Maybe its just a legend but...
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Sep 1, 2007
0
#2
Most likely a legend. GMs who have had mental or nervous breakdowns have included Steinitz, Tony Miles, Carlos Torre, Rubinstein, A. Frydmann, and perhaps Pillsbury. One person that the opposite occurred was Count Istvan Szechenyi, a Hungarian military leader. During the Hungarian Civil War of 1848-49, Szechenyi suffered a nervous breakdown and withdrew to a private hospital in Vienna. It is said that he recovered from his mental illness by playing chess in the hospital 12 hours a day.
It was probably an exagerration of the Vienna case then. I'm sure the nurses felt he was driving them crazy with chess.
Sep 1, 2007
0
#4
Don't forget Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky (though a Russian, I think he was once the champion of Switzerland), who suffered a breakdown during WWI and forgot how to play chess, but re-learned the game and became instrumental in the development of chess in Russia.
Sep 1, 2007
0
#5
Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941) suffered from shell-shock and found he had forgotten how to play chess, even though he had won the championship of Geneva in 1914. He had to re-learn the game from scratch, then played in 9 out of the first 10 Soviet championships.
So do you guys think Fischer went crazy? Personally...I do. "No one can wear a hat during this match!" Weird. Oddly enough, however, that's one reason I never wear a cap. If I meet Fischer, I want to be able to play him without him whining about my cap.
Hey Billwall, that was an interesting piece of information. I don't like to refer to such bits of history as trivia since I am very interested in chess history. I have seen a few great players at clubs that have been possed with the game to the point of it being a case of unhealthly obsession.
I gave up chess for a year once. Then more recently I haven't played for almost two years until I came to this server.
IKR
Nov 9, 2019
0
#10
DamonevicSmithlov wrote:
Amazing. U might've set a record for the oldest thread revival. 12 years and 2 months. Anyone know of an older thread that was revived?
Good job.
And the OP hasn't been on this site since September 27, 2007. Possibly another record.
As the topic might still be of interest to current members, I will point out that GM Albin Planinc also suffered a mental breakdown and spent the last 20 years of his life in a mental institution.
Gee, now I have to improve my chess before they'll let me in?
I once heard of a GM who went insane. He had a complete breakdown of cognitive functions except for chess.
So the hospice where he was being cared for hired a boy to play chess with the GM every day for months until the GM finally recovered.
Alas! The poor lad had now caught whatever insanity the GM had.