will chess really make people go evil ,unkind, hateful and remain lonely and deppressed??
Chess will make good people DEVELOPE a bad evil side and I am totally honest about it. Only bad people have no problem getting better and beat up by better players with the cheapest, most degrading tricks out there.
The more I progress in chess the more I realize the opposite may be true.
Chess can have alot of Philosophical aspects and help people develop a more stable and humble and healthy existence.
I showed an absolute beginner friend some chess stuff the other day and she said "wow you should be a chess shrink".
Simple concepts like "think before you move, don't be impulsive", and all the way to "sometimes you think you are a genius when you are actually missing everything, and sometimes you are sure you are doing bad but you are objectively kindof genius".. These ideas and how chess conveys them seemed to help her concretely with her emotional situation, and seen as kindof worthy lessons for life in general.
Then I realized - yeah some GMs go insane because chess has that "soul crushing" element... Almost like a psycho-active effect from deep mental struggle that can even supress the urge for eating, drinking, and sleeping. When it becomes your job like I said before and you determine your self-worth in the world by chess that can be unhealthy for sure... But for people who just enjoy the game, appreciate what's beautiful about it, and try to always learn and improve and not focus on results - I think that can be very healthy.
Value the process more than results, rating, etc.. IMO keeping a modest, child-like state of mind of curiosity about the world is in many ways a key to happiness.
Might be a problematic example - but Ding Liren considers himself a student very much and it's very beautiful to behold... He is not much of an example because he's as pro and as troubled by being pro as you can possibly be... But he can still inspire us mortals...
You can also appreciate how Nakamura is now peaking and playing the best chess of his life because he is "not a pro chess player anymore".
You will only go insane if you don't toke enough while dabbling in this warped game. You have been warned!
Huuuuuhhh? Wow cool. I almost always do! Even if I play better without it… I never understood why I just thought I was addicted to both… but hmm… I think you may truly be on to something! It makes sense . Sacrifice your focus for the anti-stress “nothing really matters” effect, keep the game a hobby that way. I think the not healthy place of chess is when it becomes a job like thing and people take it too seriously despite having no realistic hope of ever earning any money from it…