not about involuntary suicide). Playing chess doesn't contribute to the betterment of society. It is an indulgence. But what a beautiful indulgence.

Of course it does! Just like any other art (and/or indulging yourself in any other art) does. Plus, it's good to use your brain every now and then .

One of the old grandmasters is said to have made the following statement when told that chess was a waste of time:

There are two significant events in your life, your birth and your death.  In between you have to find ways of wasting time.

I'm not convinced that chess does not contribute to the betterment of society.  Kind of like the Parable of Laziness...if you're not doing anything, you're not screwing anything up!

General rule of marriage:

Your wife is right, she's always right. And when she's wrong it's your fault.

 lol

my favourite is

"i'm not playing chess, chess is playing with me"

that someone sayd some time ago

chess is no more of a waste of time than t.v., movies, or anything else we waste our life with. and chess is the one that involves your brain the most

Thats true but some of us strive a lifetime pouring through games, studying openings and endings and barely scratch the surface of chess. Maybe all those hours could have been put to better use!

true but what im trying to say is 3 hours of chess/day is more well spent than a movie or 3 hrs. worth of t.v., which is so common

Something tells me Shaw got on the wrong end of a few royal forks...

(this is for philidor position as well)

not necessarily. Film is necessarily an artistic medium, whereas chess's artistic merits are debated; the prevalence of computers that are stronger than any human only gives credence to the fact that it could be argued as maths as opposed to art.

then again, no one can really tie one aspect that is shared by all art, therefore it is impossible to define satisfactorily, therefore this conversation's going to be futile soon.

 furthermore, you could conceivably argue( and this is not a view I hold, although I have a hard time justifying the opposite in my head) that art itself is not particularly useful for society, that it is the antithesis of practicality( in comparison to say bridges, roads, third runways) and waste of time.

Whats wrong with wasting time ?  Is there some commandment : " Y'all shalt not waste time. "  ??