Protection.
-static shock
-physical damage
-vibrations caused by the motherboard not being securely mounted on anything.
And you are wrong about the chipset. My chipset is an Nvidia 8200m. Notorious for getting hot. with the case and gaming, it heats up to 80C. My case has only decent airflow so it only runs a little cooler with the side of the case on than with the side of the case off (effectively negating the case). The chipset heats up more though with the side of the case off because there is nothing to remove the hot air around the chipset heatsink quickly enough- the movement of air caused by the differences in temperature is not even close to as effective as a fan or case. It would be pretty much useless especially since the hotter air would be in such a small area and the temperature differences would not cause a large enough breeze across your motherboard in a room. I used to have a tiny fan mounted on the chipset with a couple of twist ties. The max temperature it hit then was 50C.
You are however arguing that you don't need a case. If you don't want protection, and you were to mount fans to blow air away from components that produce too much heat... then you don't need a case