Sure, playing chess needs intelligence, dedication, and good chess players are smarter than an average person. But it’s waaaay exaggerated in movies. I’m a math researcher, and in any movie, my department will be full of chess geniuses. But in reality, only about 10% of them even play chess.
I find that I don’t like full games of chess, but chess.com has these little chess puzzles that highlight the surprising deviousness of the rules that can turn a sure defeat into a swift victory.
They also have an algorithmic engine that will calculate the general effectiveness of each move so you can get instant feedback, which I like.
I guess I need more focus in the things I play, and chess is just too broad as a game.