Is chess really worth it?

The title.. Is it? When you look back on your life, say 20 years from now are you still going to be playing chess? Is it worth taking seriously? In the end you just become old and dried up. When your lying in your deathbed thinking over your life, are you going to be happy to say you played a 'LOT' or just some, chess? Everything is going to end for everyone no matter what, so when people go on bragging and hating over wins and losses it makes me look at them with not envy but disgust. In the end, is chess really important?..

Sometimes I see posts like "whats your longest win streak" and "whats your view on yada-yada", you know. WHO GIVES A F***, not trying to burst bubbles and break columns but come on.. People are just people, nobody asked to be born! Everyone is here and now, what is going to happen is going to happen, so why waste your time over such nonsense? Im not saying you shouldn't play chess, but get real..

Its something you can do and have fun playing competitively until the day you die, now let me ask you, what else can boast that much?

God

Even know we waste time and words.. Staring at a screen.. Look at the entire planet and whats happening, then look at your tiny little screen. Its just so small and one-sided. Whats the point of arguing over the internet? Whats the point of trying to get through to people  with text? Better yet, whats the point of playing chess on the internet?? So you can win? And then what? Say to people - "guess what!?" "I just won a chess game on my computer!".. Seriously who really wants to hear that. Everything that humans do is irrelevant. Everything that humans exalt is worthless..

Evolution is based around competition and competition is what allows us to continuously improve on basically everything we do. From this post it sounds as though you don't appreciate the value of working hard or competing and you are hung up on facing death. I hope one day you will understand why people "waste their time on such nonsense", and hopefully you will come to terms with the idea of death.

Chess is completely irrelevant, its selfish, your wasting so much time and power on it, so that you can win, for yourself of course! you want to win to say that you are a good chessplayer, so you can look down upon other people. think of yourself as higher. Everything that people do is pathetic!!!!

If I were to agree with your premise that everything people do is pathetic then I would have to conclude that this is no more or less so.  That is if you find no joy or merit in anything then it truly does not matter what you elect to do.

But no, you can play chess. Do what you want with your life, after all. You don't have that much time, I hate it when people think they will one day become great at something, or one day achieve something great! Only by god's will will such things come to be!!!! People have no control over their lives, no one knows when they will die. It could be now it could be far down the road, but while your waiting, don't waste your time with these people playing chess, do something good! Help people prepare!

People will play anything! Any man can make a game, create something just like chess. Perhaps even better. And if someone becomes good and starts beating people, that person will feel very highly of himself, that person will brag. which will then bring more people into it. In the end, people just want pride! they want fame!

"People have no control over their lives"  I disagree strongly and believe in free will.  For myself I find a balanced life works best -- some time in family, some time in solitary pursuits (chess, books, thoughts), some time in social activites and excerise and so forth. 

Time is the most valuable thing we have access--spend it wisely!

This is pathetic.... But when I made that statement I meant what people desire to do, what 'most' people do, there are good people and people who have done and will do good things. Those of which are not pathetic. 

Well, I'm off to bed...best of luck to you in this pursuit.

Interesting, yes you do have free will, but that does not mean - what is going to happen is not going to happen. God knows our lives..

When you say time is the most valuable thing we have access.. I for one know that time is nothing but what us humans use to better ourselves once again. Human bodies perish, we die. The soul is eternal, im not worried about time in the slightest. But some should be !!

It is so, so sad. The things which are going to happen. 

Anyway, good luck to all of you reading this!

Im not trying to pull you away completely from chess, only trying to make you think, before you do something dumb for it

Tarrrasch once said "Chess like... ,has the power to make men happy", Iv'e also read that the great Chigorin burned his wooden chess pieces a few years before his death. Bobby Fischer once claimed that chess was all played out.Morphy quit chess to practice law, Kasparov to go to politics,. They were players who took the game seriously at one time in their lives. Chess challenges our decisions and sometimes our ego (the attitude in taking  a loss). Chess like life has and end. Actually if one plays according to the demands of the position and correct play his chances of winning is high. In life ,living to what we are ougth to live by and to follow through our beliefs that leads us to the path of the promise of the most High, chances are good or else... checkmate.

I think Chess is important to those who use it as a living, a hobby, a sport, as a means to dominate. It's like saying that the title of a DOCTOR is necessary for those who practice medicine as the title Engineer is a necessity for those who makes plans in Contructing Buildings.Only the best get to the top whatever your profession is. But all of these are worldy things, why because we are in this world because we are humans who tends to want and want more. And question more.(no offense).

Lossing and winning is the same,because after winning you may feel happy but what about when you lose. Its just how you take it and see it. A person who brags after winning cannot be blamed for his actions if that is his character because after making a full concentrated effort, he finnally nailed the win. he acted normally because he is human.

Each one of us has to have a mission in life so that when our time comes we can say we have achieved at least a goal.And lived life in what we believe is meaningful.

Yes the TITLE is important: to earn the right to play in tournaments where there is a stake of a prize for the person who made chess a living SERIOUSLY.

And when your lying in your death bed, you would probably smile and say "I married the most wonderful person given by a loving GOD who gave me wonderful kids who made my life wonderful, and chess who made part of my brain meaningful.

Fischer once said "I only know how to play chess,but I'm good at it".Chess is how we see it. Play... if you win enjoy it... if you lose forget about it because when something better happens to our lives the remnants of the past glories and defeats will be like shallow waters in a distant land.

For 'chess' read tennis, athletics,juggling etc. Lots of people have the luxury to take their hobbies very seriously and they do even though they will never reach world championship level. That they do so doesn't mean they are wasting their life or being selfish and all the rest of this twaddle.

I don't really get this. People persue what they are passionate about. Be it chess or anything else. Bragging, on the internet or elsewhere, is just poor character. But saying "nothing matters" because we are all going to be dead one day is a pessimistic view and one that won't get you far at all...

if playing chess is a waste of time, then so is getting out of your bed in the morning.

Don't you think Bro. Fyah that youre a bit overreacting, who's will was it when Bobby Fischer became champion? was it GOD's combined with Fischer's efforts?

Was it GOD's will that the Books of the Prophet Jasher (who wrote the Book of Noah), or Barnabas the disciple of Jesus or even the Prophet Enoc be not included in the bible?

Helping other people prepare depends to whose leading it. The bible tells us to be aware and to see clearly if a spirit talking about GOd is really GODs'. Not everyone plays chess to pschologically kill or frustrate the opponent.

We are all sinners brother... Romans 3:10. Religion is different from chess. In religion we follow, in chess we lead.We play chess because of free will. In religion, free will is lost when we start to follow because we start to be guided by those who stands and lead  who can input anything they want and claim it correct. Before GOD has created us , he already knew us, is it not funny to know that if this is the case, then He knew we would be playing chess?

Since chess does not appeal to you, can I ask you questions again?

Do you own a computer?

Is it powerful than any other pc users in your neighborhood?

Are you willing to trade it for a 386? WHY NOT?....because you need it right? at its powerful state because you bought it at a very high price which youve worked so hard to buy. WOuld it be fair to you when your Church leaders tells you that Computers are for sinners because you waste time typing and going to internet instead of reading the word of GOD thus forcing you to throw it away?. WHY?... because we all WANT. Some people enjoy chess as some people enjoy to read, play or whatever.Not all who say's we belong to GOd really belongs to GOD.

You know fyah, not everyone believes in God. You speak as if it is obviously real and anyone who believes otherwise is an idiot. No one can prove what's right in this universe. Everything is just a theory, some more plausible than others. Man is too tiny a spec in the grand scheme of things to say otherwise. I knew someone similar to you, except he took the attitude that evolution is definately right and anyone who doesn't believe it is an idiot. So out of the unlimited number of possible theories of how the universe came about, what makes you think that you are right? I'm not trying to take away your faith, but it is only that: a faith, not fact.

If that's what you're saying, then all entertainment is useless and selfish. This is how we chose to recreate and have a good time, other people may do other things.