Thank you, Blondie.
I imagine there's something very evil about chess: the bishops :-). But, have you people noticed that the Watchtower symbol on the magazines very much resembles a rook?
I suppose there is nothing against card games, as I personally met a few witnesses who would entertain themselves playing cards. Or maybe they were all just breaking the rules, I don't know.
When I was a kid, I taught all my friends how to play chess. It did result in our "consuming large amounts of time" playing it, to "the exclusion of important matters". We did develop hostility towards another, and the game did stir up competition among us. But my friends were happy that they were able to play the game. It did give them some strategic mindset. We spent long afternoons in the company of everybody else, and, since chess is a game that only two can play at a time, the rest of us would look and learn. We socialized a lot, drank a lot of beverages and ate a lot of junk food together, and, no matter who won or who lost, at the end of the day we were just good friends.
Sorry, but this Watchtower article is like complaining about eating an omelette because you will have to break some eggs. Of course some things happen, but a MATURE way to see things let you overcome them.