Role-Player
Sentinel
All I can say is you must not be a good chess player.
Your ad hominem on my skill as a chess player has no bearing on how the actual strategy of the game goes, and it certainly won't make your rather vague assumption of either case come true.
Strategy in chess revolves around the evaluation of piece position and value, the groups of squares, movement and the importance of the King - all of which are crucial in determing long-term goals under which to achieve victory. By means of comparison Fallout, even as basic as it is, does the very same. The position of characters and their strategic significance is in place - each individual will have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. The importance of hexes is paramount to determining personal and enemy weapon range and movement tied to Action Point use. The importance of maintaining the PC safe, much like a King in chess, is also at stake. And all of these need to be considered and studied to implement goals under which victory becomes a possibility.
In games like X-Com, there are several other factors added to the mix such as different positions under which to make attacks, , interrupts, line of sight - which chess simply does not use. Fallout allows players to target enemy body parts for several uses: hitting the legs lessens their movement, hitting the arms will reduce or cripple attack ratings, hitting the eyes will blind an enemy or cause a critical to instantly kill them. Not to mention other games with different attack methods - single, burst or targetted shots, or area of effect attacks. In contrast, yes, the absence of such varied and rich variables in chess definitely make it more static, simplistic and braindead, if only relatively since it has its own brand of strategy and tactics which role-playing or strategy games do not possess.
Your latter comment of how chess is apparently deeper because one "can spend a whole life playing and studying it and finding ways to improve and challenge oneself" isn't inherent to chess or exclusively tied to it. The very same commitment can be made by a gamer for just about any game, role-playing games - and their combat - included, regardless of rule complexity.