How do you have fun with chess?

I use chess mostly as a mental exercise. Just get my brain used to working. It's kind of like a chore and it really isn't fun at all.

I played a bunch of games recently where I tried to have fun. Find wacky ideas and play to to try to force imbalance -Side note: I've faced so many players recently who seem to try to do the opposite. They either trade off everything right away, or lock up the whole board so nothing can happen. I'm kind of at a loss as to how to deal with them. I guess just play for draws with all the pieces on the board or something.-

Anyway, any time I try a novel idea or anything fun at all, I just get destroyed. Chess is a "game" where you HAVE to play properly all the time, or you just lose.

How do you actually have fun with this game? It really feels like it's just competitive homework.

You don't take the game seriously. Do something else.

"take the game seriously"
No one should take a game seriously. That's what games are for.

For a lot of people, the competitive homework is what makes it fun. I have fun in chess by practicing tactics, reading about different positional concepts, and then applying these concepts in games. Seeing what works, seeing how I miss applied some concept, and getting better and better at the game. If this doesn't appeal to you, you need to find a different hobby, or a different way to have fun with the game. If you don't care about improving(which is fine), you can just have fun playing at whatever level you're at. You will run into people who try to trade everything off, and you've got to be ok with that, or you've got to try to not let them.

When chess gets a little stale for me, I spend some time with a new opening, I play a different time control for a bit, or, I play Chess960. Chess960 eliminates prep, and I would imagine would lead to more fun games for you. Also, I've been looking at Shogi lately. Shogi has basically no draws, and trading off pieces doesn't simplify the game, because you can bring back captured pieces constantly.

Nono you should take it seriously but have fun with it like when you have a compitition and goof off with friends that are competitive

To have fun ,treat it as a game or sport and just try to relax if you don't enjoy it you should probably quit

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Just play, after all, it's just a game! Ignore all the people who are grumpy.