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Einstein Also Played Chess


  • 3 years ago · Quote · #1

    Grakovsky

    [COMMENT DELETED]
  • 3 years ago · Quote · #2

    UrWorstKnightMare

    Great post. Whether or not Einstein played it, it was a nice game.

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #3

    Grakovsky

    [COMMENT DELETED]
  • 3 years ago · Quote · #4

    Narz

    From what I've heard Eienstein kind of thought chess was a distraction & a bit of a waste of great minds (like Lasker's).  I say it beats TV though!

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #5

    idosheepallnight

    That one was the BOMB !

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #6

    AfafBouardi

    Narz wrote:

    From what I've heard Eienstein kind of thought chess was a distraction & a bit of a waste of great minds (like Lasker's).  I say it beats TV though!


    That's exactly how I feel.  Beats TV by a mile.  After a couple hours of chess, you feel alive or involved.  Two hours of television and you're ready to sink into a depression.

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #7

    aristeidis9

    Very nice article,i was thinking to write one about Lasker and Einstein connection.

    Seems that Openheimer was better to discover atomic bombs despite playing chess!!

    I knew about "One Hundred Authors Against Einstein" but i didn't knew that one of them was Lasker!Einstein was said about this:One is enough proving that i am right (or something like this)

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #8

    victhestick

    .

         so did Larry Fine   "Larry" of the Three Stooges.

              it all makes sense now

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #9

    billwall

    I wrote an article on Einstein years ago, where some of this material may have come from.

    http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/einstein.htm

    I am not convinced this game was played by any of these players, or the place, or the time.  I don't think Oppenhimer was in Princeton in Nov-Dec 1933 (when Einstein first got there).  I don't think Oppenheimer visited the Institute until years later.  Einstein could not speak English yet and may have not been introduced to Oppenhimer until years later.  Andy Soltis (July issue, 1979 of Chess Life) and others (Dennis Holding) think this game was between Einstein's son, Hans Albert, and Oppenheimer in the 1940s in Berkeley.  The game itself was published in 1959 by Gerhard Henschel without any source to this game.  There is no record of any other Oppenheimer or Einstein chess games, and no record of any of Eisntein's children or wives playing chess.  I found only one obscure source that Oppenheimer may have played chess in high school (he hung around with chess players).  There are a few more references to Einstein playing chess, though he did not like games with cometition (pacifist at heart).  Einstein would rather sail his sailboat (he could not swim, however) or play his violin when he had spare time. 

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #11

    lawyer08

    Lively game. If authentic, Einstein appears to be a very good chess player.

    I wouldn't be surpised, however, if the above game was NOT authentic, as intelligence and chess-playing ability are not strongly correlated (there is a correlation, of course, but not as high as one might expect). For example, Kasparov was maybe 1-in-a-billion (or 6 billion for that matter) in chess ability Afterall, Kasparov was the world champion. But when it comes to intelligence as measured by standard IQ tests, Kasparov is "only" a 1-in-100 guy. Kasparov admits to scoring a 132 on an IQ test and this score places him in about the 98-99th percentile. Good score, but we might expect much higher from the world's best chess player if chess and intelligence are strongly correlated. For example, a 1-in-a-billion IQ would be around 190-200. So, if chess and IQ were closely correlated, Kasparov's IQ would be much higher. Of course, IQ tests may not be the best indicator of intelligence, but that's for another post!

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #12

    RoyalFlush1991

    Hmm this Albert fellow ain't too shabby, the mustache needs work though. Tongue out

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #13

    Elubas

    Einstein did play and was about 1800 strength.

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #14

    bellis

    i love einstein

  • 3 years ago · Quote · #15

    moopster

    It does not look like Einstein is that good, but that Oppenhiemer was terrible. 


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