Why didn't Sora / Shiro actually play chess (or 9LX) professionally instead of being hikikomori?

Question

If Sora / Shiro is supposedly not just better than Magnus Carlsen and not just more talented than Wesley So but even better / more talented than ACTUAL ENGINES, then what are they doing being hikikomori instead of dominating the chess and 9LX worlds?

Note: Garry Kasparov on Lex Fridman's podcast (Lex has interviewed in this year the following chess players: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Levy Rozman and Alex & Andrea Botez...but not Wesley So huhuhu) says comparing Magnus to engines is like comparing Usain Bolt to a ferrari.

I'm guessing the answer is probably

Don't overthink it. It's unrealistic. Just pretend Sora and Shiro aren't actually theoretically rated higher than Magnus Carlsen (or Wesley So) and that the 1st episode was instead a 2000 FIDE rated sibling pair vs a 2000 FIDE rated god of gaming for the sake of mental sanity. In the 1st place it's completely unrealistic for any human to be better / more talented than superGMs or even just regular GMs without being known in the media let alone being better / more talented than an ACTUAL ENGINE.

Answer 1

My understanding is that they're so good at chess (and everything else they put their minds to) that it's become boring for them. They could have become professional chess players, and they almost certainly would have swept every tournament they entered, but they didn't want to because it wouldn't have been enough of a challenge for them. It's shown throughout the series that money and fame don't interest them - all they really want is a challenge.

In that regard, you can think of Sora and Shiro as being similar to Saitama from One Punch Man. He's so much stronger than everyone he fights that he can beat them in one hit without even trying, and is consequently bored out of his mind because there's no challenge anymore. Sora and Shiro are the same: it's not until Tet challenges them to an online chess game, and subsequently sucks them into Disboard, that they find the challenge they're looking for.

There's also the fact that competing in professional tournaments would entail a) leaving their room (most chess tournaments AFAIK are still held in person), and b) working individually instead of as a pair. At the start of the series, they are psychologically incapable of doing either of those things.

There is some willing suspension of disbelief required in order to accept that a person can be as smart as them in the first place, but the fact they don't do anything with that intelligence until they arrive in Disboard is perfectly understandable, given their respective mental states.