How can you compare Geller to Hitler when Hitler didn't smoke????
Efim Geller was a brute
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Hitler playing Lenin 1909, not an ashtray or packet of Marlboro in sight.
Lasker smoked during games and was notorious for it, because he mainly did it to upset opponents.
Nimzovitch's famous quote "a threat is stronger than its execution" was pronounced when his opponent put a yet unlight cigarette on the table.
Efim Geller was such a respectable character.
Stupid post by the OP.
BlackChrysler57 wrote:
Wow! That's a totally ignorant statement by "Defeatisyourdestiny1." Let me educate you on a few things.
1. It wasn't always unacceptable to smoke. As the dangers became known, only in fairly recent times was it unacceptable.
2. Efim Geller, a World Title Candidate at one time, I believe lived and played for the Soviet Union, where drinking and smoking is not so unusual. Even now, it's not so unusual for the Russians, although I doubt they smoke at the chess board anymore.
3. Comparing Geller to Hitler is just stupid and unremarkable. For all you know, Geller could have been a nice guy with a habit hard to break.
4. Lastly, Geller was an Openings Expert, you're probably playing one of his innovations. So you might want to show some flipping respect, rather than prove yourself an idiot.
Police brutality in Russia back then is no different than now. Geller is still a brute.
How do you guys know that it is not a sweety fag ?
He was lucky with his first name too. Not far off being called Effin Geller.
kaynight wrote:
Are you for real?!!! He died years ago..re your comparison with Hitler...Unbelievable!!
Here in America everyone does it to people they don't like. Bush was Hitler, Obama is Hitler, etc. It's just an Americanism to compare people to Hitler no matter how ludicrous I suppose.
As for the brute allegation his calculation skill, tactical ability and handling of the KID was simply unbelievable! But it is a misunderstanding, for he wasn't a one dimensional tactical brute, but had great strategic understanding too. He had a serious plus score over Botvinnik and also a modest plus over Fischer. Some of his games from Zurich 1953 are so full of double edged fireworks you'll cover your eyes and go, "I can't read on further it's too much to handle!"
In other words he is like a proto-Kasparov.
Nov 15, 2014
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#11
DefeatIsYourDestiny1 wrote:
Since when did they allow smoking during a tournament? Geller is worse than Hitler.
What is a chess club without the scent of cigars? Ah.... I remember those days.....
I suspect the OP was having a joke. The "worse than Hitler" line was used in an old Simpsons episode when Homer took responsibility for smoking to prevent Marge's sisters losing their promotions. The female supervisor slapped him around the face and said something like "and you sir are worse than Hitler".
They banned smoking in USCF tourneys in the early 70's (1973, I believe). Smoking at the board was allowed in my first couple of events. Ahhh, the old days....
AngeloPardi wrote:
Lasker smoked during games and was notorious for it, because he mainly did it to upset opponents.
Nimzovitch's famous quote "a threat is stronger than its execution" was pronounced when his opponent put a yet unlight cigarette on the table.
I dunno if the bit about nimzowitsch is true, but It's funny nonetheless.
Nov 15, 2014
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#16
dashkee94 wrote:
They banned smoking in USCF tourneys in the early 70's (1973, I believe). Smoking at the board was allowed in my first couple of events. Ahhh, the old days....
That's probably when they started making an option of running a non-smoking vs. a smoking-allowed tournament. I think they actually banned smoking outright closer to 1980, maybe a few years after. I do remember people smoking in tournaments at the tables. What a stink!
DrSpudnik
The first event I played in that banned smoking was the 6th Mohawk Valley Open in Utica, NY, in May, 1973. But that event was so horribly run that all us smokers wound up moving our boards to the side of the hall after the round started and lit up anyway. I didn't play in many events for some years after, so you might be right about the complete ban coming later--after all I've done in my life, my memory isn't what it once was. But I know a few players who quit playing tourneys because of the smoking ban, and an event today is nothing like it was back then--cigars, pipes, cigarettes all burning during the round; wind-up clocks ticking away, making a sound bed of intensity; everybody talking about their games in DN--ahhh, the old days....
QueenTakesKnightOOPS wrote:
How can you compare Geller to Hitler when Hitler didn't smoke????
Pretty sure I've seen old archival footage on History Channel and other networks where Hitler smoked. Such as one scene that always seems to pop up of him at "The Eagle's Nest" in the Alps. But let's not link a vile dictator to smoking in the same thought process. Smokers aren't evil. Hitler was. (Sorry to all those people who are hurt because I contradicted the notion some have that us smokers are vile, evil people out to kill them. You know, the same folks who walk up to you and say "You know that will give you cancer, right?!" or give you dirty looks, as if we care). Nowadays, OF COURSE you aren't allowed to smoke in a tournament. That photograph the OP shows is from a time when the majority of adults smoked. Back when you could walk around a store, for instance, and find ashtrays at the ends of aisles. As a smoker myself, I really can't find reason to support such a thing in this day and age (taking it outside is fine with me - with the exception of my own house and vehicle, which are my sovereign territory). But, to the OP, let's not compare smokers with the likes of Hitler by saying that a man smoking in a chess tournament is worse than that evil dictator, please. That is just ridiculous on a Grade F level.
Yeah the good ole days no internet or laptops or home computers for that matter, you had to wait a whole month to find out what your new rateing
would be after a USCF tournament until your copy of " Chess Life and Review " arrived ! But Fischer was KING and tourny's were FUN.
Since when did they allow smoking during a tournament? Geller is worse than Hitler.