08-09-2013, 06:09 PM
Good to see guys, but it's a shame the article had to start with: It was Sir Walter Scott who said two people playing chess across a table was "a sad waste of brains"...
It highlights one of the main problems with people's perception of Chess in this country; that it's felt an article on the subject must start in such a negative way. Time spent enjoying one's self is not time wasted. And didn't Sir Walter Scott also say "Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.". Poetry - like Chess - could be considered "a sad waste of brains" (particularly to those who don't understand it), but nonetheless almost everyone with a half decent education would appreciate how important it is - and agree with the above.
So actually, far more than online Chess damages the OTB game in this country, I think it's the negative attitude that we should be more worried about.
It highlights one of the main problems with people's perception of Chess in this country; that it's felt an article on the subject must start in such a negative way. Time spent enjoying one's self is not time wasted. And didn't Sir Walter Scott also say "Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary.". Poetry - like Chess - could be considered "a sad waste of brains" (particularly to those who don't understand it), but nonetheless almost everyone with a half decent education would appreciate how important it is - and agree with the above.
So actually, far more than online Chess damages the OTB game in this country, I think it's the negative attitude that we should be more worried about.