I beat chess.

Guys, I beat live, I just kill myself :D

No srsly, Let me give you my opinion about chess as whole. Chess is not just a game (which might be addicting to be honest), it's rather a way of creating your ideas. In chess, it doesn't matter how healthy you are (to a certain degree), what your gender is, what your physical abilities are. The only thing that matters is your head. You have to take decisions and stand for them ("yes, I blundered a pawn, now I have to do something to cope with that" and "it might be a wrong choice, but I'll stick with that"). It consumes of course a lot of time, but what chess gives to you is a way of reflecting your live, your decisions, a way of stucturizing your toughts. You decide whether you follow your own intuition or some general rules, but in the end, it is always you who chooses and it's up to you what the result is. This is the meaning of chess (russian chess school).

If you don't like chess, it doesn't mean you are dumb or anything, it just means that you don't want to use the tool of chess to achieve your greatness. Or, if you fail and quit because of that, then there is indeed something behind it ;)
Chess is not an addiction, it is rather a philosophy. You don't need to agree with it, but don't blame others for sticking to it. I certainly will not quit chess although I do indeed spent >1hour/daily just on it.

@Strategymaster Not gonna argue about merits of playing chess and how it helps you, e.g. get control over your feelings, learn to deal with a situation etc. But, my question is: Is this not on diminishing returns? How much is too much ? I don't know, you can see my point in #9

@Tangelo777 That's interesting. I've never seen a game cut off by the system like that. I don't play that line, but I'm sure it's probably theory? Thanks for sharing!

It helps you develop your strenghts and soft skills. If you want to have an economical scale to it, the benefits are certainly not clear numbers on returns etc., but even if we neglect all the fun factor, everything you need and use in life may be reflected on chess, alone the way of thinking ahead to minimize the errors. Again, chess is not the only way to do that, but if you invest your time in chess efficiently (not just blitzing around without thinking), then it might be worth it.
If on the other hand, you just "waste" your time, don't work on yourself etc., then it is just another way of wasting your time and costs, like computer gaming. And about the question "how do I learn chess right", that's a different task which I would push on skilled chess trainers (of which there are not that many unfortunately, rather chess players who share their knowledge), and this is a whole other topic

I hear it helps with Alzheimer's. I think I read somewhere that if you play, the less likely you are to suffer the effects of it? I could be wrong though.

@GoMentalGoBloody economics ;D

And I agree about the opportunity cost thing. That's why im trying not to get upset that my ratings are slipping because I've got some very important things I need to be working on!