Think about why you play chess.

Think about why you play chess... mainly for fun? Are you very competitive?

Are  you just curious to see how high a grading you can get? The irony is that the more you remove your ego from it, the better you will become.

Just for fun.  That, and I find the intricate moves of chess very interesting.

Good. If you become interested in the psychology of chess & sport in general, I can recommend the book "Zen in the Art of Archery" by E Herrigel. Also, "The Psychology of Chess" by Hartston.

Tell that to Fischer (if he were alive)

... not that I'd want to follow his example, would be miserable.

I started playing because I am competitive and I liked to learn things.

I'm playing now because I'm competitive and I enjoy "solving" the many different problems I encounter in just one game.

When Fischer was a boy, he would cry after defeats. As he matured (on the chessboard), he changed from feeling ego-damage to analytical desire to understand the reasons for the defeat. Samurai fighters used to strive to reach a mental state which is "without ego", as this makes a supreme fighter. (See the film "Ghost Dog" for example).  

A healthy balanced human will have the most happiness in their life, and I think they have a much better chance to be successful too.

At the extreme ends though, you find people who are unbalanced.  Sacrificing everything to achieve a goal.  Fischer was caught up in ego.  "I like the moment when I break a man's ego" and him referring to non players as "weakies" shows how caught up he was in winning and losing.  It was a miracle he played against Spassky despite having worked so hard to get there.  Avoidance is a result of fear.  Thankfully he did play, but promptly ran away again.  At the top of his career, and despite there being a very strong challenger waiting for him, Fischer never played professional chess again.

Fischer was not at all driven by a purely intellectual desire.

Samurai's ethos was not based on creating supreme fighting ability.  In fact the philosophical / spiritual aspects of samurai can be completely separated from the warrior side.  Samurai started out as philosophers, and even after they became synonymous with "warrior" their teachings focused on how to live a correct life not on maximizing combat ability.

For the challenge..to see if i can solve those endless problems i encounter during the games. It`s enourmos mental pleasure!

I started to play simply because I was looking for some "quick and easy" (doesn't sound like chess?) online game I could play in my leisurely minutes at the computer. Then as I found that I couldn't beat simple website applets like "Little Chess Partner" (which I still can't since this thing has over 2000 rating), I was intrigued and started to read about chess, I also started to play against humans on a correspondence chess site. I never planned to enter "serious" competitive OTB chess. Then there was an announcement for a rapid chess tournament organized by my office. I played there just out of curiosity. I made zero points (no surprise, I had only played online and turn-based, and there I was supposed to play on a real board and rapid :) The president of the chess club who organized this tourney tried to persuade me to join the club and play competitively over several years, but I refused since I was convinced I was not good enough. Only last summer he finally made it, I joined the club and entered my first rated OTB tournament, and now I have planned a lot for the rest of the year, and my first official OTB rating will probably be in the 1300s, so while I'll never be a FM/IM/GM, I'm not that bad at all, I've made a lot of new friends and it's all fun :)

I play chess to get my kicks and to impress the newbies

premoves.  thats all I have to say. which is why I won't be playing live Bullet (which I used to love) anymore. fcuk premoves. and fcuk those who would force them upon everyone else.

>>Think about why you play chess... mainly for fun? Are you very competitive?<<

Well, I started playing chess because it was part of my job. My boss paid me 90-cents an hour and, during the lull time, he liked smoking cigars and playing chess.

Talk about egos! First time I won, he flipped the board in the air, scattering all the pieces...and screaming at me that I cheated.

We all have egos...no one can take that out of the equation. Talk about balancing the ego is nice, but some people absolutely can't do that. Which I don't mind. Actually, I'd prefer playing a game against a raging lunatic than an overly calm Milquetoast. Adds spice to the game.

Personally, I like two things: a. The analytical and creative challenges. b. The "people" aspect...the personality traits, facial expressions, the nervous twitches during play from the losing player and the expression of horror on the face of some opponents when they make a really spectacular blunder or lose.

But...not too many people to play against in person. So...I like the chess puzzles, the tactical puzzles, many of the other resources...plus some shmoozing and kibitzing on the forums (often great entertainment in itself). TV is too passive. Here one can interact with live human beans. Even bonafide fruitcakes and loons.

Bad moves don't play themselves. Somebody's got to make them ...

Chess without competitiveness is like tomato juice without vodka. Healthier but somehow more dull.

As I get older, it occurs to me that I need to exercise my mind as well as my body (I'm a competitive powerlifter). The idea of developing senility through lack of usage of my mental faculties is terrifying to me. I enjoy the game of chess. Hence, I combine my enjoyment of the game with a healthy mental lifestyle.

Why play chess? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

What Crazychessplaya said

Your answer reminds me of the codename of a submarine: WidowMaker.

Ironically, sub tactics cannot be used over the chessboard.

 Did you take that from Terry Pratchett's Cohen The Barbarian?  Very familiar line.

Oh yeah and I play chess for the chicks.