Why most of the great chess players are jews?

Hmmmm,

                 I am NOT a Jew, but am well familiar with the phenomenon of strong chess being played by Jews.

                 First of all you left off Steinitz.  Between Steinitz and Lasker they accounted for over a half century as World Champions.  Reuben Fine, Sammy Reshevsky, and Bronstein were definitely some of the strongest players of the mid-Twentienth century who were also Jews.

               Why are so many Jews such strong chess-players?  That is the question. there are three main reasons . . . .

                A.  Firstly and mainly, I think, it's akin to why so many left-handers percentage-wise wind up as Olympic decathlon champions.  The lefties grow up in a right-handers world that is significantly ALIEN to them and must adapt (Go ahead, you!  Try turning doorknobs with your left hand; try existing in water-scarce parts of the world where the main accepted use of the left hand is to wipe your butt after defecation without the possibility of toilet paper so that you're not allowed to ever eat using your left hand; etc. etc.)  Similarly, the Jew throughout history has been the ALIEN, never quite fitting into or never quite being appreciated by the Gentile, or Arab, or other society in which they find themselves.  Just as lefties must adapt their whole body and whole world to fit in with the dominant righties and sometimes come to excel . . . the Jew must become more adept with both his logical brain and his creative brain and develop a hyper-flexible central tissue (corpus callosum) uniting both brain hemispheres more easily -- exactly what occurs with lefties in the physical world thus occurs with the Jew in the mental and emotional world.

                B.  Secondly, are the world INfamous Jewish mothers that tend to make their male children so neurotic; but basically force-feed them scholastic learning with the breast milk they drink; and push them toward accomplisment at every waking moment.  When a Jewish boy discovers chess, a field of endeavor in which usually women are NOT encouraged to attempt and certainly not encouraged to excel at -- it's a tremendous escape from MOMMY-TYRANT that jives with his deepest psychic needs for independence and deeper yet:  autonomy.

                C.  Thirdly, apart from Jewish Moms, like Asian-Americans, Jews come from a social structure that emphasizes accomplishment via hard work in the academic world and in the vocational.

Take care!

I should have framed the question as

"Why most of the world chess champions are jews?"

The I AM gives each of us a certian measure of wisdom. The Jews are first in line.

If you live in Germany, then this is the case. Because whenever you criticise Islam, muslim rituals (like halal slaughtering) or even a mosque that is going to be built right next to your house, you are usually being called a RACIST.

And while we're on it, why are there no notable muslim chess players (or nobel prize winners), while over 20% of world population are muslim ?

"why are there no notable muslim chess players"

Well, there's Radjabov who was #4 until recently and might qualify as both half Jewish and Muslim :-) Also Mamedyarov, I guess, as well as FIDE ex-World Champion Kasimdzhanov. Not to mention that all the best chess players were Muslim if you just go further back in time.

This is a flawed comment for this thread.  New Year is in September!  Where are we right now?  5800s or something?

And by the way, "September" is also flawed.  It was accurate when the calendar had 10 months:

September should now be November

October should now be December

November should be Onciember

December should be Dosiember

i think Teimour Radjabov is a muslim

Please be relevant, helpful & nice !

This is getting to be a bit toooooooo religious!!

Where do you have this information from ? I just googled his name + religion, there are some people claiming that his father is jewish but i didn't see any info on that he's muslim. So did he convert to Islam ? His mother can't be muslim because muslim woman may not marry non-muslim man (only muslim man can marry up to 4 non-muslim woman, as explained here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interfaith_marriage_in_Islam ).

What the hell has religion gotta do with chess ???

This is what we are trying to find out here, since there seem to be some statistically significant influences which one can't deny. 

Have you never heard of the importance of the bishop pair ???

Statistics are a political tool... u can bend them to suit any case.

no.

How many top players are practising Christians, by the way?

I'm a top player ... and not practising anything.

Hmm you are right, didn't see it this way. Aren't some people offended, that it is 2 bishops and not 2 rabbis or 2 imams ? Isn't this a clear case of religious discrimination ? :D

And why is the king crowned with a cross, will it be removed (let's say from the official FIDE chess set) because of a breach of religious neutrality ?

Good point... i believe in the original board they were not called Bishops!

I have heard that Ezekial Bishkaboo is a practicing Zoriastrian.