The Newspaper, Chess, and H. G. Wells

The Parkersburg News & Sentinel has printed an article on the upcoming Homecoming Tournament. Check it out for my weak attempt to explain the allure of chess. Perhaps I should have referred the reporter to H. G. Wells' essay on the subject, which begins like so:

The passion for playing chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world. It slaps the theory of natural selection in the face. It is the most absorbing of occupations, the least satisfying of desires, an aimless excrescence upon life. It annihilates a man.

-- H.G. Wells, "Concerning Chess" 1898

The essay ends "And yet I have played many games."