Why isn't chess more popular?

seriously?? I had never heard that St Louis was a "chess city." that's good to know - I live in Missouri and I love St Louis. Will have to seek out some clubs there. Probably learn a few things the hard way

LET US STAY WITH THE GAME OF CHESS AND FORGET ALL OTHERS

what do you mean exactly "stay with the game of chess?" you mean only post about specific games or moves or openings? I don't agree. there are many threads about that. just stay with those threads if you don't like the others.

maniacs have fun too 

Depends on the country. Competitive video gaming is huge in Korea and is starting to get bigger in the US. Video games lost their nerd stigma with that arrival or the playstation and XBox so a lot more people are playing them now (and the casual gaming market has exploded bringing in the older crowd and types of people who wouldn't typically look at a video game).

Starcraft used to be the big competitive gaming game, but now League of Legends is becoming the top dog. I won't say it compares much to chess, but it does have some similarities. The map and starting conditions are the same everytime so the defining factor is strategy, skill, and team work. Surprisingly enough a game of LoL tends to take 40 minutes to even an hour so it is long like chess. The most shocking part is I have tried LoL a bit and found that the opening stages of it were slower and more boring than chess but people love the game for some reason.

Being a professional video gamer can produce some decent money. Like chess though it is only the very small top percentage that can live off of it. Unlike chess, once you reach your 20s you hit the over the hill spot for professional video gaming quickly as the younger crowd has faster reflexes and can edge you out. Also unlike chess you can be a professional in several different games to keep things fresh and different, and which games people are playing professional tends to rotate as new games come out to replace the old.

I work in the video game industry so I was inclined to ramble on about the topic for a minute since you brought it up. :)

@chazr -- Any particular reason why you need to insult chrisr? I don't think she did anything to warrant such an attack

Hey - I'm Irish so let me have a word here! we still don't walk upright; we are usually too drunk; I'm also German, so there is no hope of staying sober for me

@zborg, weren't the first 6 reasons sufficient?? :-)

St Louis is also the home of Anheuser-Busch. I guess I have to move there

Chess is hard. Even if you have a smidgen of aptitude for it, and are the best among your friends; you show up at chess.com only to find that everyone is a supergenious uber-Master at it, compared to you. Where once you trounced friends with aggressive and dynamic plays, your foray into live blitz chess sees many many kickings of your posteirior, until you find yourself choosing passive openings just to survive the first ten moves.

Chess is a cruel mistress. 

Exactly what makes chess so awesome. SOOO good for your brain. You must force your brain to focus on so many possibilities at once; weigh options; make choices. You are forced to rely on your own resources. And after you keep getting beat over and over you notice you are getting better...and better. It never ends

Sitting still for so long gives you hemorroids.  So it takes iron will and real discipline to excel in chess.  Look what happened at Toiletgate.

Yes, indeed.  But why air our dirty laundry?

We can't all be cuddly.  It is a war game, afterall.  Occassional bad manners should be expected.  Still our intent is pure.

@Snakes could comment eloquently on this topic.

Because the atmosphere is affected negatively by the presence of a chessboard

The results of the Third International Mathematics & Science Study, the most complete study of schooling ever done, were recently released. It found that in mathematics U.S. seniors ranked 15th out of 16 nations. In physics they fared even worse...they were dead last. In general math and science they kept their form by being near the bottom.

Given the thought intensive nature of science and especially math, it is no surprise that chess, also very thought intensive, is not popular...especially among those disinclined or simply without the ability to think through a game of chess.

I don't buy the connection between the TIMSS results and a nation's chess aptitude.   If you are referring to this study: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999081.pdf, then the US finishes last and second to last only when you take into consideration each country's 'top students', which they define as those taking advanced math/physics classes. However when you compare all students in their last year of secondary education, the US and Russia were found to be "not significantly different" in either math or physics which makes a connection between TIMSS results and chess ability highly suspect.   Maybe you understand TIMSS better than me, but I have a problem with their definition of 'top math/physics' students - couldn't the differences they see be the result of more or less stringent requirements for placement in advanced classes?   I.e., if it's easier to get into advanced classes in the US than it is in other countries, then they really aren't comparing similar groups . . .  I don't know, perhaps I misunderstood how they defined 'top students'.   Also TIMSS came out in 1999.

draws, draws, draws

The solution:

http://www.d-chess.com/

Chess is actually one of the easiest games to learn and master. It's right next to checkers in complexity.

is this for real ?