The benefits of patience, long-term but goal-oriented thinking, self-correction and risk/crisis management are things that *can* flow into other aspects of your life assuming you were lacking in those areas to begin with.
Though these are intrinsic ... character is usually measured by others around you, isn't it?
To AnthonyCG's points, even with increased skill/competency in chess (or any hobby), your true self doesn't really change. The jerks out there merely re-package themselves as "jerks who can play chess well".
The decent "good character" folk out there had class well before they learned how the pieces move.
I believe character doesn't change with chess playing.
The other day, I posted a message about winning little did I know that people are actually atached to the game that much. In a quite different atmoshpere, we realised with collegues that chess any any other activity sometimes shapes one's life. Is this really true?
One said that the patience and planning that one engages in especially when caught up in a strange situation and the endurance to the end are character shapers that chess gifts player.
Well, maybe we are all different. What is your take on this?