/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.21050943]

All my friends are 1800+ in chess, I struggle to get past 1200 no matter how hard I try. Is there a point to reading intellectual books or should I just consign myself to watching reality television and eating pizza like im supposed to? Isn't it a bit ridiculous to be reading Kant only to make multiple logical mistakes in a row only a moments later? If a chessboard is too complex, the nature of reality, knowledge etc. probably is too.

[Anonymous No.21050956]

1200 isn't that bad. Don't be too hard on yourself bro

[Anonymous No.21050964]

>>21050956
im way below 1200 despite efforts. im considering cutting off my friends because merely being in their presence is a humiliation as long as their chess rating is higher than me

[Anonymous No.21050966]

>>21050964
i said 1200 meaning i cant surpass it, not meaning that im literally 1200

[Anonymous No.21051068]

>>21050956

1200 is literally just learnt how the knight moves tier.

[Anonymous No.21051072]

>>21051068
Ooh check out this badass. If only someone could tame him *drools*

[Anonymous No.21051102]

>>21050943
I started getting back into chess during the pandemic. I was 800 elo on a good day. 2 years later I've broken the 2000 barrier.
do puzzles, play longer time controls, and study your games. you'll improve and even if your rating doesn't go up a lot, you're still getting the cognitive benefits

would you tell someone to stop exercising just because he's not putting up as much weight as the other guy? no. don't do that to yourself. have a good sense of humor about and keep trying

[Anonymous No.21051158]

>>21050943
Don't punish yourself, anon. Chess is great, but who cares in the end. The only that should matter is you enjoying what you do (and with whom you do it, that is, if your friends are actual frens).

Of course, let not your soul rest in indifference and your mind in couch-cheetoh mindset.

Take good care of your habits, your desire, and your spirit!

[Anonymous No.21051271]

>>21050943
>1200 elo
you dont know how dangerous is a well positioned knight and bishop, thats your problem

[Anonymous No.21051303]

>>21051158
>The only that should matter is you enjoying what you do
My therapist said the same thing, but I countered her by saying that all activities as adults are basically based on competition and displays of competence: that's all games and hobbies. So the enjoyability has got to do directly with your rank, since without the rank and competition, all of those games would be pointless, completely bereft of appeal, like chess would be literally wooden blocks moving on a board. So to have "fun" I have to be in constant competition, well, maybe it that would indeed be fun if i were smart and won all the time but I lose so much that it's more just frustrating, not "fun". So, fun is not fun, it's not real. She didn't have shit to say to this so I had to deflect a bit because rambling to mental health people is stupid.

What's annoying is that my friends are like determinists but I can't even look down on them because of their superior chess ratings. One of them said "you don't have to worry about stuff too much because its all deterministic bro" and later the same day he said some mainstream tier ethical comments regarding racism displaying that he does actually worry about stuff like that. But I can't even look down on them as midwits because I have proof they're smarter than me and my "philosophical interest" is then probably really just some shitty extension of teenage angst. Most smart people don't give a fuck about philosophical issues because they can succeed within the current terms and truly realize the fatuity of trying to reflect about it, or something. So, the only reason I try to read Kant is that I can't do as good at games and tasks, since ultimately I'm no better than them. Very irritating situation which grinds my gears.

[Anonymous No.21051411]

>>21051303
lol you take urself way too seriously man.

[Anonymous No.21051421]

>>21051303
>some mainstream tier ethical comments regarding racism
normies (includes women) literally stop existing when alone, how you even compare yourself to them is beyond me

[Anonymous No.21051484]

>>21050943
It’s pretty easy to train a computer to win any chess match.
It’s impossible to train a computer to actually understand a book.
Chess is not a measure of abstract thinking ability.

[Anonymous No.21051490]

>>21051421
talking with these people made my eyes open about how insidious certain kinds of materialistic ideas are. Sure, there's probably some ghettoization compared to the academic presentation, but these ideas even trickle down to these people who definitely do not read philosophy, as some sort of weird mind virus. These people are genuinely smart in a raw intellectual power way yet they're ruined, in a way, from being fully and intensely human. But it's hard for me to embrace special snowflake illusion so uncritically that I would just say easily "oh it's only them not me im totally different", and again, in practice my life isn't that different from theirs so it's like, who do I think I am. And it's like, I guess they're happy? And smart people actually tend to be happy and well-adjusted, not sad, despite the oft-repeated cliches.