What is the point of chess?

Quoting TiredThinker

I am terrible at chess playing a computer at an easy level and I am killed off pretty quickly.

I was knocked out by my third opponent in Gr 9 chess club. Too much work for too little reward. But that's because we have the wrong brain-wiring for that game. I quit at the end of first semester and joined the drama club, which was much more fun: they let me design and build sets. Maybe softball is a better fit for you, just as Scrabble is a better fit for me. Go is right out of my ballpark, because it's strategy, but I like mah jong, cos it's pattern-recognition.
They're games! Some people got computers involved, because for computer people, everything has to involve computers, but that's irrelevant.
What's relevant is whether you enjoy playing the game and the company in which you play it.

Quoting TiredThinker

Does chess even exercise useful parts of the brain?

For sure. Observation, memory, projection, prediction, visualization, long-term and short-term planning - it's very cerebral and the learned skills have many other applications. Okay, so maybe you don't want to grow up to be a spy or diplomat or general....
...so, play Snakes and Ladders or Monopoly.

Quoting TiredThinker

I am terrible at chess playing a computer at an easy level and I am killed off pretty quickly. Isn't chess basically an OCD game of perfectionism?

Did you lose again right before posting this?

Quoting TiredThinker

Does chess even exercise useful parts of the brain?

Not

always.

*

Decide if you want to be a better player. If you do, that is an achievable goal.

Have a look at Levy Rozman's YouTube channel. There's material there (and elsewhere) to help you play better if you want, or you can just watch it for chess appreciation, to understand a little what people love about the game.

*

For the record, I quit tournament chess without ever making master, but I had a couple master-level performance ratings. I miss it.

There is also an online chess tutor you can sign on to, that's very good, according to my very bright chess-playing friend, who is only intermediate class, but seems to enjoy it.

Quoting TiredThinker

I think even the Chinese game "Go" hasn't yet been mastered by a computer.

Like Chess for over two decades, Go has not been a humans-only game since 2016-17.

https://www.deepmind.com/blog/alphazero-shedding-new-light-on-chess-shogi-and-go

Reply to 180 Proof

Yes but can a computer beat a human 100% of the time? My point was it has even more possibilities than chess.

The thing I dislike about chess is the lack of creativity and the ability to beat someone in like 2 moves regardless of having pretty much all your pieces at that stage. It's like you need to do all preliminary moves at the start which isn't really so much skill, just protection against the shortcomings of how the board is set up initially. There can only really be creativity after eliminating equal or more valuable pieces with yours.

Quoting TiredThinker

The thing I dislike about chess is the lack of creativity

No.

Quoting TiredThinker

and the ability to beat someone in like 2 moves

They have to help.

It sounds like you don't understand the game, don't play very well, and are frustrated.

Please stop. Learn about the game or don't, but quit mouthing off about it.

Some of us find the game beautiful. You don't, at least not yet. Let's just leave it at that.

You might as well try to convince me I don't really like jazz because it's "just noise".

This thread shouldn't exist.

Quoting TiredThinker

Yes but can a computer beat a human 100% of the time?

Yeah, so far. :up:

Reply to Srap Tasmaner

Jazz is perfectly fine.

Reply to 180 Proof

I assume with chess they know a computer will always win without testing it further. Go I think only has a very high probability of beating a person?

Reply to TiredThinker The best Go player on the planet, Lee Sedol, was beaten by the AlphaGo system 4-1 in a 5 game match in 2016. The following year, the AlphaGoZero system, which taught itself to play Go in three days, beat the AlphaGo system 100-0 in a 100 game match. Lee Sedol, the Go grandmaster beat by AlphaGo, like other Go grandmasters who have studied the AlphaGoZero matches, does not understand many of the games or strategies executed by the self-taught system.

Reply to TiredThinker

I'm also bad at chess and the only time I felt drawn to play and improve my skills, I quickly became discouraged. Whether this was to do with the way I think, my abilities, social discomfort, or problems with interpersonal competition, it doesn't make a big difference: it's not chess that's deficient, it's us.

That said, I don't beat myself up about it.

Quoting TiredThinker

Jazz is perfectly fine.

Are you sure about this? Jazz is strong supporting evidence against living for some antinatalists.

When the songs of creation are just Jazz, how can one sleep through the night?

Reply to Nils Loc

Nora Jones isn't your cup of tea? Lol.

Quoting Nils Loc

Jazz is strong supporting evidence against living for some antinatalists.

I suppose we have one too many tone deaf, swing-free "wish-I-was-never-borns" ...

Quoting TiredThinker

Does chess even exercise useful parts of the brain?

Maybe it helps to develop strategic thinking.

Maybe I prefer games that are more intuitive and less objective. Clearly there are no people as powerful as the queen is compared to pawns. And certainly the king shouldn't be nearly helpless. It might be more fun to me if you can power up pieces without simply replacing pieces that already died.

Reply to TiredThinker Sounds like you're stuck on DnD ...

Reply to 180 Proof

Never played it.

Quoting TiredThinker

And certainly the king shouldn't be nearly helpless.

In your case you'd probably prefer that the game ends quicker, so a slow and helpless king can't elude death by running all over the board.

But what would the point be?

[i]The kings are too fat
From much lamprey pie and ale
And sit all day long.[/i]

[i]They strategize on
Giant war maps of the world
Defending the realm,[/i]

[i]Trying not to die
By hand of bishop or knight
Pawn, queen or archer.[/i]

[i]They'd rather leave on
Their own terms, playing chess and
Listening to jazz.[/i]