Hesitant to play chess. Why do you play?

3 years?? I've been playing for over 50 years and yet i realize i have barely scratched the surface of it. The fact that you love it is more than enough reason to play.Sure there are some studies which claim that chess develops certain abilities such as logic and concentration but whether these are true or not the bottom line is some people (such as nearly everyone here) really like to compete in a game in which chance plays little or no part and which has both a rich history and vast amount of literature dedicated to it. It can be enjoyed by the very casual player or the most serious student to the game. It is available to any age, both males and females, and citizens of any coutry in the world. What more do you want?

So how long do you think it will take you to explore all the "limited amount of possibilities"?

i play chess because i'm addicted. yes the game sucks and i hardly get anything from it but w/e

Studying opening makes you discover many different aspects that will enrich you game. Try new openings !

Some moves have been proven inferior, like in e4 c5  Nf3 Nc6  d4 black is better off to play cxd4 instead of something like d6, but that doesn't mean one is less playable than the other at club level, but it's up to you to determine why a certain mov is better than another; to understand the purpose behind it so as to not make a mistake.

lol totaly true for most people.

including me :(

The better I get the more complex and hard the game becomes. It's not checkers, the game requires a lot of you to become good at it. I'm like you in that I prefer the ability to be creative and the game allows for it. As you improve that creative ability will develop into its appropriate form to the level you are at. One thing I've come to understand is that you have to be creative within the confines of the game's structure and trying to impose your creativity on the game will conflict and cause you to miss out on the games beauty or at minimum will cause you to lose more often than those working within it.

I am a very strong player considering I got such a late start (11 years old, OLD for starting), because of my God given talent, my intuition.  And He led me to my fabulous coach (he'd prefer his name be kept private).

With chess you can improve your visualisation skills, if you play it in a certain way (e.g. doing a lot of calculation, where you have to visualize positions that are not on the board in front of you). Also you can train concentration, memory self-discipline and many other things that are of value.

After 3 years, and you are 1100??? Yeah genius, this is totally your game :-) LOL

Try with tic-tac-toe, in 3 years you should reach 1200! :-)

I must haved learned a lot, then, because I think I suck at chess.

Alright, thanks you guys. I'll consider new perspectives given for the game :D

Well, my username says it all (2013 is simple, Chessislife was taken so I tacked on the year)...

Huh, well, that's a very nice one!

Because knights are coooooooool.

Don´t play, it will absorb you!