Sam Shankland has had a truly phenomenal Olympiad as the 5 board for the U.S. and has already won the gold medal for that board regardless of his result tomorrow since his 8.5/9 and 2889 TPR can not be caught. He also gives a rather entertaining interview (:
Sam Shankland
Collapse
X
-
Tags: None
-
Re: Sam Shankland
From the interview: "We've just heard, breaking news, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has won the Presidential election. We're not exactly sure of the tally ... What's your reaction to that?"Originally posted by Jack Maguire View PostSam Shankland ... gives a rather entertaining interview
Originally posted by US GM Sam ShanklandWell, I ... wasn't following the election so closely. I see how much text you have to read to keep up and I think that time is better spent studying chess. Uh, ... I mean, I'm sure the two different worlds under Kasparov or under Ilyumzhinov will be very, very different ... but, at the end of the day, the pieces will move in the same way. The less I concern myself with those chess politics, I think, the better off I'll be.Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
-
Re: Sam Shankland
Michael Aigner has a rather interesting tidbit concerning Sam's chess development at his 'fpawn chess blog':
"One surprising factoid from this interview is that "Shanky" participated in his first chess tournament shortly before his 12th birthday. Indeed, I remember him sporting a 1600 rating at his first National Open ten summers ago. These days, the average 8 or 9 year old chess player seems to sport a 1600 rating. Sam worked hard at chess (5000 standard games on ICC within 15 months) and reached master in less than 2.5 years!"
The ICC numbers would seem to translate into 4 to 5 hours per diem online playing 'standard' games of chess. This does rather explain how and why today's young chess players are getting better and better at younger ages (:
Comment
-
Re: Sam Shankland
Sam is conducting a 'Live Chat' this very moment.
Comment
-
Re: Sam Shankland
'St. Louis Public Radio' has an interesting feature on Sam Shankland and just how close he was to quitting chess 4 years ago.
Comment


Comment