I am basing my numbers on this link from Magnus Carlsen's interview on the BBC. (despite the fact that the presenter knows nothing about chess. He is white and is talking about how he is playing the sicillian defense)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21835323
Anyway, the expert here is saying that UGOV did a poll for them and discovered that about 70% of people have played chess at one time or another.
Of course, there will be countries on earth where nobody plays, and some where a lot of people play. This just means that 70% of the people polled played at some point.
When this thread is finished, perhaps we could all weigh in on some other topics that have as much chance of being settled:
1) First? Chicken or egg?
2) How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
3) What was the universe like BEFORE the Big Bang?
4) If God can do anything, can he make a rock so big that he can't push it?
5) What is Kim Kardashian famous FOR?
6) How deep should u dig to reach the earth's core?
(Answer: 6371 km. Dig and Check if ya want to)
Fisher... Fisher... Fisher... # yawning # its getting boring in here 4get the past lets talk abt the present like the 2013 FIDE candidate matches taking place.. How i wish garry was in this tournament no doubt he would have gotten the 8 points oredy..
lol...speaking of living in the past...
it is me
On what grounds? Have you even beaten Fischer?
You think he's called DaBigOne for no reason?
lol
- World No.1 for 21 years
- Youngest ever world champion (when he won the title)
- Record for back to back tournament wins
- Broke the highest ever rating record in 1990 (only beaten by Carlsen in 2013) - that's 23 years.
- At one point he was the only one in 2800 range. Karpov was the only one over 2700 and everyone else was below that.
If, after all of this, you don't even consider him when discussing the greatest of all time, then I don't know what to say. Only someone trying to be deliberately controversial could argue his greatness.
Whether you agree he was the greatest of all time or not, to say he that he did nothing special other than play a machine for media attention (that's what you said) is just ridiculous.
What I can say is that any athlete, in any sport on the planet, can only dream of a career like he had (in their chosen field). Very few, if any, ever achieve that sort of dominance over such a long period of time.
who are you talkin' about?
AndyClifton wrote:
Nizman wrote:
Fisher... Fisher... Fisher... # yawning # its getting boring in here 4get the past lets talk abt the present like the 2013 FIDE candidate matches taking place.. How i wish garry was in this tournament no doubt he would have gotten the 8 points oredy..
lol...speaking of living in the past...
@ ANDYCLIFTON AFTER I DESTROY UR FRIEND HURICANEMICHEAL THE GUY WHO JUST CHALLENGED ME! U WILL B MY NEXT VICTIM! LOL SPEAKING OF DEFEAT!
Congratulations, Nizman! I virtually understood you that time!
Now that the computer has solved the algorithm for checkers, it's only a matter of time before we will be sitting in a lecture lab learning the algorithm for chess, and wishing we had more challenging exercises. Perhaps 3D chess!
tal was definitely top 10. But greatest?????? Look up his head to head scores against petrosian, korchnoi ( really bad) and spassky. not to mention nezhmetdinov.... are u getting my point?? fischer, capablanca, karpov and kasparov belong in that group... capablanca only lost 34 times out of over 700 games. Best all time win loss record. Then we have Fischer who beat twenty grandmasters in a row without a single loss. Not to mention paul morphy. When kasparov analyzed one of his games with modern computers he could only find one move morphy could have slightly improved upon. These are all facts. I pick tie between fischer and capablanca.
Wow! At last we've got some facts!
i personally know a guy whose best friend lived with fischer for a year in his teens. He told me everyone of his friends who was fortunate to know fischer personally really liked and admired him. the man spoke his mind.. since when is that a crime?? you couldnt buy his friendship. he was not a slave to money. he would not endorse for any money if he did not like a product. i mean at least study chess history before you pass judgment on a legend. even all his jewish chess friends loved him. remember larry evans defending him on cnn.
So anyone who doesn't love him hasn't studied chess history? lol
Wow! At last we've got some facts!
that is my opinion lol u can like whoever u want but to make an informed decision first study 20 best games of fischer,capablanca, karpov or kasparov. then u need at least an 1800 uscf rating to understand and compare. we are talking chess ability. not the most likeable or easy going guy. i hope u get my point. LOL
i personally know a guy whose best friend lived with fischer for a year in his teens. He told me everyone of his friends who was fortunate to know fischer personally really liked and admired him. the man spoke his mind.. since when is that a crime?? you couldnt buy his friendship. he was not a slave to money. he would not endorse for any money if he did not like a product. i mean at least study chess history before you pass judgment on a legend. even all his jewish chess friends loved him. remember larry evans defending him on cnn.
For some time, it was doubtful that the match would be played at all.[31] Shortly before the match, Fischer demanded that the players receive, in addition to the agreed-upon prize fund of $125,000 (5/8 to the winner, 3/8 to the loser) and 30% of the proceeds from television and film rights, 30% of the box-office receipts.[32][33]''
Hey, I'm not judging him for it. Why not get as much as you can out of it.
I'm just saying, maybe someone should 'study chess history' before passing judgement.
Okay, I have all those qualifications. Now what?
Bobby Fischer was the greatest player. Elo wise, he was a leap ahead of the other top 9 players and his playing career ended in 1972.
lol
i personally know a guy whose best friend lived with fischer for a year in his teens. He told me everyone of his friends who was fortunate to know fischer personally really liked and admired him. the man spoke his mind.. since when is that a crime?? you couldnt buy his friendship. he was not a slave to money. he would not endorse for any money if he did not like a product. i mean at least study chess history before you pass judgment on a legend. even all his jewish chess friends loved him. remember larry evans defending him on cnn.
For some time, it was doubtful that the match would be played at all.[31] Shortly before the match, Fischer demanded that the players receive, in addition to the agreed-upon prize fund of $125,000 (5/8 to the winner, 3/8 to the loser) and 30% of the proceeds from television and film rights, 30% of the box-office receipts.[32][33]''
Hey, I'm not judging him for it. Why not get as much as you can out of it.
I'm just saying, maybe someone should 'study chess history' before passing judgement.
i agree
Most people don't play? They reckon in the UK that 70% of children play and 30% of adults. There are chess clubs in almost every primary school.
Those pushing to add chess to the Olympics estimate that there are 605 million players worldwide (less than 10% of the world population), but this doesn't tell us how much these players know about chess or how often they play. The second link below asks some of the tough questions about this estimation process, and simply doubts (as I do) that the numbers are anywhere near that high.
For one, I'd expect the biggest chess websites to have many more players as members. Chess.com has just over 1% of the estimated number of worldwide players, but Chess.com's 6.8 million registered users likely includes a mere fraction of active players (and likely counts a player who has created dozens of accounts as dozens of players--my guess).
http://en.chessbase.com/home/TabId/211/PostId/4008392
http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2007/02/how-many-chessplayers.html