Is chess worth learning for a stupid person?

I consider myself quite slow, and although I learned the moves the pieces make as a child, I'm now (at age 26) wondering if it would be valuable for me to try and study further. I find chess puzzles very hard. I don't think I've ever been able to "see" more than 1 move in the future, and even that takes me a long time. I do find the game fascinating, but I'm wondering if the barrier to entry is above me. I see people playing chess with timers and I can't imagine it! I tried a game against a computer set on "easy" last night, and set the timer to the max (30 mins), and almost ran out of time (panicked, ended up doing something stupid and stalemating him).

I wouldn't be opposed to investing some time, if it wouldn't be a lost cause :)

anyone has your sames problems at the start it all cames with practise and effort. Chess is a beautiful game and it can be recommendend to everyone.

Chess is a game to be enjoyed by everyone. No minimum level of intelligence is needed to play and enjoy the game...play, learn, and have fun.

Best Regards.

The only way to improve in chess is to put time and effort into it.

In chess there are no gimmicks. It took me some time to realize that.

At your age it isn't a lost cause to expect to play on equal terms against strong clubplayers after a while... Just don't think this will happen overnight.

I will tell you one thing: tactics, tactics, tactics ... 

start off with very simple stuff and work your way up.

Chessimo may be ideal for you http://www.chessimo.com/trainer/index.php?lang=en&val=en

And ofcourse once in everywhile play a game of chess... you should still be enjoying all of this.

Keep playing and studying, you'll ssurprise yourself.

I always lose against the computer on here, so stalemating it ain't bad, at least by my standards, but I still think it's worth while to do tactics puzzles, and play simple games against my hand held computer. Even I can beat it at lowest levels.

Well, I learnt Chess.

In my opinion, the single most valuable tool for learning the game is the Chessmaster program.  You could probably pick up Chessmaster 10 for about $10 and get many hours of instruction.

At some level, we are all stupid when it comes to chess.  Not even World Champions play perfect chess, and there is no hope of complete mastery for mere mortals like you and I.   You admit that you find the game fascinating, and for me, the more I learn about the game, the more fascinating it becomes.  My advice would be to invest a little time, play a few games, practice some tactics, and see if you are getting any enjoyment out of it.   Only you can answer the question of whether of not it is time well spent.  My guess is that your enjoyment will go up exponentially with the amount of effort you put into it.  Once you have witnessed a beautiful move or combination, you may be hooked for life......

Keep us posted....

You'll never know until you try, Nefigha. There are lots of different kinds of intelligence. I've seen some highly "intelligent" people who have lousy social skills, or terrible impulse control, or just no common sense. Sometimes people who have to work really hard at writing or math turn out to have highly developed skills at something else. You never know until you try.

But no matter how good you get in the game, you'll still win, lose, and draw in about equal amounts. Because the person opposite you is at your level and doing exactly the same. Unless you reach Kasparov level, of course, but only a few people in the world can expect to win most of the time.

Thank you, everyone, for your comments. They've been very encouraging! I think I will go for it :)

It surprises me how many of you have mentioned something to the effect of many beginners feeling similarly and how much difference practice makes. I guess it's in my mind that "being good at chess" is sort of an inherent skill; certainly it seemed to be that way when I was little, and saw other kids who didn't study, but would always beat other kids.

My goal would never be to be "the best in the world," or even close! I guess my dream would be for someone to say, "he's a pretty good chess player." I'd like to be solidly intermediate :) But I guess we'll see if that's possible...

 if you want to put effort on it, study a little and practise I bet you and anyone can

It's not at all unusual to feel defeated when you play someone who is better than you are.  A constant loss is truly frustrating.  I was teaching for a while, and nworking with young kids.  I found one of the best teacing situations I had was playing little people, unfamiliar to the game.  I found that teaching  kindergarteners was especially fun, if they could just win!  The thought that they were beating a grown-up ovously turned them on.  The same is true for all of us.  We've all got to win sometimes. 

Study, yes, and try new things.  But most of all, play a match with someone who you can beat.  Now and then I think I'm better than I actually am, and later rue the day when I get mashed.  No one needs to win all the time, but every now and then helps.

I have an IQ of 84 and I love it!

Stupid people can play chess.

Chess isn't really about intelligence, it's about Chess playing ability.   

Just play already! What does it matter?

 So what if somebody really was stupid, and took up chess. Would it hurt them? Would the earth leave it's orbit because of it?

A stupid person playing chess is like a fatty playing sport. If it really makes them happy, then no-one is saying that they can't, but they certainly won't be very good at it.

I have a below average iq and can beat most people here.  Any one who would spend enough time to become really good at chess (say 2200+) isn't very smart.