Is chess a waste of time and intelligence?

Yes

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by Harry Lamer

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A long time ago, a woodcutter's son went into the forest to collect firewood. He chanced upon two old men playing chess on a hill under a peach blossom tree. Feeling curious, he decided to take a look. The old men were so engrossed in the game that the boy was soon caught up in the intricate strategies of the match. Suddenly, the boy noticed that one of the old men had missed a winning move. Excited, he uttered it out. Immediately and to his surprise, the two old men, the chessboard, tree and all - vanished without a trace. The boy returned to his village, but his family was no longer there, and everything had changed. When he asked around, he found that a hundred years had passed while he was in the hills.

The game in question was in fact the Japanese game of Go. The moral of the tale has perhaps been lost in history. But the game of Chess - be it in any form - it does that to you sometimes, doesn't it?

Various chess pieces in different positions on a square board. People can spend hours on end peering over such a board, in search of the perfect play to outwit an opponent.

Is that a waste of time and intelligence?

To be fair, such a question can be addressed on many different levels.

If you are a professional chess player, then obviously it would not be a waste of time and intelligence. You make money from playing the game - and playing well.

As an occasional pastime, the game can be a fun, relaxing and meaningful social activity.

But between hobby and professionalism is a wide gap of serious amateurs who spend precisely copious amounts of time peering over a chessboard. Their goal? Perhaps to win a few amateur championships or to beat other like minded chess players. It is a huge community out there, and out of that only perhaps a select few become good enough to play chess professionally.

Put it this way, let's play chess. What is your aim here? To win? In any tournament or so, there is only one winner. Maybe a few consolation second and third prizes. Certainly you would not be satisfied with a fifty-fifty percentage win, would you? Meanwhile, all the other losers spend even more time striving harder, studying chess notations and chess problems - all in an effort to well - play better chess.

It may indeed be true that the best chess players require a brilliant mind. But the converse is almost certainly true, that brilliant minds need not necessarily be chess players. Which of course begs the question: what would the chess player be if not a chess player?

One might argue that playing chess helps to train an analytical mind. It does indeed. But how far do you need to analyse a chessboard to recognise the importance of analysis in itself? A good scientist need not play chess to train an analytical mind. Science in itself (and mathematics) is an exercise in analysis. And there are many other avenues that one can train that analytical mind. Try Freud for one.

The reality is that chess can be an intoxicating activity. People play chess to win. It is a little like gambling. You feel the exhilarating rush when you win, especially when against the odds. People can go to great lengths to get that winning feeling. It can become dangerous when chess starts to take hold of one's life.

Sure you can say, "I have a job, and then I have chess."

But not everyone plays chess, and not everyone cares. How about surfing? Mountain climbing? Wining and dining? Traveling? Sex for that matter? Get a life.

Let me end with a parting analogy. Excelling in chess is a little like - becoming a movie star. How many people dream of the glitz and glamour; how many people try their utmost to look good and act and sing - yet how many actually make it? Meanwhile, the majority of those dreamers end up putting their careers, even lives on hold. Many indulge in drugs and alcohol in place for that exhilarating feeling of success.

How many people play chess so seriously, peering over chessboards and books and problems? And how many people actually make something out of all that - going pro or making money - other than for that winning feeling?

Maybe the only difference between chess and stardom is that you don't generally take to drugs and alcohol when you play chess. But here, chess is the drug. Chess is the alcohol.

Better be careful about how you play chess. Like in the story of the woodcutter's son, while you are peering over a chessboard, the world can practically pass you by. And you wonder what happened while you were gone.

Learn more about this author, Harry Lamer.
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