I always thought it either..
1. To make the other person nervous by doing the "Stare" while doing the thumb thing at the same time..
or..
2. To rest the head.
I always thought it either..
1. To make the other person nervous by doing the "Stare" while doing the thumb thing at the same time..
or..
2. To rest the head.
well from the sample it appears that the posture doesnt relate to playing style...Tal very tactical kramnik very positional both world champions though...
I think we can logically deduce from the information presented that resting one's head on either the left or right thumb increases the strength of one's game exponentially.
I remember Walter Browne resting his chin on his hands that were on the table. He was getting a king's eye view of the board.
I knew it!
It is now nearly confirmed! I will do the "Kramnik-Tal" posture in every game now!
Maybe we should differ the two.. Kramnik style is looking at the board at the same time, whilst Tal style is to stare maliciously at his opponent! I like the Tal-posture best!
Oh! And... Maybe there's a correlation between the hand you're touching the chin with, and your playing style!
Notice how both Tal and Kasparov does it with their left thumb, implying tactical brilliance; and Kramnik and Benko does it with their right, implying positional brilliance!
Fischer does both... Maybe he's an uber-genius!
And Tal looks freaking scary when playing chess!
Najdorf vs. Robert Byrne ...thumbing it a little if not quite on his chin.
Just for some recognition, this man have beaten both of them (Najdorf and his sicilian in 20 moves): http://blog.chess.com/Paranoid-Android/rafael-vaganian-vs-albin-planinc
Hey Rainbow Rising (great album BTW too), great obersvation about Tal and Kramnik.
And thanks to everyone for sharing such great pics!
Has anyone noticed the thumb to chin habit of some chessplayers?
Kramnik and Tal:
What's up with that!? Is it just a normal thing, resting one's head on one's thumb?
Sounds a bit weird... Are there any other chessplayers whom does this? If you have a picture of this "Tal-Kramnik Positure"-habit, please post them here!
I want to statistically see how many people that uses this utter psychologically killing "Tal-Kramnik Positure".