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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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From Edward Winter's Chess Notes; a recurring opinion:
6311. R.F. Foster
Oliver Beck (Seattle, WA, USA) notes the following passage in Foster’s Complete Hoyle, which was originally published in 1897:
‘The amount of study and practice required to make a person proficient in chess brings a serious drain upon the time, and the fascinations of the game are such that once a person has become thoroughly interested in it, everything else is laid aside, and it is notorious that no man distinguished as a chessplayer has ever been good for anything else.’
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey
But I rather think Ken Rogoff is a good counter example. GM and famous and respected economist both.
And of course Emanuel Lasker actually contributed an original and fairly important theorum in math. Hmmm...and Edward Lasker, the well known IM, invented the breast pump for women.
Last edited by Ed Seedhouse; Thursday, 17th September, 2009, 03:31 PM.
Here are ten more counterexamples of outstanding chessplayers who made significant contributions outside chess: :) :) :)
1) Mikhail Botvinnik, World Champion for all but two years between 1948 and 1963, held a doctorate in electrical engineering, and was decorated by the Soviet government for his significant contributions to electrical power system projects;
2) Milan Vidmar, the outstanding Yugoslav Grandmaster, was also a brilliant electrical engineer whose technical achievements surpassed those of Botvinnik;
3) Max Euwe, World Champion 1935-37, held a doctorate in mathematics, proved several important theorems, and was an esteemed professor and consultant in the Netherlands;
4) Daniel Yanofsky, 8-time Canadian champion and the first GM developed in any Commonwealth nation, was a chess amateur for most of his life, and was a very well respected lawyer who argued several cases before the Supreme Court of Canada;
5) IM (of GM strength) Conel Hugh O'Dowd Alexander, several times British champion, was a vital leader in the code-breaking efforts by the British Foreign Office team (controlled by MI6) operating at Bletchley Park during World War II, and after the war continued his mathematical work in the same capacity at the new headquarters at Cheltenham; one of his wartime colleagues was P.S. Milner Barry, also a British champion and Olympiad team member;
6) GM Savielly Tartakower lived perhaps the most interesting life of any top player, as he served with distinction in the secret services of Poland and France during both world wars, putting his life at stake;
7) German champion Siegbert Tarrasch was perhaps the strongest player in the world in 1890, and was offered a chance to challenge for the World Championship at that time, but declined the opportunity in order to tend to his thriving medical practice; later on, when well past his prime, he did challenge Emanual Lasker but lost badly;
8) Englishman Howard Staunton was the best chessplayer in the world for several years in the 1840s, and achieved substantial fame outside chess with his work as a Shakespearean scholar and critic;
9) Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa was a important Prussian diplomat, and one of the strongest players in the world in the late 1800s;
10) German GM Robert Hubner was a frequent Candidate in the 1970s and 1980s, all while developing a professional career as a papyrus manuscript historian.
4) Daniel Yanofsky, 8-time Canadian champion and the first GM developed in any Commonwealth nation, was a chess amateur for most of his life, and was a very well respected lawyer who argued several cases before the Supreme Court of Canada;
Also a successful politician and long time mayor of, if I recall rightly, Winnipeg.
Also a successful politician and long time mayor of, if I recall rightly, Winnipeg.
Correction: Abe Yanofsky was mayor of West Kildonan, a suburb of Winnipeg, from 1961-1970, and was a councillor and finance chairman of the City of Winnipeg from 1971 to 1986.
No matter how big and bad you are, when a two-year-old hands you a toy phone, you answer it.
Alexander Kotov - writer, engineer, chess player ("Think & Play like a GM")
I vaguely recall that Kotov designed a (military) tank. That might have been very important in the history of us and WW II.
Joop van Oosterom, millionaire software developer. He is a top correspondence chess grandmaster, but even if you discount that, he was at least 2350 strength at face-to-face chess, in his heyday.
Mark Taimanov is a remarkable pianist, and made professional recordings.
Smyslov and Portisch both sing well, but maybe they'd not make the list, as they are both amateurs (at singing).
The jury is still out on Kasparov. Will he make a difference in Russia?
I'm just wondering how we know for sure that GM Kotov designed this particular mortar!? I'm not doubting it, but a firm reference would be nice!
Some more impressive achievements outside chess by strong players:
GM Reuben Fine was one of the world's top ten for a decade, from the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s. Then he essentially retired from chess, earned his PhD in Psychology, embarked upon a successful career in that field, becoming a professor, and authored over a dozen books on psychoanalysis.
GM Ossip Bernstein was a lawyer and successful businessman who specialized in international transactions.
GM Reuben Fine was one of the world's top ten for a decade, from the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s. Then he essentially retired from chess, earned his PhD in Psychology, embarked upon a successful career in that field, becoming a professor, and authored over a dozen books on psychoanalysis.
One of those books was on the psychology of the chess player and was, to be generous, pretty much total crap (I read it). I seem to recall having read somewhere that someone once said that Fine's switch from chess to psychoanalysis was a sad loss for the former and no gain to the latter.
On the other hand Fine made a pretty good living as a psychoanalyst, which is probably more than you can say about his chess days.
I'm just wondering how we know for sure that GM Kotov designed this particular mortar!? I'm not doubting it, but a firm reference would be nice!
You can read that at Russian version of Wiki. Some details about the design process were discussed at his biographical book. As the appreciation of development he received the order of Lenin. Before the 2WW he was a PhD student in one of the mechanical and machinery institute.
Anyone wondering about the practical value of a chess education could read Three Moves Ahead. It features inside stories of the Wall Street chess club, frequented by GMs and millionaires.
We can see the third or fourth sentence : ''конструктора серийного завода А. А. Котова в 1943 году.''
''A.A Kotoba'' which means Kotov. If you click on Kotov, you can see his biography in russian and then you can see the english version of this wiki page.
Here's the proof, but it's just sad that we can't really read the text. I'll maybe ask someone I know who comes from Russia to read us this article.
The jury is still out on Kasparov. Will he make a difference in Russia?
To me it is quite clear that he has already "made a difference", regardless of what happens in the future. The mere fact of trying and to do it unselfishly (as far as I can see) at great risks for his personal safety go well above the concept of "accomplishments". It shows great humanity, not just talents.
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