Play enough chess and your ego will take a beating. Unless you are the world's best player there is always someone better than you and even then, someday, there will be.
Are there egotistical chess players? Sure. Are they any more numerous than any other player in any other sport (as a percentage of the players). My guess is no.
Hehe! You must have been browsing the forums here!
I don't know, I think the capicity for extreme ego exists with just about any sport chess just happens to be one on one so you have no one to blame but yourself. When I was into volleyball, Im being serious volleyball if you couldn't Set, Set, Spike you weren't allowed on our squad,, period.. If you missed a bump or misplaced a set your feelings got hurt. Also alot of bruised ego's when friends of friends would come by thinking cool volley ball and then not be allowed to play..
With chess I'm not at the ego part yet cause I still pretty much suck in relation to serious chess players so I go all out and try probably disproportionatly harder then i will when I feel like I know what im doing. I've always played chess but not seriously until recently. This is when I learned of this ultra ego clique with chess. I had always romantisized the game and saw it as more a noble pursuit, more a dual of wits then raw intellect. I don't think chess is all about brains like some either chess to me seems alot of hard work and discipline in execution. otb being able to read people or knowing how to bid off people can help your game too.
Simple question. The only other game or sport that I think can compare to the egoism in chess is perhaps boxing, and it makes sense as being on the opposite side of the spectrum(mental/physical).
How very tao of you.
Simple question. The only other game or sport that I think can compare to the egoism in chess is perhaps boxing, and it makes sense as being on the opposite side of the spectrum(mental/physical).
How very tao of you.
Yin/Yang :)
Simple question. The only other game or sport that I think can compare to the egoism in chess is perhaps boxing, and it makes sense as being on the opposite side of the spectrum(mental/physical).
funny, i was going to come in and say "no, it would be boxing/MMA" lol.
Hell yeah!
Sure there are egotistical GMs (I would be if I worked hard at becoming a GM) but in my experience players of my level are very polite and well behaved. I've found Connect-4 and Pool to be more egotistical activities. Pool because it's a manly bar room game, I guess, but Connect-4 is a surprise discovery. Not sure how to explain it.
Chess is the most egostistical sport ?
yes! because I am the greatest and I write big!
Simple question. The only other game or sport that I think can compare to the egoism in chess is perhaps boxing, and it makes sense as being on the opposite side of the spectrum(mental/physical).
definetly
I think everything has ego behind it no matter what because there is always someone who thinks they are the best at it and volcalize it.
It's not just 1 v 1 games, Pelik. WIthin team games there are plenty of positions where having a big ego is a requirement to be good. Find me an NFL receiver who is successful and doesn't believe he's better than any cornerback in the league. Or, flip side, find a winning big league pitcher who doesn't believe he can strike out anyone who comes up to bat.
Winning in competitions where individual performance matters not only creates egos, it requires them. No athlete can win consistently with a mind-set of "I'm an ok player, not nearly as good as some of these guys, but I try hard."
Chess, being a game where even the best players have inaccuracies in their play, is actually pretty lacking in egos compared to quite a few other activities. Particularly in the class levels where many folks just play for fun and don't really care too much about results.
You don't have to have a huge ego to be good in sports. It's just most of the big stars never grew up, and with fame and money most were never forced to. You still occasionally run into big names that don't buy into the "I'm the best ever" stuff.
You don't have to have a huge ego to be good in sports. It's just most of the big stars never grew up, and with fame and money most were never forced to. You still occasionally run into big names that don't buy into the "I'm the best ever" stuff.
I've yet to meet anyone who was successful at any level in a serious sport who didn't fully believe they were capable of outplaying their competition. There are plenty of guys who win weekend bowling handicap leagues against equally weak competition who rightfully don't think much of their own abilities, but I wouldn't consider what they're doing to be serious competition either.
Once you get to the level where results matter in terms of your own future, ego is required to succeed.
Well, Fischer once answered in an interview, asking why he plays chess: "To crush someone others ego". And he crushed the ego's one after another of Larsen, Taimanov and Petrosjan in the matches to become the worldchampion.
So I guess the answer must be yes.
Certainly the ego is involved in any activity involving competition and individual effort; it is only natural. There is a difference between healthy self confidence, which is important for success in individual endeavors as Kingpatzer pointed out, and hubris; the latter unfortunately does rear its ugly head in our beloved game, but I believe it also manifests itself across the spectrum of competitions. In short, no, I don't believe chess to be the most egotistical of games or sports, but the unique nature of the game certainly makes it appear so.
You don't have to have a huge ego to be good in sports. It's just most of the big stars never grew up, and with fame and money most were never forced to. You still occasionally run into big names that don't buy into the "I'm the best ever" stuff.
I've yet to meet anyone who was successful at any level in a serious sport who didn't fully believe they were capable of outplaying their competition. There are plenty of guys who win weekend bowling handicap leagues against equally weak competition who rightfully don't think much of their own abilities, but I wouldn't consider what they're doing to be serious competition either.
Once you get to the level where results matter in terms of your own future, ego is required to succeed.
Egotistical about self worth and self confidence in skills are different. But maybe I'm just being picky. Yes you have to believe in your ability to win even if you're the underdog. But ego is looking down on everyone in general, not just competitor's skills in the sport.
You don't have to have a huge ego to be good in sports. It's just most of the big stars never grew up, and with fame and money most were never forced to. You still occasionally run into big names that don't buy into the "I'm the best ever" stuff.
I've yet to meet anyone who was successful at any level in a serious sport who didn't fully believe they were capable of outplaying their competition. There are plenty of guys who win weekend bowling handicap leagues against equally weak competition who rightfully don't think much of their own abilities, but I wouldn't consider what they're doing to be serious competition either.
Once you get to the level where results matter in terms of your own future, ego is required to succeed.
I totally agree. Even though what do i know, but i think that its absolutly correct. But ofc not everyone with a big ego is a winner, and people could be much more winning if they had a bigger ego (even though i believe its really rare that someone in this world has a small ego and its the very small exception, even in people who dont achieve huge results.)
A related topic, is the problem of chess players believing that knowledge of chess grants them purchase on intellectual issues. A lot of guys at the chess club I play at seem to think that playing chess is related to philosophy in a serious way, and this seems to inflate their egos quite a bit. But knowing the 7th move in the Sicilian Kan doesn't actually tell you anything about the proper end of a human being.
Simple question. The only other game or sport that I think can compare to the egoism in chess is perhaps boxing, and it makes sense as being on the opposite side of the spectrum(mental/physical).