This article was written by McAvoy Layne for the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
October 6, 2006
…Another question that comes to mind is, “Are chess players smart, or are they just adept at calculating chess moves?”
I know my favorite sports quote of all time, assuming you consider chess to be a sport, comes from Soviet Grand Master Aaron Nimzovitch, “How could I lose to such an idiot!”
We all know what a singular genius Bobby Fischer was, dominating chess like no one before or since, but we also know how odd he was, and temperamental. He had the social graces of a banty rooster. So was he smart, or just good at chess?
A recent match in the world chess championship was delayed when a player from Bulgaria, Veselin Topalov, protested that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Kramnik, was going to the bathroom too often. Topalov filed a written complaint, and World Chess Federation officials locked Kramnik’s bathroom door.
Kramnik was furious, and a little red in the face I would guess. But I suspect he didn’t have to go all that bad, because he sat down in a chair outside his bathroom door as a protest, and refused to play until time finally ran out and the match was forfeited.
Topalov figured Kramnik was cheating in the only area not monitored by surveillance cameras, and maybe he was, we’ll never know. But how undignified it was for a world chess match to be decided by a locked bathroom door.
The rest of the article can be read here.
i think its insulting to put in the “maybe he was” at the end. It only help Danailov. And it is why people believe Susan is on the side of Topalov.
People “believe Susan is on the side of Topalov” because of something McAvoy Layne wrote?
I guess that answers the question: At least some chess players aren’t smart.
You idiot! Susan didn’t write this article. Open your eyes and read the damn article. This is a newspaper writen by a journalist. Moron!
W. Mann
In the absence of irrefutable, concrete proof of cheating by anyone, I don’t think it is justifiable to say that either player has cheated. The possibility exists, as it does in any chess tournament or match, but the best anyone (including Ms. Polgar) can do is to report what’s going on, which dwarfs any of Bobby Fischer’s antics in 1972.
There is a big difference between INTELLIGENCE and WISDOM. Both of these players are certainly intelligent, but I question whether either of them is very wise.
Soviet Grand Master Aaron Nimzovitch?
Wow, the new word in chess history!
I was such a moron to believe that he was born in Riga (Latvia), since 1922 lived in Denmark until his death, and died before Latvia became the part of Soviet Union.
Thanks for opening my eyes 🙂
By the way, wasn’t Capablanka the communist undercover and the best friend of Fidel Kastro hiding under nickname Ce Gevara? 🙂
to be honest – most over average chess players i had the amusement to meet personally during my life (especially chess life) so far – suffered from the ability to give “grey” a break – most of them are / were seemingly wack or at least strange minded –
maybe it is because i am wack or strange minded, too, but maybe it is about 8×8 and black and white, and 32 pieces and brain chips and why dear god, why do i need a lavatory every 5 minutes since yesterday?
I’m walkin up and down – and the buried heart beats on an on – there is a heart beneath that panels … i can hear it – can you too?
sincerly, E.A.Poe – also known as
Vohaul 🙂
There are a lot of smart people in all walks of life.
Sometimes in the heat of “battle”, they lose their cool. They might win the “battle” but they lose the “war” in the end. That happens in all sports.
A champion must not only smart but also have class or else he or she will have no respect from others. One must not cheat and respect others. Things like these should be taught by his or her parents and teachers as he or her was growing up.
“Resist automatic moves.” — Lev Alburt
“When you see a good move, wait … Look for a better one.” — Emanuel Lasker
That ofcourse is an article written by someone else but I also don’t believe Susan is neutral. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong in it! She must have her reasons – may be she likes Topa’s attacking style or there could be other reasons I don’t know. But definitely not neutral she is. Anyway atleast that is the feeling I get from reading her blog.
Although doing one hell of a job with this blog. I don’t have membership to any of the major chess servers. This is the place where I’m following match. So keep it up!
Cheers.
Chess fan from India
Ok now shout me down.
Nice to see it weren’t only my eyes which were hurt by calling Nimzowitch a Soviet citizen.
But, to be honest, wasn’t Latvia under Soviet reign until some 1920 (or 1918), only to get occupied again 20 years later? So if you are, for example, not living in proximity of Baltic countries, you probably don’t make much wrong to say “Soviet GM” here.
Is Spassky smart??
Outrage in Russia as Spassky puts name to rabidly anti-Semitic petition
By Bojan Pancevski
(Telegraph)
(Filed: 10/04/2005)
Boris Spassky, the former chess world champion, has caused uproar in Russia by signing a petition that demands the country’s state prosecutor bans a number of Jewish organisations.
Spassky was among 5,000 Russians who put their name to a letter calling for a ban on all religious and national groups acting on the principles of the Shulchan Aruch, a repository of Jewish law originally written in the 1560s.
The “Letter of 5,000”, sent three weeks ago, branded Judaism “anti-Christian and inhumane” and accused believers of “committing ritual murders”.
It warned of a “hidden campaign of genocide against the Russian people and their traditional society and values”, and was backed with quotes from anti-Semitic literature from the 19th century.
Nimzovitch’s place of birth, Latvia, was under Russian control until 1918. He might be called Russian but never a Soviet.
The greatest myth about chess is that being good at chess is an indicator of intelligence. Anyone who has spent time around tournaments and chess clubs can tell you that they’ve seen people ranging from genius to near moron and all shades in between. There are probably some common mental attributed that we share but it cannot be related to IQ, i.e. memory, visualization and pattern recognition.
Dear Susan i belive you wrong,you say and make Bobby in the march,Bobby and many granmaster agredd then Bobby say in some tournament all sovjet player make easy draw!
Bobby make time you play and make ten sek after move or random chess!
Bobby crasy? no maybe mat but many genyes are that!!
Now topalov say Kramnik use bathroom many time abaut 50 time in games hallo are mr Topalov cracy? no!
if i play this march i will say and handle like mr Topalov!
Why ist this wrong?
Knightonranden.
hey agains!
i have point here lett see i have ten millions and will play Kramnik
for that hmm if i use bathroom like Kramnik and wins!
What will crowd or people say?
Knightonranden
High-level chess players are merely very good at spatial orientation and memorization. This does not necessary equate to intelligence in all areas of life (or even necessarily the potential for it).
Spatial orientation should have some relationship to mathematical skill and not just for geometry. Memorization is useful for everything, i.e. medical or dental school involves a lot of it.
But chessplayers seem to be rather poor at cross-training like this. A good basketball player will be at least a passable baseball player (but maybe not more, think Michael Jordan). Why are chessplayers so chess-centric with what should be transferrable skills? Here are some thoughts from my own experience.
I think they resist transferring them refusing to separate them from the special world of chess and the specific details that exist there. The chess game is “special” and nobody else can understand anything about it unless they understand everything. But then we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. We’re the ones who lose by not cross-training.
The very hard thing is to start over and realize that another field is not chess. Then as one learns more about it, maybe quite a bit later in the wilderness, one can apply general skills that also help in chess (more so perhaps than things learned by playing chess).
A continuation of the thought: we make _everything_ associated with chess special to chess, including fundamental skills that we should also be able to use in other ways. Remember we think that the chess game is so special.
Thereby, chess “sucks up” our intelligence and makes it unavailable for general use. We then fail to capitalize on it and can appear less intelligent than we are.
All you Kramnik fans, are you prepared to wait another 6 years for your hero to defend his title again should he win?
Hmm thought so, hope Topalov wins.
Say some more crazy stuff you chessplayers so the rest of us can point and laugh some more.
Chess players are increadible at transfering their talents at games like poker, Go, etc. Chess talents are transferable, but not to everything (unless you analyse everything trough the “chess playing algorithm” (seeing everything as bifurcating with many different possible outcomes).
Chess players are among the IQ-iest in the world, like it or not. Engine chess players a little less.
Wasn’t Susan IQ-ed as one of the smartest people in the World? What more do you need for proof?
Does anyone know who is writing the Wikipedia Chess articles. Many of them are a little or more mean.
“Anonymous said…
Chess players are increadible at transfering their talents at games like poker, Go, etc. Chess talents are transferable, but not to everything (unless you analyse everything trough the “chess playing algorithm” (seeing everything as bifurcating with many different possible outcomes).
Friday, October 06, 2006 6:14:48 PM “
In the words of the song, “Is that all there is?”
If chess abilities are transferrable only to things with decision trees like games, then they aren’t very transferrable. Most of life is less formal and more diverse. I was thinking of something like chessplayers becoming mathematicians, musical composers, doctors, etc.
Math is formal in a way, but a good practitioner makes up rules when he invents theorems. It’s a more open-ended task.
An IQ test is less open-ended than real life. Most people haven’t been IQ tested and those that have don’t generally wave their test score report around. Intelligence is perceived from things like what you do and even how much money you make. I am ambitious regarding chess-related skills: I think they can actually help in “real life”! But it seldom happens.
Crazy idea: it would be really interesting if USCF, rather than just trying to maximize the number of juniors who play a lot of chess as adults, would provide some “exit counseling” to those who want to realize the promise they heard going in, that “chess makes you smarter” in ways that can make your life go better.
That is the thought of the college chess scholarships at UTD (according to one of the faculty in charge) but that’s not helping enough people to make a big difference.
“Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.” — Alexander Alekhine
“Chess is not only knowledge and logic.” — Alexander Alekhine
“Methodical thinking is of more use in chess than inspiration.” — C. J. S. Purdy
“In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” — Charles Buxton
“Chess for me is not a game, but an art. Yes, and I take upon myself all those responsibilities which an art imposes on its adherents.” –Alexander Alekhine
Yasser… Corrected… by Polish GM B Macieja..see chessbase news item…I left a comment after reading Yassers Open Letter saying…”the more I read it the worse it looks”… Questioning Yassers..Intelligence and Wisdom……..
We have a large number of so called SUPER GM make comments or publish OPEN LETTERS..there was Heckle and Jeckle sqeaking away (Bareev-Svidler)..Shorty getting Shorter (Short) saying “I hope that Kramnik beats the Cake out of Topalov..Yassers Unqualified Letter(by his own admition)..and a lot of others etc…One would have to question their.. Wisdom and.. Intelligence
actually, before this match, Susan had on several occasions talked bad of Kramnik and how he wasnt defending his title but still had it. She compared it to her woman’s world title, which in no way should be compared. She complained that she lost her title while kramnik was able to keep his. I am sure she is nice but right now she is neutral because it would be bad buisiness for her to go against public opinion