Talkback: Philosophy of Chess

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From:	Dances-withKts	2001-02-12 16:19:40
Subject:	Your web page-My age
Comment:	Hi Eadon-com...Jim Just read thru your web page..very nice page! According to your computer age scale, at age 50 I'm a pentium To me chess is the last sane thing in my life...ICC is a godsend for me! Take care, Randy
From:	isolani	2001-03-02 21:50:38
Subject:	chess: sickness or ....
Comment:	Chess... yes, it's an addiction. Especially the speedy brand, the two minute games available to members of the Internet Chess Club. A win is a thing to luxuriate in, a warm pool of fragrant self-congratulation; a loss an easily forgotten misstep on the road to improving your game. And there is chat in between. We talk of god, of string theories, of time and madness and the plains and mountains are viewed as from above... yes! I Love This Game!
From:	Yossarian	2001-03-02 22:15:52
Subject:	All About Chess
Comment:	I want to think about chess, friends. I really do. Those huge questions that should go unasked keep dripping into my consciousness though. An annoying acidic drip ... fucking bliss-killer. So, I think I will just mindlessly shuffle my pieces back and forth bothered and daydreaming of those magnificent 'Eureka!' moments of revelation that strike only the predestined insane. That raises the question though, is there a catch-22? I mean, is it really insane to ask why? Perhaps not, the real insanity may be mental complacency. Then please, tell me why, why was I the one in rehab?
From:	Yeah Yeah Me again	2001-03-20 19:24:09
Subject:	Computing Machines
Comment:	Dear Brother Jim, You Web Site is full of scattered references to 'pentiums', 'computers', 'calculating machines' etc... I am really worried... What You eat You become... What You spend most of time with You become... You try to prove that we are computers ? Yes Baby! It is like playing a game and next day seeing everything in game terms... You know I mean? You have to turn it around Dear, You really do.... And Chess? Well.. Chess is just another game, innit ?
From:	MadPole	2001-06-29 17:13:14
Subject:	Chess sucks....
Comment:	Why would an inteligent, mature and evolved individual want to play a game in which all combinations are finitive and predictable. Give me backgammon anyday, where change, luck, vibes, telephaty and spirituality are associated with every single move... I am not saying that playing chess is 'wrong' by any chance, am I? Everything we do and don't do is spiritual. Our only purpose is to interact with surrounding us world... from this point of view chess is quite a nice slice of bread: one interacts with a lot of things during the course of the game, including another human being (hopefully)... blah blah blah.....
From:	MarcoBR	2002-07-30 09:43:01
Subject:	Poll about chess
Comment:	Your poll is very interesting and shows that chess is really a waste of time.
From:	Hannibal	2002-08-17 17:45:04
Subject:	addiction
Comment:	As a chess player i dont feel that it is chess in itself that is addictive. I feel that it is the servers that are. I mean have always Loved chess since i was 14. However it wasn't until I started coming to chess.net that I became addicted. I mean the servers offer everything. Chat,chess,masters,lessons,staff And when a person sees all of this they just cant help it. I mean I myself am a chess addict. Buts its not chess thats im a addict to its chess.net, Do i wish i could stop: yes and no, I mean im so additced that i dont even know what i wuld do if chess.net suddenly stop being a server. I would probably go insane. Key to stopping addiction: There is noway to stop this addiction. You have to fight it yourself. Nobdy can make you. But an excellent alternative is lay off your computer for a while. Do other thing watch TV play basketball, And for heaven sake dont start playing chekers you dont want to be an addict with that too. In conclusion I wish i could stop but i cant chess.net has just suddenly became my life. Maybe, just maybe i'll find out that there are many more thing to life then just chess.net
From:	johnson	2003-05-29 11:46:54
Subject:	hilarious
Comment:	very interesting site with good jokes about chess. big up to aurthor, very creative indeed.
From:	Alchemist	2003-08-19 21:39:31
Subject:	Chess and ADD
Comment:	The practice of chess has been shown to improve mental alertness of people suffering from attention deficit disorder. Thought you might like to know.
From:	NO!	2003-10-02 07:18:54
Subject:	I have heard...
Comment:	There are studies that have been going on for the past thirty or so years on the impact that chess play has on the academic profermaces of children. Most of which have had positive out comes.
From:	indrajeet	2005-09-26 22:58:26
Subject:	existence
Comment:	hi... i was looking for the philosophy to satisfy my curiosity.i really wonder whether this game has some answers to the question on our existence...for example :- a pawn after resting from the game might really get frustated on knowing that he was a fool on having being played to satisfy the ego of two people,whereas all thru his life he believed king as his commander.
From:	Richard Jones	2005-10-25 11:58:20
Subject:	chess
Comment:	You sound like a pessimist. Which means you think you're right, and more than likely have been told you're right by many. There are many things in my life that I am good at doing. Piano, which I didn't learn to read music, I just sat down and began to play, and was pretty good, and began to play as a professional in a very short period of time. Guitar is the same way. Martial arts as well. Telepathy as well. All these things offer a human something. Whether it be happiness, focus, or just to get your stress out, which all helps you to be healthy. So, what does chess offer one such as I? (see next comment)
From:	Richard Jones	2005-10-25 11:59:06
Subject:	chess
Comment:	If I look at my life before chess, I see I didn't think many moves ahead in real life. More the aggressive young buck. I picked up chess quickly like I do most things, and like I do most things, I ran with it 100% until I become satisfied that I have mastered it well enough for a while. If I think during the day, like I do when I play chess, looking at all the different ways to play life, etc. Situations start to not seem so, difficult, or have no way out, or completely and utterly boring. It puts my mind to work, and it works well. Awareness overall is what is needed to be achieved, no being the best at something. Chess can be an addiction yes, I've been there, but used wisely it can help shape the way you think, into a more powerful strategist in life. If I were to play chess in tournaments or anything like that, it wouldn't be to beat people mentally. It would be for the money, to help my family. Yes people take it too far, but when treated with the awareness that chess is a game and has its advantages, it is also like sex. Get addicted to either of these and you come out scarred. Sex can lead to STD's, and chess can lead you to break your own mind through the stressfulness of that train of thought. You can only go so far, before you need to learn something else. There are many things to say about this, but I think I've told the most important of it. Chess, like sex, money, and everything else in this world, should be used wisely and with respect. They all are addicting and can seriously hurt you in some way. Just don't abuse things even when they are good for you, or feel good, or help you in some way, because it can end up owning you.
From:	Chessosaurus	2006-05-26 16:23:49
Subject:	Enough with the rant!
Comment:	Chess is only a game and it may be a waste of time, but last time I checked, I could waste my time as much as I damn well please. Plus, I believe that playing chess improves fighting spirit, concentration, and the ability to think strategically (i.e. formulate logical plans before doing something stupid). Of course, it mostly improves your ability to play chess, but I think there are still some benefits. In any case, I would take playing chess over writing pissy fits about why chess is bad any day. If it's so bad, why do you even bother, go do something useful.
From:	Caissa	2006-06-08 10:19:45
Subject:	WRONG!
Comment:	It is clear from your poll that you are wrong as #@$%. The average was around 8 out of 10, not bad is an understatement. Not only that, but a clear majority of people think that chess is, in your own words, really important. Chess is here to stay, chess owns YOU!
From:	Tariq A siddiqui	2006-07-05 23:22:09
Subject:	Right view about Chess
Comment:	Chess like any other outdoor/indoor game may be a dangerous addiction. We should remember that the real battle of life does not take place in any game. All the games are only dummy ones or preparations for the live and real battle of life. Being prepared for the real fight in our lives through outdoor/indoor games is one of the objectives of playing them. If someone loses the game of chess, it doesn’t mean that s/he has lost his real battle of life. After losing any outdoor/indoor game, an individual should learn a lesson of being sincere and attentive while spending her/his life. S/he should think about success in practical life. Thus the allegations, the writer has posed on Chess, may be posed on other games also. Chess is only a game like Carom, even like Football, Volleyball etc. Football too, can destroy individual’s life if s/he is badly serious in it.
From:	Tariq A Siddiqui	2006-07-05 23:35:11
Subject:	One thing More...
Comment:	Every game has the same spirit except Gambling. Chess also has the same spirit like any other game. If not, prove it on philosophical level.
From:	Manuel Anotnio	2007-06-25 03:05:44
Subject:	More than a game
Comment:	I think the polls question is incorrectly formulated. A-waste of time B- just a game C- More than a game I think that is really the question. We would perhaps then need to ask people who are true chess players and have had a chance to study in a wider view what is behind chess.
From:	Mark	2007-12-19 19:33:07
Subject:	Chess
Comment:	Chess has no opinion. If you are a chess player and want to know what other people think about chess, then you are just looking to try to find answers to its magnetism. Join the club. A game with 'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat'. A mind twisting challenge over skull thumping battles with brilliancies and blunders-feeling like a King and Pawn all in one game. A human must be challanged or they will become useless. Chess is only a distraction to those who let it. Humanity must seek balance or die from its own destruction. If you want some opions on chess, read HG Wells' and Benjamin Franklin's articles on chess. There you will find two different viewpoints from brilliant minds. To me, Chess is cheap thrills. Chess doesn't care what anybody's opinion is, now does it?
From:	Val	2008-10-06 21:35:34
Subject:	chess is heroin
Comment:	I loved the game of chess since my childhood. At 13 I wanted to drop out of school so I could go chess pro. I didn't. After it I had stopped playing chess for some time.After I stopped playing chess because I had no success,it was too difficult for me. Now I am in the college. When I had vacation recently I didn't go to find some job, but I decided to play again:). I trained like hell 12 hours a day and got in shape. After I played in a good tournament. Not too good, but I played decent. But I must warn that chess is incredibly tough now. You must work the hell out of you to get to the top if you want to make livings on it. And for me it is like drugs sometimes - sometimes I just physically NEED to play chess. It is drug for the brain.
From:	Cliff	2008-11-01 01:07:28
Subject:	Chess 'mindframe'
Comment:	After reading for the first time all of the posts stemming from 'why chess?', I'm prety certain that almost all opinions expressed had some degree of validity. Like Val (or was it Mark?), I used to play a lot back in the 70's. I had learned to play about the age of ten (1964), and was a bit of a protege! However, I got nvolved with Tournament Chess a bit in Toronto (home!), and a few tourneys in NYC, Brighton England, and Eastern Canada, but after varying degrees of success, kind of forgot the game. I've had some 'pub play' since, but lately, I've thought about the game a lot, and am involved now in a few email tournaments. I'm still not sure what the mystique of chess is. Many times during my off-years, I still think about the incredible beauty of the game; it's parameters far beyond our understanding! Whatever the appeal and lure of the game is, I'm not sure. But I'm glad to be back! Best wishes to all! -- Cliff
From:	pragma	2009-11-09 13:47:22
Subject:	chess
Comment:	Most chess players dont get it. Chess kills humility, kills peace of mind, inflates ego, garners a very narrow view about life and existence. Chess is pointless competition (which is bad by itself), it is not that chess being a waste of time (which it is by the way) that renders it bad. Chess increases negativity in your soul and emotions towards others, kills the spirit of human love, affection and empathy, makes you hate your fellow human chess players. That is the reality behind chess. My heartly advice to all chess players out there (at least those who aren't making a living out of it), quit that 'game' and go on with your lives doing something more useful.