This makes me sad to read, but I had a similar thought when I was seriously studying chess (I'm only an 1800-1900 player though.) I ultimately abandoned chess,

This makes me sad to read, but I had a similar thought when I was seriously studying chess (I'm only an 1800-1900 player though.) I ultimately abandoned chess, with the occasional blitz match on ICC these days. I was spending 2-3 hours each night by myself alone and really enjoying it. I was also paying IMs for lessons. I was improving a lot. However, I was alone most of the time and couldn't share my experience with anybody. There was also very little tangible benefit to me other than entertainment and mental stimulation. Two things I can get elsewhere. Since I do have a masters degree in computer science I decided to focus on two things: Software Engineering and Violin. I took up violin and haven't looked back. I had zero music ability an when I started couldn't read music. It's the same amount of hark work as chess. Like chess, I probably started too late to be anything other than an intermediate player. The difference is, I can play for my wife and my parents. A random person on the street can appreciate what I'm doing. I try to practice only 30 minutes a day. I also doubled down on software engineering. Instead of spending 2-3 hours playing chess, I spend more of my evenings writing code.