I used to play only backgammon and a few years ago I started learning poker. Though both deal with luck, poker's emphasis is on psychology and the reading of body tells, which are very useful in real life. Now I am contemplating about whether to take up chess, but don't know whether it will reveal a whole new dimension, like poker did to backgammon. Would it be worth the trouble?

The first 3-5 years of serious chess are very much worth it. Improving steadily from 1200 to 2000 is hugely rewarding. From there the effort to improve not worth it for me but very individual. All good games provide insights into human psychology that are real life helpful.

Do you think you would like backgammon (or even poker) without the luck factor and gambling opportunities?
If so, chess might be for you.

I don't know squat about chess! I always enjoy it when I play a game once every decade or two, but I am afraid to get involved more deeply than that because of the work required to get good.

I did enjoy the remarks Bill Robertie made about luck in chess in an interview from 2013. You read that right. Bill says there is probability in chess, and he makes a pretty good case.

Complete Interview
Gambling with an Edge, 2013-Sep-05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJVWkhqaDw

Luck in Chess
Skip directly to Bill's remarks about chess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJVWkhqaDw&t=35m41s

The entire interview is quite good. Nice job, Bill.

Mike

Yes, good talker. (Funny, hearing his voice made me realize that he is really very much american.)

The assertion that chess is as probabilistic as backgammon seems a statement for the sake of promotion to me. Maybe that's true for players who play the game equally well. But it is not for nothing that you always hear about big names as Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov and Carlsen, the reason being they were winning consistently.

An answer I am curious about is which of the two is a better preparation for life. They say that backgammon deals more with the fluctuations and unexpectingcies of life. Can a chess-mind also adapt his skill to set out strategies for life, business or politics?

I don't think the two are really comparable in this sense. Other than both being board games, there is little similar about them. There is only one way to find out if you will like chess, and it's definitely worth a bash, IMO.

I think that there is an element of luck in Chess for sure. Sometimes, I can solve a chess problem on a problem solving server instantly, and than come back to that very same problem 6 months later and be unable to figure it out in the time allotted. Sometimes, the pattern just doesn't appear for you, for whatever random reason.

That isn't "real" luck as we understand it, since you still have some control over that. On the other side, you don't control card or dice distribution.