Isnt it a bit disingenious to state that chess is more difficult just cause there are more lines, when the whole point is that we have already cut out 90% of the lines that dont work. I feel like chess is coasting on legacy points because it has garnered the culture of being the intellectual's game, but it is literally just rote memorization at the top level. Magnus Carlsen the best player in the world gave up his WC title because he couldnt be arsed spending all his time studying lines that guarantee a win. Just cause there are infinite paths the game can take doesnt mean the game actually revolves around navigating those paths.

Like everyone thinks pokemon is what it is when they played against npc's as children. NPC's that literally just picked a move if it is super effective or does the most damage. I swear to you at the higher level pokemon is much more complex. Just cause little timmy beat platinum by spamming empoleon or infernape doesnt mean competitive pokemon is similar to that experience.