Chess and life. How to make progress in chess What do you have in common between a chess player and a rocker?
Until recently, chess was considered one of the most mind games. From time immemorial, this game has been the prerogative of kings and aristocrats. Maybe that's why the winners of chess tournaments were always called kings. Today the situation has changed somewhat.
Since the game reached the masses, the halo has gradually begun to fade. The catchphrase that the famous Botvinnik is only a champion at the board, but otherwise an ordinary Jew, shows that the ancient game and its knights have lost their former greatness. And recently, many professions have appeared that are no less intellectual than playing chess, but more complex. Therefore, other specialists are now taking over the palm in the battle of intellects from chess players.
It’s hard to believe that chess, which a quarter of a century ago gathered many specialists and enthusiasts around the checkered board, has today found itself practically on the outskirts of history. And chess players, who were once a symbol of Mind and Intelligence, have become almost an anachronism. Today this game is almost universally extinguished from the lives of millions modern computers. The chess players found themselves on the verge of survival. Many of them, including strong players, were faced with the question of how to continue to earn a living. It was at this time that many of them found themselves in poker, preferring poker rooms on the Internet and various poker sites to chess.
For such lovers of games with the mind, poker has become a kind of lifeline. The rules of the game of poker are refined and simple, like moves chess pieces. There are no more combinations in this game than on a chessboard. The basics of poker can be learned in one evening, and the main principles can be learned in practice by playing various situations with friends. And, what is especially valuable, is the absence of any theory. There isn't even a textbook for this game. But what poker has in common with chess is an endless number of possibilities.
Of course, since these are completely different games, there are differences. On the chessboard, the situation is viewed from beginning to end, and there is enough information for analysis. In poker, in this sense, everything is exactly the opposite. There is zero information about the opponent. Surely you only know your two cards. For many, it becomes a discovery that in poker, as in chess, the laws of mathematical logic reign.
Although, it would seem, what kind of mathematics is there? Some riddles. Try to guess what your opponent has in his hands! But the outcome of the game depends on whether you guessed it or not. Therefore, the price of this solution is much higher than in chess. But this is precisely what causes serious excitement, excites and attracts in this game.
Today poker is very popular game, and is played by tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people around the world. And if previously the following were generally accepted card games, like a point, preference or debertz, today poker is multiplying among the masses similar to computer viruses on the Internet. Television and the Internet played a huge role in this.
The most popular game is Texas Hold'em as one of the most common types of poker. The rules of this game are simple. Players are dealt two cards face down, and the first round of betting begins. Then the flop is revealed - three community cards, and the players enter into bargaining again, after which the fourth card is revealed - the turn. The bargaining goes on again, and finally the river opens - the last General Map. The participants of the game place bets again. If there are still opponents in the game, then they reveal their cards. As the game progresses, each player can make one of three decisions - call the opponent's bet, raise it higher, or make a pass. The winner, of course, is the one who is stronger. This is achieved either at showdown - with a card, or, if the cards are never revealed, - by the power of persuasion.
Poker develops character and willpower, often becoming part of a person’s inner essence. Just like in chess. Fischer also said that the ability to suppress the ego of your opponent is often one of the main factors in victory.
The ability to demonstrate apparent weakness to your opponent and the ability to lure him into a trap are the main qualities of a professional chess player, which are no less in demand in poker. Here you can also add the habit of analyzing and drawing correct conclusions about situations at the table in general and about the play of your opponents in particular. The main thing in this matter is not to overestimate your capabilities.
Having taken your first steps in poker and feeling that this game was created for you, you will understand that you need a guide and reliable assistant in the world of online poker. After all, you probably know that poker is played on the Internet, just like chess. We can say that it is on the Internet that it is played the most. This is where the world's best players hone their skills today, and where up to 85% of all hands are dealt. This is very convenient: you can start the game at any time convenient for you.
We just want to show you a place where there is all the latest poker news, thanks to which you will be aware of all the events. In addition, we will tell you where to look educational materials and which poker rooms offer the best bonus programs.
So, what are the common features between such seemingly different games as poker and chess?
If you think that there is no connection between chess and poker, then you are deeply mistaken. In poker, in particular in Texas Hold'em, as well as in chess, the blood is excited by a cocktail of such components as intelligence, excitement, strategy, passion, risk and bluff. All this attracts many more players to poker than to chess.
The Soviet Union gave the world many more top chess players than any other country. With the development of poker, many are trying their hand at this exciting and exciting game. One of them is the fifth in Russian rating young grandmaster Alexander Grischuk.
Chess players bring to poker their composure, intelligence, ability to calculate options and evaluate situations, study theory, learn quickly, and play for several hours at a time.
In poker, unlike chess, there is no artificial intelligence capable of beating professional player. Today it is a generally accepted fact that logic and skill play a major role in poker, and only beginners can count on luck. But to win you need to be more than just a logician. The ability to read your opponent will also come in handy. Unlike chess, where only two people play at the board, there can be from two to nine players at the poker table, each of whom has their own cards, hidden from their opponents.
In poker, just like in chess, tournaments and championships are held. But the prize funds here are much more significant. It should be noted that poker tournaments are held daily, and serious competitions with million-dollar prize pools are held almost weekly. If you like chess, then it makes sense to try your hand at poker. After all, such an explosion of emotions and atmosphere of excitement cannot be found anywhere except poker.
It must be said that in Russia, where intelligence has always been valued and mathematics was at its best, poker is developing very quickly, and the successes of Russian players follow one after another. The list opens with Alexander Kravchenko, who won a gold bracelet and more than two million dollars in the Texas Hold'em game at the 2007 WSOP. A little later in the winter, a young player in Australia, Alexander Kostritsyn, won the AussieMillions tournament, receiving one million Australian dollars. The following year in November, Ivan Demidov takes second place in the WSOP Main Event and receives $5.8 million.
On this site you will find everything you need to start your poker career. Here you can learn the rules, watch poker combinations, read books and articles, and also take free training at a poker school.
Dedicated to blessed memory:
Yury Razuvaev (1945-2012), comrade
childhood, grandmaster, honored
Russian coach
Grigory Kogan (1901-1979), neighbor
entrance, pianist, teacher, great
music theorist
Jacqueline Pyatigorskaya (1911-2012),
charming US vice-champion,
music chess sponsor
The author was prompted to develop the topic “Chess and Music” by a seditious thought: “Why is there such a huge number of enthusiasts among musicians and chess players?” Recently, the passion for chess among outstanding musicians has not faded away. In particular, such celebrities as pianist Nikolai Lugansky and cellist Alexander Knyazev devote a lot of time to playing chess and actively attend various tournaments. And at the last Moscow world championship match they discussed the problem chess-music at a press conference.
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Is there any pattern here? As far as we know, the great French chess player and opera composer Francois Philidor stood at the base of the pyramid. The outstanding Russian musician S.I. Taneev, who has been fond of ancient game, L.N. Tolstoy’s constant chess partner, followed the recommendations of the great writer: “Make your mind constantly act with all its possible strength”. But Sergei Ivanovich loved music more: “Without music, a person is nothing. People need to give up everything and indulge in music alone.” Another Russian composer, A.K. Lyadov, expressed himself aphoristically in 1907: “Life is a chessboard: now all of humanity is on a black square, then it will move to a white one, then again to a black one - and so on endlessly. Where is the truth - on a black or white square?..” Lyadov and his wonderful friend N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov were very interested in the St. Petersburg International Tournament of 1896, where they fiercely supported M.I. Chigorin. At the beginning of the 20th century, A.N. Scriabin became addicted to chess. During the period of intense work on “Mystery,” he willingly switched to chess games with the outstanding pianist A.B. Goldenweiser. In the 20th century, S.S. Prokofiev became famous for his fanatical love of chess. In 1909, seventeen-year-old Prokofiev achieved a draw in a session against E. Lasker, and soon after the end of the St. Petersburg grandmaster tournament in 1914, Sergei Sergeevich won a game in a session against H.R. Capablanca.
There were other wonderful events. Thus, the chess match of musical titans in 1937 is widely known: S. Prokofiev - D. Oistrakh.
The 7th world champion Vasily Smyslov had deep respect for the vocal art and seriously thought about becoming an opera singer. A graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory, the famous pianist Mark Taimanov still devoted more time to chess, although his recordings (on two pianos, together with L. Brooke) were included in the Philips disc collection - 100 Great Pianists of the 20th Century. However, oh Taimanov phenomenon speech ahead.
They say chess is a quiet game of music of the mind. There is also the winged thought of Dr. Z. Tarrasch, that chess, like love and music, has the ability to make a person happy. Let us leave this chemistry of hormones to poets and artists; their description of happy love will be more colorful. Our task is to emphasize the creative analogy of chess and music, to identify the unifying principle between the great, let's not be afraid of this word, manifestations of human culture. In addition, we will try to draw meridians and parallels between their carriers - chess players and musicians; understand why some people, being gifted in one area, turn out to be mediocre in another, and some are perfectly oriented in several.
On first look, the comparison of music and chess, such outwardly dissimilar objects, seems absurd: chess players deal with an abstract scheme, they bend over the boards and make their moves in silence, and musicians in concert halls pour out oceans of sounds. But only at first glance...
100 years ago, young Sergei Prokofiev, watching the game of major chess players, wrote: “...And if the complex, deep Lasker seems to me like a majestic Bach, then the living Capablanca is an eternally young Mozart, who created with the same ease, and sometimes sweet carelessness, as and Capablanca. In conclusion, a small compliment to Dr. Tarrasch for his musical talents. Quite by chance I had the pleasure of hearing him play the piano. A clear rhythm, clear phrasing and general expressiveness testify to the great musicality of the famous chess player" (Newspaper "Day", St. Petersburg, 05/10/1913).
Also, Professor Grigory Mikhailovich Kogan, in his theoretical works, compared the creative styles of major chess players and musicians. In particular, he wrote: “...If we now move from chess to a consideration of what happened in the field of pianistic art, then we will be positively amazed at the extraordinary similarity in these two branches of culture. In fact, doesn’t the rivalry between Rubinstein and Bülow, which stood at the center of pianistic life at that time, resemble... the rivalry between Chigorin and Steinitz? Isn’t there a parallel between Chigorin’s combinational style and the romantic playing of Anton Rubinstein, in which brilliant ideas and inspired impulses were combined with not always flawless technical execution (the famous “handfuls” of false notes)? Doesn’t a parallel emerge between Chigorin’s chess educational activities and the musical educational activities of Rubinstein, the organizer of the Russian Musical Society and the St. Petersburg Conservatory (cf. Chigorin’s role in the history of the St. Petersburg Chess Meeting), a pioneer of Russian professional musical culture? On the other hand, isn’t there an analogy between the analytical mind of Steinitz and Rubinstein’s German rival, Bülow, with his carefully considered and at the same time bizarre play? Isn’t there an analogy between Steinitz’s comments on chess games and comments on classical piano works in Bülow’s painstaking editions, which laid the foundation for a whole doctrine of piano phrasing? ... During the years of Lasker's chess championship, the most outstanding figure in world pianistic art was Ferruccio Busoni. His biography has some similarities with Lasker's biography. Almost the same age (Busoni was born in 1866, Lasker - in 1868), they simultaneously achieved world fame: Lasker - since the match with Steinitz (played in America in 1894), Busoni - since the publication of his adaptation Bach, published in America in 1894. Then Berlin became the center of activity for both. The era of Lasker's championship ended in 1921 with the loss of the match to Capablanca, and a little over a year later Busoni's concert activities also ended. The similarities between Busoni and Lasker can be traced in many other ways. Like Lasker, Busoni was a highly educated and intensely thinking person, the author of philosophical works, who developed original views on his art. It would be especially interesting to compare the pedagogical principles of both: for example, Busoni’s idea that most piano teachers teach “to master individual passages and individual pieces one by one,” while it is advisable to stock up on “a bunch of few hooks and master keys” that provide the key to the whole variety technical formulas - and Lasker’s similar idea that instead of memorizing countless options one by one, one should “look for rules that could in a concise form give the results of thousands and tens of thousands of options.” “A person called to creativity faces, first of all, the most important negative task - to free himself from everything he has learned and heard,” states Busoni. “Out of my 56 years, I spent at least 30 forgetting what I had memorized or read,” Lasker echoes him...” (G. Kogan. “Playing chess and playing the piano”, newspaper “Soviet Musician”, No. 13 (103) dated March 23, 1940). How deeply the professor of the Kyiv and Moscow Conservatories analyzed!
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Grigory Kogan |
Among our great contemporaries, one can note the similarity in the creative fundamentality of Mikhail Botvinnik and Emil Gilels. By the way, there was also a spiritual connection between them, as follows from mutual correspondence: the chess player admired the pianist, and he was a regular fan of the 6th world champion, although he did not play chess himself.
It is also interesting to note the following fact: in his youth, such a seemingly far from chess person, endlessly immersed in music - Evgeniy Kissin - turned to the famous composer and strong chess lover Vladimir Dashkevich for chess lessons.
This means that chess players and musicians are drawn to each other, and why? This is what we have to find out...
The specifics of chess and musical works have ideologically similar structural elements. Let's take the opening stage, say, Spanish party. Here is the Janisch Gambit, the Berlin Variation, and the Marshall Attack, it’s impossible to list everything - in a word, variations on a theme by Ruy Lopez (inventor of the debut). How do they differ from, say, variations on a Paganini theme? Here is a sea of sounds, there is a sea of moves! But think about it, there is only one essence - combinatorics! In the initial position there are only 16 pieces and 16 pawns on the board. It is calculated that in one single chess game, with forty moves, the total number of possible positions fits into one followed by 130 zeros. True, the lion's share of them is absurd; only real ones that reflect the meaning are chosen chess game. That is, a binary goal must be realized: checkmate the king (victory) or avoid checkmate (draw).
And in music? You have 7 octaves with twelve sounds in each: a total of 84 elementary sounds. Their combination, even within an hour of performance, will also represent an astronomical number. But, naturally, only harmonious ones are chosen. Concept euphony, however, is very relative and depends on temporary preferences. What would have been considered cacophony in the 18th and 19th centuries is now warmly welcomed. The fashionable curse of the mid-20th century, “confusion instead of music,” in relation to the works of N.Ya. Myaskovsky, S.S. Prokofiev and, especially, D.D. Shostakovich, has given way to an enthusiastic attitude towards them today. It is still difficult, even in the 21st century, to algorithmize the exact meaning euphony and therefore it is impossible to create a corresponding computer program who could write good music. In this regard, chess is simpler. Here game programs They have already advanced quite far, but still cannot draw up sketches.
It is interesting to compare the nature of musical and chess abilities. If the presence of an individual’s ear for music (external and internal), as well as a sense of rhythm, can be easily “diagnosed” and explained as specific, then identifying chess talent is very difficult. It seems that chess talent should be rooted in the intellectual sphere: a brilliant memory, rich imagination, the art of long-range calculation, etc. However, how then can one “reconcile” with the amazing weak game Napoleon Bonaparte and the “father of cybernetics” Norbert Wiener, who were intellectual geniuses and at the same time great fans of the game of chess. The author of these lines once had a dispute with a man who knew everything - Yuri Lvovich Averbakh - regarding the reason for Napoleon's helplessness in chess. The Grandmaster argued that the self-proclaimed Emperor of the French simply did not have enough time to prepare, and your humble servant defended pathological inability Bonaparte specifically to chess. For many did not have enough time, for example, academician Pyotr Kapitsa, mathematician Vladimir Makogonov, pianist Mark Taimanov, but they still played great chess!
There are opinions that any normal person can be taught anything. Many people quote the famous American psychologist John Watson (1878-1958; not to be confused, as happens, with the Nobel laureate James Watson): “Give me ten healthy babies, and at will I will raise them to be anyone: from scientists to criminals.” His follower, the outstanding Hungarian teacher Laszlo Polgar (1946), managed to put this doctrine into practice. Using his unique technique, he proved a remarkable theorem: the ability to achieve arbitrarily high level chess intelligence through special exercises and targeted training. Of his three daughters average(in his opinion!?) with his abilities, he raised three male-level grandmasters!
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A significant contribution to the theory and methodology of developing intelligence was also made by the outstanding coach, grandmaster Yu.S. Razuvaev, who repeatedly pointed out the importance of chess exercises for the development of the general thinking ability of students. He emphasized the relevance actions in the mind, characteristic of a chess game. In the same way, concert musicians keep ready-made programs in their minds and perform them automatically at the right moment. That is, at the right moment make volitional efforts, activating a certain area of the brain. Razuvaev wrote: “... at 6-12 years old it is decided whether there will be a child smart person or not, his intellectual capabilities depend on it!” He, together with the prominent scientist N.G. Alekseev, created an appropriate program for the formation of a mechanism for mental analysis. Razuvaev continues: “...I came up with a slogan for this program: “Action in the mind is born in the game!” I started testing these lessons... If for some reason a child is slightly behind in development, without having any organic damage or diseases, then chess is a strong catalyst. As practice proves, in a short period of time a child can catch up and overtake his peers...” Also with regard to professional chess players, Razuvaev made important conclusions: “... Incorrect calculation of options (yawns) is, as a rule, a consequence of defects in the mechanism of action in the mind. I tried to eliminate these defects: I took the psychologist P.Ya. Galperin’s diagram of the breakdown of the mechanism of action in the mind at a stage and applied it to chess. And he helped a number of chess players really improve the quality of their scores. This practical discovery once again convinced us of the correctness of the entire scheme. So, the child must learn to specify the situation and make a decision.”
However, in life we often see a different picture. The selection of students capable of chess or music is made according to the principle large numbers. From many chess sections or music schools, experienced specialists discover several (statistics unknown) real talents. Exactly as the poet V.V. Mayakovsky said: “A gram of production is a year of labor.” But it also happens small numbers: outstanding specialists in their field cannot master the game of chess or the game of musical instruments. And among the musicians there are mysterious people. For example, in the 20th century there were two great friends, two brilliant pianists - Yakov Flier and Arnold Kaplan. Both are passionate chess fans. But if the first one played them quite decently, without making any special efforts to prepare (there was no time!), then Arnold Lvovich turned out to have that very pathological chess inability. His beloved nephew Lev Khariton recalls: “...my uncle attended almost all significant chess events, and during leisure hours he did not part with the chessboard. For example, walking along the beach of the Riga seaside, he sat down to play with everyone. After thinking about the move for about twenty minutes, he always exposed the queen or another piece to the attack and was not at all upset. At the same time, it is necessary to note his bright abilities in other areas: he drew beautifully, imitated the manners of other people.”
On the other hand, it is important to determine how a professionally oriented student should learn the material?
Scientific experience shows that the average person’s brain successfully perceives learning if the assimilation of the subject occurs differentially and in equilibrium, that is, with a fairly slow complication of the material. This is exactly how L. Polgar built his famous textbook (CHESS: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games. Budapest. 1994). The exercises were selected in such a way that not only did the transition from simple to complex occur, but negligibly small increments of difficulty were applied - as if a polygon with an infinitely growing number of sides fit into a circle. No jumps, complete smoothness. And the results showed the effectiveness of the method: all three of his daughters in their chess games Almost no gross miscalculations were made. Because their brains worked out the simplest possible blunders on a subconscious level, and “yawns” usually happen at a primitive level.
In the practice of performing musicians, a similar method of slowly “driving” small fragments from works into the brain is also relevant. And pieces that have already been learned by heart do not tolerate constant rapid playback, otherwise they, as experts say, flirting. It is not for nothing that S.V. Rachmaninov, when he was shown virtuoso students, asked them to play slowly a particularly stormy passage. If the students couldn’t cope, Sergei Vasilievich called their technique “ counterfeit coin»!
What are the dynamics of the information process in the chess and music spheres? The general block diagram is well known: for musicians, sound information sequentially passes through the outer, middle, and inner ears, then along the auditory nerve passes into the neurons of the brain; Chess players transfer information to the brain through the optic nerve. At the next stage, the performing musician must learn the piece and reproduce it from memory (sometimes, as a hint, you can use notes). Practicing chess players are prohibited from using cheat sheets, and they need to know the first stage of the game by heart, and in the good old days, a scrupulous analysis of a postponed game was relevant. The pre-programmed preparation of a musician before a concert cannot, as a rule, be replaced by improvisation according to his mood; exceptions here are rare (Chopin, Rachmaninov, etc.).
It is appropriate to ask the question: “What brain structures are responsible for memorization and reproduction?” At present, this extremely complex neurobiological problem is still far from being solved, but at least it has moved forward. It should be remembered that a few decades ago, the outstanding chess specialist grandmaster Igor Zaitsev insisted on the existence of specific chess squares, which develop in skilled chess players and need constant activation. Otherwise, these cells gradually atrophy and the player’s level drops sharply. The example of the almighty M.M. Botvinnik is quite eloquent. Just three years (1948-51) from the moment of triumph, without having played a single tournament game, he approached the match with D.I. Bronstein in disassembled condition. Of course, Mikhail Moiseevich's intensive work on his doctoral dissertation in electrical engineering is a sufficient justification - but only for him personally, and not for his chess brain! Exactly the same situation arises in the case of musical performers. Everyday instrumental work is absolutely necessary for them.
About a century and a half ago, the great pianist Anton Rubinstein roughly explained the need for daily work as a performer: “...If I miss one day of piano lessons, then I immediately notice shortcomings in my playing; missing two days is determined by specialists, and the result of three days of inactivity is determined by the public!..”
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It is known that Rachmaninov, even when traveling, did not part with a silent keyboard, constantly exercising his fingers. And such a virtuoso as Franz Liszt completely stopped performing concerts when he had a shortage of time due to intense composing and teaching activities.
So, we ask, are exceptions possible here? According to the saying of the immortal literary hero, Mr. Sherlock Holmes: “The only exception disproves the rule...”. No, at least one like this exception There is! This - Taimanov phenomenon.
Mark Evgenievich, as a pianist, missed systematic lessons for months because he played in numerous tournaments, traveling around cities and countries. He returned, instantly recovered and continued his concert activities. What can I say, a miracle, and that’s all! But, in our opinion, there is a rational explanation: Taimanov was helped in music by his high chess qualifications. At that time, neither A.G. Rubinstein, nor F. Liszt, nor S.V. Rachmaninov were seriously involved in chess! But how Nimzowitsch defense can help a pianist's motor memory? Only in one case - if the mentioned chess squares are located in the same areas of the brain as learned musical images - these cells catalyze each other! Science has yet to prove this hypothesis experimentally.
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So far, neuroscientists have discovered brain activity in chess players and musicians in specific regions responsible for image visualization. A significant contribution was made by University of California professor Norman Weinberger and his colleagues, who proved the existence of a neural coding mechanism used by the brain to organize memories depending on their emotional load. Scientists have found that using a “memory code” forces the brain to use special memory to store important information a large number of nerve cells, which significantly reduces the risk of forgetting it. In the future, they plan to study exactly how the brain remembers and organizes the information it receives and learn to control this process. Other researchers - Professor M.V. Pletnikov and his colleagues from Novosibirsk - discovered structural asymmetry of the brain in musicians. In particular, in the case of many outstanding musicians, it has been found that the size of the left superior posterior temporal gyrus ( planum temporale) significantly exceeded the size of the right one.
The results of studies using positron emission tomography (PET) showed that when processing musical information, the blood supply and metabolic activity of this gyrus in experienced musicians increases noticeably. Moreover, among musicians, its greatest size is observed among those who have absolute musical ear. Thus, direct evidence has been obtained of the predominance of left hemisphere activity in the regulation of the perception of musical information in people with professional musical training.
The brain of chess players has currently been studied much less, but, obviously, such research seems extremely relevant. Let us compare, for example, the situation of the brain assimilating chess and musical information. Chess players, playing blindly, implement each move in the game into the brain through the auditory nerve; then all changes in position are visualized into a visual image. For musicians, when reading a score, information flows through the optic nerve and is transformed into sound. Here, alternating different signal channels leads to a similar result - image perception.
Thus, we can say with a considerable degree of confidence that the mechanism for reproducing both chess moves and musical phrases has a common neurobiological nature.
AlekhineThe brilliant chess player Alexander Alekhine knew English, French, German and Spanish perfectly. When they asked him what language he thought in when calculating his combinations, Alekhine, smiling, said: “If I sometimes think when playing chess, it is only in Russian.”
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One day, while in a cafe, Alekhine watched amateurs play. One of the fans invited him to play a game. The world champion agreed, but with one condition, that he would give his partner a head start - a rook.
- How so? — he was indignant, arranging the pieces on the board. - You don’t know me at all!
“That’s why,” Alekhine grinned.
***
After Alekhine brilliantly won the match against grandmaster Bogolyubov, he loved to tell a joke he had invented:
“I dreamed that I died, and at the gates of Paradise, Saint Peter asked me who I was on Earth. I answered truthfully, and Saint Peter was surprised:
— A chess maestro? No, we don’t allow people like that into Heaven!
Sad, I was about to leave, but then among the clouds I noticed Bogolyubov. Then I asked Saint Peter:
- Why is this gentleman in Paradise? After all, he also plays chess!
Saint Peter smiled sadly at this:
- Well, what are you talking about, it only seems to him.
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It is known that during his first match with Max Euwe, Alekhine abused alcohol. He lost the match, and when he was later asked about the reasons for the defeat, Alekhine replied:
— This month I had the wrong diet.
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Once, in Argentina, Alekhine conducted a simultaneous game. Suddenly one of the participants joyfully exclaimed:
- Maestro, you’re checkmated in three moves!
“Congratulations,” said Alekhine. - But, senor, just don’t worry, for God’s sake: first I’ll checkmate you in two moves!
Steinitz
The first world chess champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, often had problems with money, or rather, with the lack of it. For this reason, he was sometimes forced to earn his living by playing chess for money in the Gambit cafe. One day he found a very profitable partner who paid a whole pound sterling for a lost game. Steinitz gave him the knight ahead in these games and regularly won. One of the world champion’s friends gave him good advice: they say, it would be nice to lose once, otherwise it would be a good thing to lose such a profitable client...
Steinitz did just that: in one of the games he substituted his queen and immediately surrendered, after which he offered to play the next game. But his partner jumped out from the table with a jubilant cry: “My dream has come true - I beat the world champion!” With these words, he ran out into the street, and since then he has not been seen in the Gambit cafe again.
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When Steinitz’s opinion was conveyed to Richard Wagner that he considered him “the greatest composer of our era,” the composer burst out in response with praise: “It seems that Maestro Steinitz understands music even better than chess! In any case, the opinion he expressed does not raise any objections in me.”
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One day, in a train compartment, Steinitz found himself in the company of a gentleman traveling with a little girl, about nine years old. The father decided to start a conversation with Steinitz:
- What do you do? - he inquired.
“I play chess,” Steinitz answered.
Here a girl intervened in the conversation:
— When I was little, I also played with dolls.
Lasker
International Master Duz-Khotimirsky, who lived until he was almost 85 years old, personally met with all the world champions up to and including Fischer and loved to talk about his meetings with them. But he was especially struck by Lasker: “Just imagine: I lived in his house for three days, and not a single word about chess!”
Capablanca
Once the legendary world champion Jose Raul Capablanca was asked at a press conference whether he was really going to marry Ford Sr.’s daughter. Capablanca smiled in response: “Yes, I really was going to become Ford Sr.’s son-in-law, but the billionaire let me down: he only produced sons.”
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In 1925, an international chess tournament, which coincided with the filming of the film “Chess Fever”. Both events featured world champion Capablanca. Once, during the filming of the film, he gave a simultaneous game on thirty boards. The champion of the capital's Palace of Pioneers, Valentina Tokarskaya, played on one of the boards. She was a very beautiful girl, who later became an actress at the Satire Theater. Capablanca, who was always partial to the fair sex, saw what a beauty was playing against him, and was literally dumbfounded. After the first move made by the girl, Capablanca put his king on his side and whispered sadly: “I surrender.” Of course, he won the remaining twenty-nine games.
Euwe
At the anniversary party in honor of Max Euwe's eightieth birthday, one of those present admired the fact that the respected grandmaster had not acquired a single enemy for so many years. It's simply incredible!
The hero of the day sadly answered his panegyrist: “Since I have no enemies, it means I have lived my life wrong.”
Rook endings are not won!
Siegbert Tarrasch.
Rumor mistakenly attributes this aphorism to Savely Tartakover, who himself honestly referred to the authorship of Tarrasch.
I feel great seeing my opponent writhing in his death throes.
Robert James Fisher
Poor people! How similar are you in all your endeavors to that chess player who “could win his game”...
Savely Tartakover
Be a threat every time you sit down to play.
Ken Smith
During a tournament, a chess master must be an abstinent monk and a predator rolled into one. A predator in relation to a rival, an ascetic in everyday life.
Alexander Alekhine
Bogolyubov: Checkmate in four moves! Tartakower: Don't bother me!
Savely Tartakover
Capablanca proved that you can be the best and still be the first.
Savely Tartakover
Character weaknesses usually appear during a chess game.
Garry Kasparov
The computer is the only opponent who makes no excuses when he loses to me.
Robert James Fisher
That's what chess is all about. Today you give your opponent a lesson, and tomorrow he teaches you a lesson.
Robert James Fisher
Being with one woman all your life is like an endgame with colorful bishops.
Victor Korchnoi
Life is a game of chess.
Miguel Cervantes
Chess is a healing plaster for thousands of pricks of fate.
Max Weiss
It is characteristic of a grandmaster that he wins a won position quickly and accurately.
Irwin Chernev
Your game is only as good as your worst move.
Dan Heisman
Always remember to counterattack. This is the best defense and often wins even lost games.
Frank Marshall
A good player is always lucky!
Jose Raul Capablanca
A tactician must know what to do when there is something to do, a strategist must know what to do when there is nothing to do.
Savely Tartakover
The loser is always wrong.
Vasily Panov
The penultimate mistake wins.
Savely Tartakover
The second grade move is often the most accurate.
Savely Tartakover
Maintaining the maximum number of combat forces is in the interests of the party with this moment large playing space.
Alexander Alekhine
Mistakes are always waiting to be made.
Savely Tartakover
Mistakes exist to be made.
Savely Tartakover
Wrong moves are often very difficult to find.
Savely Tartakover
Opponents checkmate themselves. We just need to wait a little.
Siegbert Tarrasch
The greatest art in chess is not to show your opponent what he can do.
Garry Kasparov
Combination is the soul of chess.
Alexander Alekhine
People have been playing me below their capabilities for 15 years now.
Robert James Fisher
The parties are always different, the interviews are always the same.
Garry Kasparov,
This game is the touchstone of the human mind.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Strong enemy pieces should be exchanged.
Jose Raul Capablanca
The strictest rules in chess are exceptions.
Savely Tartakover
You know you're a chess fanatic when your first question when meeting someone is: What's your rating?
Bill Wall
You know you're a chess fanatic when you buy the coolest and most expensive computer just to play chess on it or use it as a database.
Bill Wall
You know you're a chess fanatic when you buy a newspaper just because it has a chess column.
Bill Wall
You know you're a chess fanatic when you go to the toilet chess textbook and you forget to go there.
Bill Wall
The threat is stronger than its execution.
Savely Tartakover
An isolated pawn depresses the mood on the entire board.
Savely Tartakover
A draw can be achieved by repeating the position three times or with one weak move.
Savely Tartakover
It's not enough to be good player, we still have to play well.
Siegbert Tarrasch
There is no woman against whom I would not win, even if I gave the horse ahead.
Robert James Fisher
There are no good or bad players. There are only good or bad players.
Adolf Anderssen
There are no good or bad players. There are only good or bad moves.
Siegbert Tarrasch
There are no good or bad moves. There are only good or bad cigars.
Emmanuel Lasker
There are two types of victims: correct ones and mine.
Mikhail Tal
There have been periods in my life when I almost believed that I couldn’t even lose one single game.
Jose Raul Capablanca
It is better to sacrifice your opponent's pieces.
Savely Tartakover
Mistakes are the salt of chess.
Savely Tartakover
Don't rely on your opponent's mistakes, but rely on them.
Bill Wall
I am a world champion and am not obliged to discuss anything with anyone.
Viswanathan Anand
I don't believe in psychology, I believe in strong moves.
Robert James Fisher
I have never met a single chess player whose eyes did not glow with the fire of mortal vengeance after losing a game.
Bill Wall
I consider each of my opponents to be a master until he proves me otherwise.
Vasily Panov
I hate anyone who beats me at chess.
Lisa Lane
I have never had the pleasure of beating a completely healthy opponent.
Amos Byrne
During the first game my teeth hurt. The second time I had a headache. During the third I was tormented by rheumatism, and during the fourth I did not feel very well. And in the fifth? Well, you can’t win all the time!
Savely Tartakover
I know people who have enormous willpower, but do not know how to play chess.
Robert James Fisher
I love chess for its logic.
Efim Bogolyubov
I love chess for its illogicality.
Savely Tartakover
Grandmaster,
1887 - 1956
I play fair and play to win. If I lose, I take medication.
Robert James Fisher
I've been playing chess for 50 years, but I've never won against a healthy opponent.
Blackburn
I understand chess better than any other living master.
Jose Raul Capablanca
At first glance I grasp the essence of the position and know what to do in it. Others evaluate, but I just know.
Jose Raul Capablanca
I will beat the top 30 US chess players in a simultaneous game.
Jose Raul Capablanca
I find that chess is very useful when traveling alone in Turkey. ...Take yourself to the nearest teahouse. Order a glass of tea, and another or Raki, and set up a chess problem. Within seconds Turks will appear. They won't play chess with you, but it starts a conversation.
Brian Sewell
To you, Mr. Lasker, I can only say three words: checkmate.
Siegbert Tarrasch
In blitz the knight is stronger than the bishop.
Vlastimil Gort
Everyone wins at chess. If you enjoy the game, and this is the most important thing, then even defeat is not scary.
David Bronstein
There can only be one mistake in chess: overestimating your opponent. Everything else is either bad luck or weakness.
Savely Tartakover
In chess you can only become a great master when you realize your own mistakes and weaknesses. Just like in life.
Alexander Alekhine
Intelligence is determined not by the path traveled, but by the result.
Garry Kasparov
Don't eat beans before the game.
Bill Wall
Chess journalist
I wasn't sure what square to take the rook to. Because there were three alternatives e8, d8 and c8, I decided to go for the middle one.
Jan Timman
Yes, I once played a game of blitz, it was on a train in 1929. (from an interview in 1989)
Mikhail Botvinnik
The older I get, the more I value pawns.
Paul Keres
Karpov is a museum piece.
Garry Kasparov
All grandmasters are crazy. They differ only in the degree of their insanity.
Victor Korchnoi
Combining and trading under the counter should be prohibited.
Savely Tartakover
Lisa Lane, the US chess champion, once called Fischer the strongest living chess player. Answer: "That's true, but Lisa Lane is not really in a position to judge that."
Robert James Fisher
Long analysis, wrong analysis.
Bent Larsen
You don't always have to make the best move. The move must be active, enterprising, correct and beautiful.
David Bronstein
In chess you only learn from mistakes. There is always something right in mistakes.
Savely Tartakover
My first goal was not to win the game, but to sacrifice a piece.
Wilhelm Steinitz
The lack of spectators doesn't bother me. I have enough fight in my games.
Vladimir Kramnik
Modern Computers have taken the place once occupied by woman chess players.
Robert James Fisher
Mom, I just became an ex-world champion. (coming home after losing a match to Mikhail Botvinnik)
Mikhail Tal
There is nothing more difficult in chess than choosing the strongest continuation from two approximately equal strengths, which is often the only correct one.
Siegbert Tarrasch
Nowadays, when you"re not a grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it.
Viswanathan Anand
Only a good elephant can be sacrificed. A bad one can only be lost.
Yuri Razuvaev
Only a really strong chess player knows how weak he is playing.
Savely Tartakover
Without mistakes there can be no brilliant victories.
Emmanuel Lasker
Sacrifices are only possible due to the opponent's mistake.
Savely Tartakover
Chess laws exist to be broken.
Savely Tartakover
Chess is life.
Robert James Fisher
Chess is merciless. You must be ready to kill.
Alexey Shirov
Chess is a struggle, mainly with your mistakes.
Savely Tartakover
Chess is like life.
Boris Spassky
Chess is like a beautiful woman to whom we constantly return, no matter how often she rejects us.
Anonymous
Later, ... I began to achieve success in decisive games more and more often. Perhaps because I realized a simple thing: not only was I overcome by fear, but also my opponent.
Mikhail Tal
Place the board so that the sun shines in your opponent's eyes.
Ruy Lopez
Style? I don't have any style!
Anatoly Karpov
The strategy determines how to lure a girl into the back seat of a car. Tactics - what to do next.
Anonymous
The game is far more important than the final result.
Alexey Shirov
There are tough players and nice guys, and I"m a tough player.
Robert James Fisher
Tips for the winner: Invite your opponent after the game to analyze his game for all his mistakes.
Bill Wall
Tips for the loser: Always remember that you had the best position all along - until the mistake on the last move.
Bill Wall
Tips for the loser: Ask for better playing conditions next time.
Bill Wall
Tips for the loser: Draw your opponent's attention to the fact that he was thinking for a long time and thereby slowing down the game.
Bill Wall
Tips for the loser: Tell your opponent that he was on the losing side due to terrible play in the opening, middlegame and endgame.
Bill Wall
Advice for the loser: Treat your opponent with understanding, in the end he was just lucky.
Bill Wall
In an effort not to stand to lose, some lose the game.
Savely Tartakover
About women: Chess is better.
Robert James Fisher
Try playing after your opponent has had a hearty lunch.
Lucena
What do other women and chess players have in common? Their goal is a good game.
Markus Ronner
What is chess? - What is life?
Harun al-Rashid
We like to think. (asked by Hans Ree why he and Karpov get into time trouble so often).
Garry Kasparov
If your opponent offers you a draw, try to understand why he thinks he's worth worse.
Nigel Short
When you play with Bobby, it's not about winning or losing. It's about survival.
Boris Spassky
When I visit chess Club, everyone goes dumb with admiration.
Jose Raul Capablanca
When I win, I'm a genius. When I don't win, I'm not a genius.
Robert James Fisher
When I play with white, I win because I play with white. When I play black, I win because I am Bogolyubov.
Efim Bogolyubov
If Spassky sacrifices a piece, you can give up almost immediately. But when Tal sacrifices a piece, play on. He might donate something else and then... who knows?
Miguel Najdorf
Whoever turns back steals wallets.
William Fenton
Who is your favorite writer? "I myself."
Alexander Ermolinsky
Who is your opponent today? "Today I am playing against black pieces."
Akiba Rubinstein
After I ground them one by one, my superiority became obvious.
Jose Raul Capablanca
How does Tal win? He develops all his pieces towards the center and then sacrifices them somewhere.
Robert James Fisher
How can I accept a draw? I don’t know how I’m standing!
Fritz Saemisch
Chess, a game of precision, requires luck, luck, and more luck!
Savely Tartakover
Victory is achieved not by playing well, but by playing better.
Savely Tartakover
There is no sin in laughing at a person who has allowed himself to be deceived, who has fallen into a simple trap. Unless, of course, this had tragic consequences for him.
Don't force someone into a trap. “The beast itself falls into the trap” (V. Dahl). A person is also caught “voluntarily” - he is led into the trap by self-interest, laziness, thoughtlessness... The man at the chessboard is no exception. Moves based on general considerations, without taking into account the specifics of the enemy’s position and capabilities, are often not only bad, but also ridiculous.
Kostetsky – Berman
Liepaja 1973
Black to move
The black queen pretended to leave the c5 pawn without its guard and went to b8. For what? What did he need there? But the white elephant, apparently not without the above-mentioned human weaknesses, did not think long and swallowed the bait: C:c5. And here the queen (smiling restrainedly, and maybe laughing loudly - it depends on her upbringing) returned to f8. Elephant in a mousetrap! How the monkey Toto would make fun of him!
What has become funny is no longer suitable for a serious matter. When the old becomes ridiculous, they abandon it and look for something new. And from this it follows that a sense of humor promotes creativity.
Creativity, no matter in what sphere of human activity it occurs, inevitably takes on an aesthetic form. And every aesthetic process is essentially a creative process. The need for beauty encourages people to find, appreciate and develop the beginnings of the future. But renewal and improvement of life is unthinkable without the comic. The main role of the funny is to anticipate and promptly “neutralize” everything that, sooner or later, may become an obstacle to the creative movement.
In the comic, as in the beautiful, the properties of typicality (regularity, universality) and paradox are combined. Therefore, any aesthetically significant phenomenon produces a contradictory impression - it seems familiar and unfamiliar, ordinary and at the same time unusual. The seemingly incompatible properties of typicality and paradoxicality in the aesthetic process collide, fight and transform into each other.
When the superiority of typicality is revealed, a feeling of beauty arises. And if paradox takes over, it can be funny or sad.
In beauty, something individual and accidental asserts itself as necessary and universal - paradoxicality turns into typicality.
In the comic, on the contrary, the manifestation of the typical (or pretending to become such) paradoxically reveals its irregularity and inexpediency. At the same time, the typical is, as it were, compromised and debunked.
In other words, the comic (funny) reveals the limitations and relativity of what was previously (or seemed) unlimited and unconditional.
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In the position on the diagram, 1. Rh8 wins. Black cannot take pawn 1... Rxa7 due to 2. Rh7+. Oyanen – Ridala, It is known that the British are distinguished by a subtle sense of tact and strict adherence to the rules of good manners. The peculiarities of British humor are also connected with this, often playing up the paradoxical manifestations of politeness typical of the British.
To foreigners, English politeness (like everything that is characteristic of some more than others) often seems excessive. Therefore, we (non-British people) can sometimes be amused by the fact that the British themselves speak quite seriously - simply out of a sense of tact.
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The comic lies halfway to the beautiful, it crowds out something that exists in the present, highlights the inconsistency of its claims to the future, but, unlike the beautiful, it does not offer anything in return. It is wonderful that it needs to be developed and multiplied. The beautiful has a wonderful future. But the future of the funny is in doubt; funny is most often what needs to be squeezed out and limited, and perhaps completely eliminated.
The typicality of the paradoxical is beautiful, and the paradoxicality of the typical is funny.
This definition of funny may seem too broad because unusual shapes manifestations of ordinary things can also generate positive values. However, laughter is not only convicting.
Laughter does not always mean a negative assessment. A trial is not a conviction. And not everything that a sense of humor addresses is worthy of blame. Here, for example, are the words of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin about poetry: “Why walk on a rope, and even squat every four steps?” It is clear that this humorous phrase does not contain condemnation, but an unusual, paradoxical view of a well-known (seemingly!) phenomenon. To better understand the familiar, you need to see (find) something strange in it. (Viktor Shklovsky called this technique “defamiliarization” and considered it one of the most important in art). Therefore, one can also say about laughter that it expresses the joy of defamiliarization.
Quite a typical situation: one serves, the other eats
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There are comical ones with a plus sign. In this case, the comic comes closest to the beautiful, but still differs from it in that a funny incident remains an incident that has little chance of repetition. There is laughter from the feeling of the fullness and diversity of life. Laughter welcoming the return of old concepts, erased from frequent use, of their original associative completeness.
Freud gives an example of wit:
Stubbornness is one of this gentleman’s four Achilles heels.
Calling a stubborn person an ass is quite trivial. But here it is done in a paradoxical form, without a colorless verbal cliche, and therefore more caustic and expressive.
A person can rejoice and laugh because he managed to solve a difficult problem. The independently found non-trivial idea for a solution seems beautiful to him, and the initial attempts to achieve the result using standard methods and these methods themselves are funny. (Added to this is pride in oneself, a sense of superiority over others, and possibly hidden ridicule of them)
When a person rejoices at his luck, he can also laugh at what could have happened if fortune had not been so favorable to him.
Shereshevsky – Buslaev
Tbilisi, 1973
White to move
By all indications, White's position is lost. And if Shereshevsky had seen the move Nh8!, he would probably have rejoiced and laughed (to himself, of course) at such a “gift of fate.” But he would laugh, of course, not at the winning move, but at the miraculously overcome threat of defeat. All “alternatives” to the continuation of Nh8 would be ridiculous, and in particular, the template move Ng5, which was actually made in this position.
The article uses examples and illustrations from the book by Dmitriev A.V., Sychev A.A. “Laughter: sociophilosophical analysis”, M.: 2005
