Chess is a lot of fun: it's soulful, addictive and has a cozy vibe to it.
Plus there is a raking and you compete against other players.

Mathematics has unsolved problem and you can hope to solve one yourself one day.
Plus solving theorems/problems is challenging and satisfying.
But I am not sure it has as much atmosphere as chess.

Programming on the other hand has been dry in my experience it does not feel particularly even though it's supposed to be the one which makes you the most money.
What glory are you looking forward to as a skilled programmer and what exactly are you practicing?
Random problems that people at Google have decided make you hireable?
I am not thinking programming as CS but as IRL applications.