Not Just A Game

"Not Just a Game"
So today, I met a few people offline. We were just chilling, talking about random stuff—what we like, what we do in our free time.
I said, “I play chess.”
And instantly, I got the usual stuff.
“Oh, chess? That’s easy, man.”
“It’s not even a real sport.”
“It’s just a board game, bro, who takes that seriously?”
They weren’t being mean or anything. Just saying things without thinking. But it kinda stayed with me.
I don’t think they realize what chess actually means to some of us. It’s not just about moving pieces. It’s thinking. Feeling. Breaking down after a loss. Staying up at night remembering one bad move.
It’s obsession. It’s passion. It’s ours.
To them, it might just be silence.
To me, it’s where I’ve fought my hardest battles—even when no one was watching.
When I got home, those comments kept replaying in my head. So I sat down and wrote this:

They say it’s just a board, some wood,

Not life, not pain—not understood.

While they scroll past, I bleed my mind,

On sixty-four they’ll never find.

To them, it's silence, black and white—

To me, it’s war I lose each night.

If you’ve ever been made to feel like what you love isn’t “important,” I just want you to know—you’re not alone.
Chess might not matter to everyone.
But it matters to us. And that’s enough.