why are Russians so good at chess
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TheCryptt
Sep 8, 2016
0
#1
Why are Russians so advanced in chess? They produced many champions. Americans seem inferior to other countries
Sep 8, 2016
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#2
The Soviets put vast resources into developing champions and a chess culture.
You still see the remnants of that today with many former Soviet Bloc countries having strong chess cultures which produce strong players.
America is catching up however. We are (slowly) developing enough of a chess culture here that you're seeing strong players begin to emerge.
You still see the remnants of that today with many former Soviet Bloc countries having strong chess cultures which produce strong players.
America is catching up however. We are (slowly) developing enough of a chess culture here that you're seeing strong players begin to emerge.
Sep 8, 2016
0
#3
Look at the US Championships from 7-8 years ago and look at it now. Not too long ago you'd have only a few 2600+ players.
Now the cutoff is around 2600.
Now the cutoff is around 2600.
Sep 8, 2016
0
#4
...because "at the chess board" is the only place Russians are allowed to think.
Sep 8, 2016
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#5
You don't have that much rating inflation in so few years. It's because we now have the Lenderman/Shankland/Robson/Naroditsky/Xiong's as home grown 2600's.
Add in guys like Sevian and Awonder Liang and you have more on the way.
Add in guys like Sevian and Awonder Liang and you have more on the way.
Not only Russians are good at chess but European people, in general, are very good at chess. The United States focuses more on sports like soccer, basketball, tennis, football, and other sports. Chess is an odd sport that the United States does not care about. I think that in Europe, sports probably are not that popular and not interesting than in the United States.
To paraphrase: chess is so complicated a game, it obviously takes a great intelligence to deal with it. But because, in the Soviet Union, where bullying and intimidation are the way the country is run, the rigid rules of chess are an escape from a world utterly hostile to the thinking mind.
"...because "at the chess board" is the only place Russians are allowed to think."
Sometimes people don't think even here
Sometimes people don't think even here
Feb 9, 2017
0
#9
I also happen to think that they get their kids into chess programs very early
ethanchesspro escribió:
Not only Russians are good at chess but European people, in general, are very good at chess. The United States focuses more on sports like soccer, basketball, tennis, football, and other sports. Chess is an odd sport that the United States does not care about. I think that in Europe, sports probably are not that popular and not interesting than in the United States.
I am not sure you want to put football (Or soccer, as you americans call it) as an example.
European soccer is by far the best in the world. The worst league in europe is still better than MLS
Tennis? Have you heard about a certain Federer, Nadal, Djokovic? They are europeans!
Baseball? Well it is the most boring sport ever, europeans do not need to play that snore fest.
Basketball? Not as popular as in the US, but there are some european countries who have very strong teams.
American football? Europeans have a way more entertaining sport than that, called Rugby.
I miss andy roddick .
thats the only common leisure and recreation in Russia. dont compare other developed countries. its non sense. it is per individual interest and determination. look at wesley nowmwhere is he?
IMHO, there are a lot of special chess schools - the heritage of Soviet Union system of traininig and a special sections in elementary schools as well (but not in any). Also the great chess players contributed to the popularity of chess.
ethanchesspro wrote:
Not only Russians are good at chess but European people, in general, are very good at chess. The United States focuses more on sports like soccer, basketball, tennis, football, and other sports. Chess is an odd sport that the United States does not care about. I think that in Europe, sports probably are not that popular and not interesting than in the United States.
Man, this guy is triggering me. He says the USA focuses on football/soccer (same sport), and he goes on to say that sports in Europe is not very popular.
3 Points:
1. There are many countries in Europe which are better than USA in football/soccer, Germany, Spain etc.
2. The sports played by both countries are almost the same, just that the population percentage varies, so you can't say that their sports are less interesting.
3. Chess is a sport.
Uhohspaghettio1 wrote:
If America is "catching up" it's not because America is "developing a chess culture" but rather because the Soviet countries are losing their chess players faster than the US is.
All those old Soviet countries used to live in terrible poverty and chess was one of the few sources of entertainment and amusement. Now there is so much to do in the modern world, in the Soviet countries there is more wealth, freedom and things to do, chess is logically becoming a lot less popular. It's happening in western countries as well, but the falling popularity of chess is not as pronounced because it was never that huge here to begin with. Don't worry though chess I think will always occupy a niche appeal.
ChrisWainscott wrote:
Look at the US Championships from 7-8 years ago and look at it now. Not too long ago you'd have only a few 2600+ players.
Now the cutoff is around 2600.
Now the cutoff is around 2600.
One thing is player base, or size of talent pool, that comes along with chess culture. I have not seen any study on the subject, but I'm ready to believe it is diminishing, if it's the case.
The other thing is training program, and training ressources, and I think they are becoming much better and available than before (to take the extreme case, there were next to no training program in the US when Fisher grew his chess, and ressources meant specialized librairy), and that alone can explain the increase in strength of top players, even if the player base is diminishing.
Last but not lest, even without any logistical improvement, we would still be able to climb on the shoulders of the giant, learn from them and be logically better than them, so the increased strength of top players proves nothing reguarding chess culture change of small amplitude.
Decades ago, Kasparov was asked about this on the Letterman show and he said, "We have nothing else to do."
Feb 11, 2017
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#17
Eh?
Any Russian winning a game against one of our top 3 would be scoring an upset.
Any Russian winning a game against one of our top 3 would be scoring an upset.
Feb 11, 2017
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#18
I heard in Russia they have for credit courses in the schools on chess, here in the U.S. it just an extracurricular activity, not for credit. Also there are many more chess players now than there ever were???? even as a percent of the population, aren't there????
Feb 11, 2017
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#19
https://www.chess.com/news/fide-statistics-chess-is-on-the-rise-3367 chess is on the rise likely
