stanhope13 wrote:
The general status of the game i suppose. Here in UK chess is regarded as a bit elitist.
Tell them about the Portuguese opening, Trompowsky attack, Grob, and b4 attack, that ought to dispel that notion.
Why Russians are Good in Chess?
Sort:
ive found it's the eastern europen countrys that are all good
Thanks for all the info about the Russian Chess players.
The Russians maybe good in chess. But perhaps the question may not be fully correct. The Jews and those with with Jewish blood are strong chess players. From the Wikepedia List of the 64 strongest chess players, 45 per cent are Jewish or with Jewish blood.
pfren wrote:
Clearly a culture thing. You can find a lot of virtually illiteral Russians, who know by heart almost the whole Pushkin poetical work.
In USA, you can hardly find one Redneck who can spell properly.
What if there was a Redneck Russian Down on the Bayou. He would Slaughter you At Chess, then make you Sit Down and Eat Crow....LOL
flavenido wrote:
Thanks for all the info about the Russian Chess players.
The Russians maybe good in chess. But perhaps the question may not be fully correct. The Jews and those with with Jewish blood are strong chess players. From the Wikepedia List of the 64 strongest chess players, 45 per cent are Jewish or with Jewish blood.
Nice Point,,,
Things to do during Russian winter:
1. Play chess
2. Play hockey
3. Drink vodka
Doing these three most of the year, you are going to become good with at least one of them.
Here is the Link To Bobby Fischer's Response to That Question...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPlXC3M8hbg
I belive state support made it a cultural tradition. I mean, not every IM is able to become GM. Let's say 1 of 10. Not every FM is able to become IM. 1 of 10. Not every CM is able to become FM. 1 of 10. This way you have to grow a 1000 of CMs to get one new GM. While the state wanted to have GMs a crowd of Class A, Experts and CMs was produced. A crowd of people knowing how to play, and this crowd played to spend time in long distance trains, played at beaches while sunbathing, etc, etc, etc. Playing chess became a normal activity and it's still ordinary. None of my friends plays OTB or online, but everyone of them know the rules, possibly excluding en passant.
A huge generalisation, stereotypical...but I doubt the "Russians" will mind... this is not the first time I have come across someone making a comment as such as yours, it should be "why does/did the Russian state place emphasis on chess?"
Because they are fearless vodka drinking players.
Look at Tal for example.
kiwi_overtherainbow wrote:
A huge generalisation, stereotypical...but I doubt the "Russians" will mind... this is not the first time I have come across someone making a comment as such as yours, it should be "why does/did the Russian state place emphasis on chess?"
I would also like to know why they did this. sometimes I think it had something to do with all the psychotronics the soviets were researching and developing.
but the fact is the soviet state did fund chess quite a lot, it became ingrained within their culture much more so than in other parts of the world and that is the reason there are so many world class russian, ukranian, armenian, all other former soviet states and eastern european chess players today.
I believe that the main reason is that Russia has enjoyed such a historically rich chess culture that fosters high rates of participation in chess throughout its society. The Soviet state was pivotal in that process for generations. That legacy is still powerful today.
The Soviet state took advantage of a Russian cultural heritage, they didn't invent it. Take a look at the great Russian chess players who learned to play before the 1917 revolution.
Yes, the Soviet era was incredible for the creation and support of chess talent. But if the Russian culture had been to play table tennis, they would have dominated in table tennis.
And no, I'm not advocating Soviet-style government simply because it was good for chess. The break up of the Soviet Union was probably even better for chess!
SerbianChessStar wrote:
Because they are fearless vodka drinking players.
Look at Tal for example.
Ah, the old Fischer mistake..Tal was Latvian.
In My Family Heritage, Are 17 GM's 44 IM's 2 world hampionships, and 375 Beautifull woman...then there is me...
@Smyslovfan
No, the break up of the Soviet union was a disaster for chess, at least in the West because the Soviet state carefully rationed international appearances, essentially only sending players abroad who they thought would win a particulart tournament. When it became much easier for ex soviet players to get travel visas open tournaments in particular were flooded with excellent Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Byelorussian etc. players who made it infinitely harder for the others to get any prize money. Thats why so many western GM's and IM's gave up and started coaching or writing.
Ye...And Russians can fly
SmyslovFan написал:
The Soviet state took advantage of a Russian cultural heritage, they didn't invent it. Take a look at the great Russian chess players who learned to play before the 1917 revolution.
...There were great russian players. There were great german players. American, spain and italian ones were also. Alekhine was a word champion, but he's the 4th.
I am talking about the difference, and I believe difference is simple - chess was pushed to the russian MASS culture. Pushed by Stalin, AFAIK.
@Stevie65
We can fly! But only once and down from the roof :(
With regard to the Netherlands I'm not entirely sure why chess is so popular but I guess Max Euwe winning the world championship gave it a huge boost in popularity. Just look at what Anand's winning the WC has done for chess in India, he's a god like figure over there ( ... ).
Good post Vease! Along these lines, it´ll be interesting to see how chess as a mass sport develops in Norway, assuming that young Magnus lives up to expectations.