Talent vs Hard Work

*This is the first part of a series of three articles.

Second part – When The Unbeatable Gets Beaten: https://www.chess.com/blog/BlitzKriegBoy99/when-the-unbeatable-gets-beaten 

Third part – Under construction

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn´t work hard.”

- Tim Notke

Hi everyone, hope you´re all fine. And, if things are hard right now, keep calm and do your best - this way, the situation will improve soon.

Before we address this matter, I would like to say that this article is the first of three. So, there are two more articles to come that will complement this one (my first series of articles).

After making this clarification, let´s start with our topic. 

Did you have ever seen someone who easily could handle a task that you struggled with?

Let´s consider three hypotheses

1. maybe the person was more experienced than you with the task, or
2. maybe you both had learned at the same time, in a school class for instance. But your colleague just had more facility to deal with it, or
3. maybe you were the child who could conclude the task easily while your colleague struggled with it.

Considering the examples "ii" and "iii" above, it´s not uncommon for people to say that some of us are born with something special, something called talent!

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines talent as "a natural ability to be good at something, especially without being taught." 

In chess, it´s easy to see talented individuals. Nowadays, with the population increase, easy access to information (via the internet, for example), and the game´s popularization, we see more and more very young grandmasters.

Until 2001, we had just one player who had achieved the Grandmaster title before reaching 14 years old: GM Bu Xiangzhi from China. Currently, near the end of 2020, Bu is the 10th youngest grandmaster in the game´s history.  

So, are some people born with luck and others not? Should we just accept it?

Well, we live in a competitive world, where we are always comparing ourselves with others. This is a reflection of the economic model that moves our world: capitalism! If we think deeper, we can come up with the conclusion that it could also be the result of human nature.

In line with what was said, I invite you to consider with me three again some hypothetical situations:

1. You have to compete with a talented person for a job opportunity;
2. You are a talented person too, but, this time, you have to compete with someone who possesses even more talent for the same job opportunity; or, 
3. You are playing a chess tournament and have just being paired against a chess prodigy. A young grandmaster.

Considering the above situations, would you just give up? Or would you fight on? 

Let´s take the third one for instance. Would you just shake your head and think: “Oh well, that was destiny. I´m going to push some wood and wait for the inevitable"?

Well, in the past some gifted players have come across big obstacles: overwhelmingly- talented opponents. But, instead of giving up and blaming destiny, they relied on a weapon that, in itself is very effective, but, when aligned with some talent, is deadly: hard work!

A confrontation that persists for centuries

To highlight this confrontation between hard work and overwhelming talent, there are two special rivalries I would like to look at. Both made a huge impact in the chess world.

The first one was between José Raul Capablanca, the 3rd World Champion, and Alexander Alekhine, his successor on the throne. In my next article, I will tell you more about the story of these two legendary players and present some key games played between them.

Unfortunately, we were able to see just one World Championship match with these two titans, which occurred in 1927.

Interesting facts about Capablanca vs Alekhine:

• Capablanca and Alekhine played their first game against each other in 1913.
• Their last confrontation occurred in 1938.
• Capablanca and Alekhine faced each other over the board in 49 games with classical time control. The final result was 9 wins for Capablanca against 7 for Alekhine, with 33 draws.

The third article will be devoted to another competition between two men, one that started almost a half-century after the first one was finished. I´m speaking about the rivalry between Anatoly Karpov, the 12th World Champion, and his successor, Garry Kasparov.

But, contrary to their above-mentioned predecessors, Karpov and Kasparov played five successive World Championship matches! The matches took place in 1984/85, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1990.

Interesting facts about Karpov vs Kasparov:

• Karpov and Kasparov played their first game against each other in a simultaneous display. Karpov, the reigning World Champion at the time, was 24 years old, and Kasparov, still a child, was half of the Champion´s age.
• Their last game in an official event occurred in 2009, almost a century after Capablanca and Alekhine's first confrontation.
• Karpov and Kasparov faced each other over the board in 170 games with classical time control. The final result was 28 wins for Kasparov against 21 for Karpov, with 121 draws.

To select the games, I´m going deeper into Kasparov´s collections of books Modern Chess and My Great Predecessors. This way, I intend to share the best content for you from my point of view in the second and third parts of this series.

Thanks for reading till here.

If you wish, I will be pleased to read your thoughts about talent and hard work. Also, if you have any observations of these great players or information you think I can bring in to this series, don´t hesitate to comment.

I wish you all happy holidays.

*This article was first published on 29th December 2020 and edited on 08 January 2021 (some grammatical mistakes were corrected and some changes in the writing style, the content remains the same). A special thanks to @Copernicus9 for help with it.

BKB99 ("hear me roar").