They all crazy.
Are chess players normal?
I don't think any stereotypically "normal" person would be attracted to chess. It all depends on how you define normal, though.
Would someone care to share the eptiome of normal?
I have a feeling no one is exactly like it, except for the one individual who was used as a crash test dummy...
Vladimir Nabokov was talking out of his ass. Oh wait, lots more posts just above actually vindicate him!
i stand corrected!
Chess players are no different than other people who like to collect movie memorabilia, attend scifi conventions, fixup classic cars, etc.
The problem has been that one or two great chess players have suffered some sort of mental illness and thus it creates a stereotype that playing too much high level chess will result in eccentric behavior.
Examples would be Paul Morphy and Bobby Fischer who are considered some of the best chess players in history yet suffered from mental illness at some point in their lives.
If only people realized eccentricity is generally made manifest through one's pursuits and not the other way around, the world would be a somewhat better place...
sanitygoes this way <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>.UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS WE ARE NORMAL BUT UNDER ABNORMAL CONDITIONS ITS HARD TO BE NORMAL AS WE ARE GOVERNED BY EMOTIONS BEFORE IT GOES TO THE CENTRAL PROCESSING OF THE BRAIN.
Russian novelist and chess composer, Vladimir Nabokov, was once quoted as saying of chess players, "There is nothing abnormal about a chess player being abnormal. This is normal." What do you think?