We do this for pleasure !!!!
what are chess players doing
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It is simiply we love to play the game. What is involved in this game is like no other. You and your opponent. Do you make the mistake or does he? There is no luck in this game. The more you play, the more you want to learn. That is how I feel anyway.
ive been playing since i was 14, im now 30. back then i new opening theory, engames, tactics but was rash and thoughtless. ive forgotton all theory but im patient and careful for the most part. am i any better? not really. my style has just changed. i think im much better online than live, but no one wants to play a "real" game or even 30 mins a side. i digress...its tourture to play this game but i subject myself to it unyeildingly year after year. maybe im a mental massocist... i just find it strange that we are so passonate about a board game. no matter what level of play we achieve, most chess players stay fascinated with it even if they never get any better. some people devote thier entire lives to trying to understand it! kasparov got away some how, he found another passion. it consumed fischer. and its consumed many others. its not a game, its a 64 squared demon. i love it
we play chess, because its fun. its like going to work, you will never be better than the store owner.(GM)
same with my skills in soccer ive played for 7 years in school and spring and i suck compared to college students whove play its all in fun.
tis fun! gives me a mental workout when i need it.
P.S. you obviously don't suck, jpd303, ur rating is higher than mine by a almost, if not more than 600 pts.
well i suck in the grand scheme of things. its like being an artist, you might impress your friends and family with you talent but youll never be a Michalangelo or a Bernini...same with me, ive played some great games sure... ive impressed friends and family sure...ive destroyed people that claimed they knew how to play the "no one i know can beat me" type... but compared to even a USCF rated 1600 i suck...compared to a 2000 player i suck even more and compared to a GM or "super GM" it like were not even playing the same game! but yes i see what you are saying. im just never satisfied with what i can do. im a very smart man in many ways but i cant figure this game out. im so geared to "beating" a game and ill never ever "beat" chess...ill never understand it as much as i would like to...ive said many times just stop playing and forget about it...but i cant...even for a day now that im on chess.com...when ididnt have a computer i didnt play but i still got Chess Life mags and read Silman's reassess your chess religiously. but i never get any better, i reached my plateau years ago but i continue to play and play and play...i guess every game is a new challenge and i should be happy with my achievements but im never satisfied...
Chess is an obssession. Far worse than forbidden love of any kind. I actually dream about it, play until I can't think and my head literally throbs and aches and I want to puke.
People ask what I'm reading and I tell them a book by Jeremy Silman. They ask, "Who?" "Nevermind you'll never hear the name again anyway." They see the cover of my book. Chess pieces. They always ask with dumbstruck amazement, "Do you play chess?" I answer, "Yeah. Sort of." But, I know, Chess plays me (with Grand Master, surgical precision). It has such power over me I don't even pretend I won't play tomorrow. "I'll use one of my 8 million vacation days and take a break!" Liar!!! I'll be clicking that hideous green submit button until I can't tell what color it is.
What am I writing this for. I need to check if someone made a move.
Why do we play? I'll tell you. To see BOARGOG WINS BY CHECKMATE. Or, whatever your call yourself. Then you'll want to go over the match in your mind (like a scene from a movie (more like a porno) and remember how clearly you saw the board and brilliantly you worked the obscure variation. With Hulk-like force you worked your plan dominating theirs. Your opponent saw it coming but was powerless to stop it. BOARGOG WINS BY RESIGNATION.
Fun? Pleasure? No one ever saw me crouched over the computer like the hunchback of Notre Dame and said, "Hey, you look so happy and fulfilled. What are you doing? Tell me so, I can be happy just like you?" They see me and ask, "Studying for an exam? School work? Looking for a second job? Taxes! How many Red Bull's did you drink?" Staring at the empty cans. No. none of the above. Just doing what chess tells me to do . . . Stop that passed pawn at all costs.
Lie to your self all you want but, there are no chess players. Just addicts. Chess.com is your pusher. Face it, the moment you walk away from chess you'll have a new addiction and we all know one thing . . . you'll be back! Checkmate.
Why do we play chess? Why do poets write? Why do artists paint? Why do shirpas climb? Why do fisherman fish? Why do birds fly? Why? Cause if they didn't they would cease to exist. If a poet does not write poetry, is he a poet? If a painter does not paint, then is he a painter? We are chess players, we play, or we cease to exist.
I am not sure? It serves no purpose to me, financial gain, respect in the community, or a promotion at work, or even time off of work. Yet this is an addiction, I hope to stimulate the mind, learn, I gain ground and fall back down again. So far, I learn to be upset with myself on foolish mistakes, but how can I be happy on the foolish mistakes of others. Chess is great, best game out there, just happy to make my pay cheque elsewhere.
Rod
yes rob. yes i think you hit the nail on the head, its an addiction.
chess is life. all wrapped up in a little board game. day after day i find similar comparisons to chess and my personal life. persistance. making moves with unexpected outcomes. confidence. respect. understanding that life is about enjoying small pleasures as they arise. and so.. i have changed my outlook on life from "command and conquor" to a more rational, logical state of mind.
I play chess because I enjoy the challenge, it makes me feel good when I figure out a tactical move that blows an opponent away :). It also keeps my mind sharp and will hopefully make it even sharper. I am not going for GM level at this point, but I hope to one day attain a FIDE 2000 rating. Competition, logic, self improvement, thrill, that's what it's all about.
i made a post on another forum that got a lot of feedback here it is
"no way chess player rule, we think about useless things like color complexes, we waste our time playing a game we can never master, we revere people that devote their lives in pursuit of achieving an impossible dream of creating a beautiful work of art that only a small percent of the populatoin can even appreciate, for very little money, and is of no consequence to the world in general. our attempts to legitimize this game, our holy grail, we pompusly abhor the plebian masses who ignorantly live thier lives without knowing what it is to behold a brilliant Tal sacrifice, or appreciate an artfuly played bronstein midgame, or wonder at the beautiful, natural simplisity of a Capa endgame. we brag about our esorteric understanding of a lucean position, or that we have 400 opening variations memorized til at least move 10, we can calculate variations and "see" 15 moves deep, we can speak of Nimzowitsch's "Hypermodern" revolution or Fischer singlehandly taking on the soviet chess machien, heck just en passant is enough to baffle the philistine masses...in the end its just a game that we take way too seriously and i wouldt have it anyother way"
re-reading my post made me wonder...what are chess players doing!? why do we keep coming back to play this game that most of us dont even really understand? ive been playing for 16 years and i suck big fat hairy cheese balls, yet day in and day out i return to this site to torture myself for a few hours playing a game ill never ever ever get any better at or comprehend any more than i already do...is it competition, is it artistic expression, is it brain candy, is it the comradery we share as a special group of the population? WHY do we do this? what is your motivation to study, to play, to gain experience, to neglect your social, familial and personal responsibilities?