Orthodox Jews devoting themselves to Judiasm wouldn't have time to be exclusively chess players. It was the Jew out in the world who pursued chess in order to sharpen his wits, were he Jew in intent more than practice!?
However, I recently heard that during the long 24 hours of sabbath, the men were allowed to play chess even in the synagogue as long as they didn't disrupt the service.
Thanks for all the responses ,it would be interesting to hear from some Jewish chess players what their views are .
The Irish saved Western Civilization.
So, let's all drink to the the Irish, and Jews too. Pass that Pint. 
Why did the Irish save Western civilization ? I am curious.
As to 'why?' ,well because the Irish are a caring people. The 'how' is simple...Guiness
And whiskey
Whiskey was invented by scottish people. I could live without it, although I don't want.
Guiness ? Awful taste. -
Never mind.
I have never been to Ireland, but I only heard good things about the hospitality there.
Great literature and music , and all this comes from a small nation !
Why did the Irish save Western civilization ? I am curious.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Irish-Saved-Civilization-Irelands/dp/0385418493/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377548601&sr=1-1&keywords=how+the+irish+saved+civilization+by+thomas+cahill
Whiskey was invented by scottish people. I could live without it, although I don't want.
I'm sorry but in the middle of this placid forum on cultural matters, you have gone too far, my friend!
1) Irish have whiskey, Scots have whisky
2) You can live without it? How do I get this genetic modification that allows my body to cope this way?
3) You say "I don't want." Why don't you want Dot? Dot is my sister (Dorothy) and she is lovely...think of the children, man! What a way for the family to find out, on a chess site.
4) I suspect that your real name is Britvic55 and you are trying to undermine the spirits with your whole soft drink subversiveness. We are watching you, pal.
5) What is your stance on haggis? Care to call it haggies? Maybe claim that somehow you can survive without at least one annual portion of that too? Don't make me scoff at your claims of superhuman resistance!
To be sure Kilts and the bagpipes both originated in Ireland ,haggis is a Roman dish and whiskey was first distilled by the Chinese and Italians.
There are many sources that confirms this. The oldest whiskey distilerry in the world,Bushmills,is in Ireland.
The 'Mc' in front of Gaelic surnames are both Scottish and Irish.
http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/misc/macvsmc.html
My name is Alfonso because my great great great grandmother married a Spaniard. After the Spanish armada was defeated and scattered many of their ships were stranded on the Irish coast and quite a lot of them stayed on once they discovered what a warm and friendly people the Irish were.
BTW I will start a drunken brawl with the first person that tries to stereotype the Irish.
Irish are proud (in a cute way), I admit, I wanted to see some of this again.
I never met an Irish chessplayer whose moves were based exclusively on "the luck of the Irish." Unless they have an Irish computer that's powered by "the blarney."
Many top class historians and sociologists believe the Irish could have ruled the earth if it was not for their love of drinking, fighting amongst themselves, their lack of land ,resources ,general direction and industry ,the lack of leadership, unwillingness to follow leadership and superstitious nature .
Honestly you lot !
Don't you realise that chess was given to humanity by the Sirinoids , who are of course from the planet "Mate in 65"
They had reached such a level of excellence at chess that they decided to spread it throughout the unviverse in the hope of finding better opponents.
So all current and former World Chess Champions ( from any planet) are eventually taken to "Mate in 65" to play their champion - Sylvester Schwarzenegger - and if they win their whole species is relocated to their planet and made to play chess all day with the Sirinoids.
I did tell Magnus this last night after being told by the Sirinoids that they think the day is coming close when Sylvester will be beaten, he was of course pleased to hear this and will plan for a convincing looking defeat.
The Sirinoids also told me that they are getting a bit fed up of Bobby Fischer, he has got some draws with Sylvester but his constant set of demands before he will play Sylvester , such as playing only with gold pieces on an isolated planet and Sylvester having to wear a pink suit with "We love Bobby" on the front of his shirt, are getting a bit tiresome.
Olichris
Please get on topic ,we are discussing the Scotts and Irish until a Jew can give us some answers on their chess prowess.
This thread has taken a turn for the much better.
Thanks, Fonz, to remind us that somebody has to answer on their chess prowess !
In the Dutch book "Amsterdam Schaakstad" (1994), Prof. Dr Johan W. van Hulst writes 12 pages text about "The Jewish chess players in Amsterdam", and I will (try to) translate and quote two parts :
1. The Jewish Theologist Lapide said that the Jewish history could be typified by the art to survive, in spite of the long series of prosecution and defeats; such in contradiction to any despondency, -- and chess is a struggle to survive.
2. There should not be a "set apart" of Jewish chess players, they are normal members of our clubs, neither more nor less than the others.
The book and this complete text are recommendable for the Dutch chess players, I now only translate these two parts, the essay gives more info on what the title says.
Finally : I had to use two dictionaries for finding the correct words...
Thanks, Fonz, to remind us that somebody has to answer on their chess prowess !
In the Dutch book "Amsterdam Schaakstad" (1994), Prof. Dr Johan W. van Hulst writes 12 pages text about "The Jewish chess players in Amsterdam", and I will (try to) translate and quote two parts :
1. The Jewish Theologist Lapide said that the Jewish history could be typified by the art to survive, in spite of the long series of prosecution and defeats; such in contradiction to any despondency, -- and chess is a struggle to survive.
2. There should not be a "set apart" of Jewish chess players, they are normal members of our clubs, neither more nor less than the others.
The book and this complete text are recommendable for the Dutch chess players, I now only translate these two parts, the essay gives more info on what the title says.
Finally : I had to use two dictionaries for finding the correct words...
Thank you for that RomyGer plus the effort you put into it. heel hartelijk bedankt
»primitive form of sport«? i know this is 11 years old, but dude.
you could in fact correctly say that modern chess is a primitive version of the original game.
I thought everyone (on planet Earth) was "out of Africa." Doesn't that include Jewish folk as well?
It's not exactly "light reading," but the following new book goes some distance in setting forth an answer to these "big picture" type of questions.
Yuval Noah Harari, "Nexus" (2024), A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (artificial intelligence). Enjoy.
Of course, the title of this forum is provocative (not meant to be true, but to attract visitors).
No other board game is so international as Chess. (same as for soccer: no other team game is that international).