In fact, competitive chess requires adapting a very merciless mindset and swapping empathy for "killer instinct".
In one interview - with Peter Thiel, by the way - current WC Magnus Carlsen was asked about Josh Waitzkin. (Waitzkin is a fairly well known and highly talented chess player, whose biography inspired the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer". He's left chess for martial arts since.)
Carlsen half-jokingly said Waitzkin hadn't succeeded in high level chess due to his insufficient killer instinct, which apparently made him settle for a "more peaceful" sport :) https://youtu.be/ZBnSU-LX1ss?t=1h2m
Or to quote former world champion Karpov, "Botvinnik, Korchnoi and Kasparov had to hate the opponent to play successfully" (Botvinnik and Kasparov = other WCs, Korchnoi was a close contender for the title).
Is that something we should be encouraging the youth to be good at? ;)
You are right chess can be harmful too. Those wasted hours studying and memorizing start-games and end-games and then as you say the hatred. Maybe it's good mental exercise but you might better use your time studying mathematics physics science or engineering and that way help yourself and others better.
Well I'm not exactly saying that (it sure might be, like anything that can consume your life)...
My tongue-in-cheek point was along the lines that just because a discipline doesn't involve punching someone in the face - unlike boxing, called out for it by the parent comment - doesn't necessarily mean it's not a brutal sport... in psychological dimension, obviously.
In one interview - with Peter Thiel, by the way - current WC Magnus Carlsen was asked about Josh Waitzkin. (Waitzkin is a fairly well known and highly talented chess player, whose biography inspired the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer". He's left chess for martial arts since.)
Carlsen half-jokingly said Waitzkin hadn't succeeded in high level chess due to his insufficient killer instinct, which apparently made him settle for a "more peaceful" sport :) https://youtu.be/ZBnSU-LX1ss?t=1h2m
Or to quote former world champion Karpov, "Botvinnik, Korchnoi and Kasparov had to hate the opponent to play successfully" (Botvinnik and Kasparov = other WCs, Korchnoi was a close contender for the title).
Is that something we should be encouraging the youth to be good at? ;)