I agree with the OP. If chess stretches certain areas of the brain or whatever, why don't grandmasters put their muscled up brains to use doing something other than playing a board game?
Because they play board games. They wouldn't have the time.
Also chess is rather a unidirectional talent. That means a good chess player might not be good for much else.
Is chess a waste of time and intelligence? The evidence, I’m afraid, speaks for itself.
Very little of what you present would be considered "evidence", and what little there is is anecdotal.
And evidence does not "speak for itself". It needs to be compared to counter-evidence, considered, and tested before a meaningful conclusion can be drawn.
Your spewing meaningless opinion is not persuasive, convincing, or even interesting.
Strangely, the O.P. claims chess is no more difficult than other board games and also calls it a sport. That seems to be a bit at cross-purposes.
Chess is not difficult. Children play it. Playing chess WELL is difficult.
OK fair enough.
Chess is like playing a musical instrument. You likely won't make money at it, but you could a little. It is a skill, arguably useless at times, that takes time to learn. But you learn it for fun, and it contributes to your social life and shows others you are accomplished.
I believe KOTL means "King of the League" or KOTH ("King of the Hill").
King Of The Ladder actually
Chess is not difficult. Children play it. Playing chess WELL is difficult.
Children play chess WELL as well 
Hi, all as I have seen all are talking about chess games so here I want to tell you that I play this game on my gaming laptop I also play different types of games such as gta5 and subway surfers.
https://infotainmentbeats.com/
Saying his post is wrong because he has an average rating is Ludacris. Saying he has the wrong opinion is just another opinion. There are studies that have shown that chess strengthens the same regions correlated with drug and sex addiction, that is a fact that they have trouble explaining, but it is a fact, nonetheless....chess in tournament play is often described as mental torture, I can contest that this Is indeed true for me. It starts off fun, then it becomes an obsession to control outcomes instead of the "hey let's just play for fun" thing. Speed chess and internet play of course have changed the landscape a bit and made things arguably worse. People time scrambling there brains, trying to reach impossible goals because they weren't in chess club as a kid and started late in life....I would love to call myself a grandmaster at just about any pursuit worth pursuing in life, but if you are late to this game, you might as well slow down and examine what you are trying to accomplish if you are getting crazy or upset about it. If you are getting passed ar friends or family or the dog when you lose an online match, well, that's not great. There are plenty of good arguments for why chess gets a bad wrap; needing to win at this game might hurt you in the long run. But let's be objective people, and not hurl stones. Everyone has different takes and experiences with it and the confines of there lives. So people become magnus, (who is a bit full of himself, still fun to watch) and the rest of us just wonder how he stays so on point... starting young helps with EVERYTHING!!! also having practical support in your endeavors gets you much farther, ✌️
I agree with the OP. If chess stretches certain areas of the brain or whatever, why don't grandmasters put their muscled up brains to use doing something other than playing a board game?
Not all chess players only play chess, however good point. Apparently, Vishy likes to swim according to my source.
Go is the superior game..Chess is going to join Othello and Connect Four soon
...in what sense it is superior ? chess has more tactics, and has more calculations because of the different peices that move differently, and if you're speaking about it beeing only 8x8
go play "ultimate chess" 32x32 chess 
Chess is a game of calculations and mathematics; a sport which requires the use of a very specific portion of the brain. The same can also be said for billiards, which is also a game that relies on similar mental processes. Billiards, after all, is nothing more than mastery of angles and geometry. So why do we consider people like Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov to be geniuses, but think of guys like Willie Mosconi or Efren Reyes as nothing more than pool sharks or hustlers?
Well ACTUALLY, billiards has a physical component to it. The dexterity, hand-eye coordination, depth perception, strength, control & finesse have MORE to do with than simple geometry. Anybody with a grade 7 math education can see what angles are needed to sink balls. It's your physicality that allows you to pull it off. Where it gets cerebral is planning the shot after that & the one after that.
Good chess players do tend to be highly intelligent because playing well requires the ability to think 5, 6, 7 to... well I'm not sure how many moves ahead Grandmasters can think. I'm stuck at about 4 to 5. Even if you're talking brute force memorization for openings & end games that still requires a significant cognitive ability AND you have to be able to adapt to what your opponent is doing. I find that to be particularly true in speed chess, where the opening phase is MAYBE ten seconds, an improvisation for 20-30 seconds & going for a checkmate in the last ten seconds.
There are many video games that require a combination of both cerebral & physical elements, like fighting games for instance. Chess is purely intellectual. Also... shouldn't you be under a bridge?
Fun fact: the OP was only on chess.com for a couple of months in 2017. His only lasting contribution was this dumb troll thread.
Fun fact 2: this dumb troll thread is somehow still alive and running, with people cheerfully talking to a guy who left the site 6 years ago.
I just played a blitz game in which I blundered my queen. I was about to 'Resign' (as usual when I lose my queen); but I decided to hang on.
Towards the endgame, it seemed hopeless for me, BUT a fork happened when I checked the king -- and was able to take his queen -- an unplanned fork! And because of this fork, I won the game!
I GOT LUCKY!
Chess is a game that SOMETIMES involve LUCK (not intelligence).
You do sort of have to have some intelligence to play chess. For instance, at one time I really liked ludo but chess is harder and so it takes some intelligence. It also takes talent but probably that can be developed.