Why I am re-examining my admiration for Chess?

I always have an admiration of chess right from my childhood.  Ever since started playing online a few months ago, I developed an avid fascination- almost akin to a fan’s wide-eyed wonder for Chess; I used to read the history of world chess championships and biography of chess greats.

   Accidentally I saw a chess quote by George Bernard Shaw in the web.
Here it is:
"Chess ... a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time."
     This quote shattered my faith in chess. I started asking myself whether Chess is really a waste of time? 

What is your opinion about this quote?

it´s just a game like pinochle  or parcheesi 

You decide what's important, nobody else. If people's opinions, let alone a singular quote from a stranger in the past make you question your hobbies, then perhaps you should grow thicker skin.

Well... imagine your life without 'useless' things. Music could be considered useless. Looking at a couple of kids play and enjoying just life itself could be considered useless. Love could be considered useless, but mating (see what I did here...) is certainly not useless.

Humans need things they love. Things that make them happy. Buf if that isn't enough of a reason. Chess keeps your brain busy. Dementia is a nasty desease. Better keep it away with a bit of chess, some fiddling on an instrument. And while you've still got your brain, might as well use it to enjoy all the none-productive things that make life worth living.

Now, go on and mate.

It is just a game, but probably the most perfect and beautiful one, and can allow people to think with a complexity and abstractness that may not be found elsewhere.

There's plenty of things chess helps with (dimensia, as someone mentioned, alzheimer's, general mental sharpness, planning, visualization, etc) not to mention the fun (everyone needs a hobby). Shaw didn't know anything about brain health, and that alone should negate his quote.

But really, if it's not otherwise harming your life (think addiction), and you like it, that's all you should need. 

I prefer wasting time to any productive activities. Hence, playing chess, angling with flies (with intentions to release all fish caught), and drinking wine top my list.

Drinking wine a waste of time - strange idea.

But I agree that many other things could be called that. Golf seems to me particularly weird. Yet millions are addicted, prize money for good players is enormpus and the audience for something like the Ryder Cup uncountable. Catching fish to let them go is certainly another striking example. And what about football? An obsession the world over (except for some reason in the USA).

Then there is religion - weird just does not describe most religious teachings. But lots of folk take them as gospel.

Do the things you like to do.  Let someone else worry about whether those things have any significance.

In the US football is religion. But its not the football the rest of the world plays. In American football, only a few select players are allowed to bring a foot in contact with the ball. No one is allowed to touch these players. Thay are sacrosant.

Things like this aren't said because they're logical or factual, but because they express a certain point of view.

Obviously being clever and making good use of your time aren't mutually exclusive.  He also knew, of course, he couldn't speak for chess lovers by saying what or why they play chess (an expedient for idle people).  He's simply saying that it's his opinion that chess is a waste of time.  The phrasing he uses is to set the tone... for example that he has disdain for anyone who may disagree on the grounds of chess's reputation as something related to intelligence.

The time period and his political / social views are also worth noting.  He lived from ~1850-1950 .  In the late 1800s chess wasn't played professionally, there was no world champion, and it wasn't well respected.    As Shaw grew up, he got to witness the birth of chess as a profession and science.  As a political/social activist he was concerned with how people lived and worked.  Chess is neither practical nor related to social concerns so it makes sense he would think of it as a waste of time.  Known as a writer, he even considered writing to be a waste unless it was related to political/social change.

And just as a person in general, he had many strong opinions, some of which weren't well informed, and some may say unreasonable.

The quote is useful in that it gives a counter point of view.  But just as with quotes that venerate chess, you should regard them as someone's opinion, and then decide for yourself what you think.

i really like chess. so i spend my time on it you decide what you spend your time on. you make time for your priorities/ what are your priorities?

didnt you ever think that chess might improve your life skills, in a sense, develop your mind 

Well, yeah, if you want to go there you can discredit him pretty quickly.  I wonder if he was saying these radical things when he was younger though.  I like to think his heart was in the right place... at least at some point in his life and then later he got extreme and weird.

You do realize George Bernard Shaw was a critic / writer who became communist. I would hardly look to him for life guidance. That being said, if you play chess and don't enjoy it it's a waste of time. I would say chess is a step above video games at least from my personal perspective because the chicks don't distain it as much. 

I don't like to get into political coloring.  I get to watch my family bicker about these things (rather unintelligently) every year around this time.  America's entertainment news networks don't help inform them either. If I heard 1 intelligent comment out of 50 from anyone from either "side" I might get interested.

Anyway I try to avoid bringing it up.

No I don't agree with Shaw's views.  Not that it has anything to do with his chess quote.

Those Shaw passages come from meetings of the Eugenics Education Society and there are those who say that Shaw was satirising the more extreme views of some of its members. Irony was one of his strong suits.

Whether this is so or not I do not know.

For you, perhaps it is "useless". For me, it's an enjoyable passtime. Since December 06 I've been disabled and spend most of my days laid up in bed. So this hobby keeps my mind active. Before my back surgery I used to play golf once, sometimes twice a week. That could be considered useless as well, but I sure did enjoy it. Shaw wrote 60 plays. One could describe watching a play as being "useless". Is fun and enjoyment of a game useless? I don't believe so. We only have one life, might as well get some enjoyment out of it. Some play golf. Some paint. Some play chess.

niver herd ovem. jus playn have fun - an dont lissin ta noone who dont no u. 

Lol...those speeches are pure sarcasm...it's not hard to tell.

On the main topic...Chess is a game, one that is not particularly worthy of admiration over any other game, beyond it's longevity and history.  It's a leisure pursuit, not an intellectual building block.

You can buy into the chess-playing, brandy-snifter-lifting, old-world-globe-spinning gentleman of culture and refinement stereotype, but in the end it's still just a game.

It's a table game, really.

Nevertheless, it is as pointless as any sport; what is football other than a waste of time? 

But It is pure enjoyment and entertainment.