Why do you love chess?

So my friend and I were bored in class and he decided to draw a tic-tac-toe grid on my paper. We finished the game within about 10 seconds, resulting in a draw, and he exclaimed, "See, this is why tic-tac-toe sucks as a game. As long as both players know what they're doing, the game will always end in a draw!"

I agreed; even if one gets the influential center square on the grid, the other player really doesn't need to put in much effort at all in order to counter that advantage (all they must do is see a mere two moves ahead), and thus, the game invariably ends in a draw.

About a week later I remembered the conversation while I was playing chess against a computer. I thought, "Wait, tic-tac-toe sucks as a game just because it tends to end in a draw if both players know what they're doing? But, doesn't that same rule apply to a game as sophisticated as chess as well?" Because if you think about it, if both players perform the theoretically best-calculated moves as possible for every turn, shouldn't the game cancel out into a draw? Like, if you pin two top-level computers against each other, they always end in draw (usually through three-fold repetition as both computers are unwilling to give up the best theoretically-calculated position).

So I guess my friend's comment about the inferiority of tic-tac-toe can't really be attributed to the fact that both players draw if they know the best calculated moves, since the same applies to chess, a game lauded for its sophistication. I really think it just boils down to the fact that tic-tac-toe is too simple of a game to generate any real variety or high-level strategic thinking. Chess is more complex and will generate much more variability in positioning, giving each player ample opportunity to show off their strategic prowess.

Yet, it's not too complex; take the ancient Chinese game "Go," which is so complex that only very high-level thinkers can play competently, and is one of the only games in the world that cannot even be deduced to computer algorithms because it is so complicated. Therefore, understandably, it lacks popularity among the vast, vast majority of people.

This is why chess is so successful as a game; it hits that sweet spot between being complex enough for people to properly strategize, yet isn't so complicated that the vast majority of people cannot learn to play it competently. There's no "easy way out" or "simple trick" for winning, either (like in checkers, where all you have to do is refuse to move your back-rank, thus prohibiting your opponent to "king" any of their pieces, eventually making them run out of moves and losing).

For this reason, chess is my favorite game (I only learned how to play chess this January but am working my way up to learning the proper strategies, and I hope to eventually reach a high level once I have few years under my belt).
I do wish, though, that chess was a bit more popularized so that more people could see how great of a game it really is.

So what's the main reason you enjoy playing chess?

I enjoy playing chess because it is a good way to relax and unwind at the end of the day. I turn on some classical music sometimes and play the best moves I can calculate without getting frustrated or stressed out. The game always requires a person to learn more about it, and I think that is the main appeal chess has over tic- tac- toe. I have never heard of any tic- tac- toe tournaments because the game is simple and is easy to master. The difference chess has is that it is relatively easy to learn and difficult to master 

Because no 2 games are the same.