> I might be making a false distinction but it just seems to be more personal and gets to the core of your being.
I sort of responded to this in my edit to my previous post. I think that each person's notion of self is different and largely a consequence of where they've spent energy developing themselves. If you focus on chess for years, a loss at chess will hit you harder than a loss at golf. If you focus on golf for years, a loss or a particularly uncharacteristically bad showing will hit you harder than a loss at chess.
I'm competent in mental games and passable at sports. I can outsprint a lot of people younger than me and more practiced primarily because of a fortunate body type, not because of practice. But if someone came in and tore my code apart (I've literally been programming for 75% of my life, starting at age 8), that'd hurt me more than any game or sport. Still mental, like chess for you, but it's probably more significant that it's been my focus for so much of my life.
Just to expand the topic a top surgen with hand issues with have a 'similiar' loss of self experience. In the end people often define themselves by the roles they play "I am a Programmer" even out of context "I am a retired Teacher."
I sort of responded to this in my edit to my previous post. I think that each person's notion of self is different and largely a consequence of where they've spent energy developing themselves. If you focus on chess for years, a loss at chess will hit you harder than a loss at golf. If you focus on golf for years, a loss or a particularly uncharacteristically bad showing will hit you harder than a loss at chess.
I'm competent in mental games and passable at sports. I can outsprint a lot of people younger than me and more practiced primarily because of a fortunate body type, not because of practice. But if someone came in and tore my code apart (I've literally been programming for 75% of my life, starting at age 8), that'd hurt me more than any game or sport. Still mental, like chess for you, but it's probably more significant that it's been my focus for so much of my life.