Why do anything if you don't get money?
@Ilya-Adams thibault makes money cuz people on Lichess decide to donate to the site, and on the donation page it says the donors pay to thibault, Lichess’s full time dev, and to run the powerful servers. Lichess is a non-profit site.
No.
Well, it's a valid question which will probably mean a lot of stupid answers or sarcasm, justifying why it isn't a waste of time.
The short answer is probably, maybe or it depends.
Playing here is a video game, just perhaps socially more acceptable then something like Dragon Slayer or GTA.
To answer this question objectively is very difficult indeed.
It's a documented fact that people can go over a year without solid food,18 days without water but it's rare to go a day without rationalizing our addictions.
Over forty years ago I remember my dad saying...
"There is no money, girls or respect for chess, so why do you spend so much time in your room looking at those chess books",
"Because I find it interesting", I said.
And nowadays it seems that everyone is addicted to something...which reminds me I have to check my Instagram account, maybe somebody liked my cat post.
The short answer is probably, maybe or it depends.
Playing here is a video game, just perhaps socially more acceptable then something like Dragon Slayer or GTA.
To answer this question objectively is very difficult indeed.
It's a documented fact that people can go over a year without solid food,18 days without water but it's rare to go a day without rationalizing our addictions.
Over forty years ago I remember my dad saying...
"There is no money, girls or respect for chess, so why do you spend so much time in your room looking at those chess books",
"Because I find it interesting", I said.
And nowadays it seems that everyone is addicted to something...which reminds me I have to check my Instagram account, maybe somebody liked my cat post.
Yes, intellectual energy as you call it, can be used to form groups and help solve eachothers problems and support eachother by listening with attention. This is also called peer support.
Chess is my rock
"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Albert Camus
"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Albert Camus
Chess is about good encounters, mainly we do not want disappointment: Not to disappoint our opponents, not to be disappointed by them, not have a disappointing game. So intellectual energy brings better games, and we are happy. We do not do it to prove it to ourselves or somebody, but to be good company.
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