Israel's PM vows to turn country into chess superpower
Fascinating that a country in the modern era would allocate funding to play chess. I think this is good idea as the game promotes intellectual values for students. Much better than playing video games!
Cordially,
Sean
Israel's PM vows to turn country into chess superpower
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Sean Evans
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User923005
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Re: Israel's PM vows to turn country into chess superpower
As a function of ability per unit population, Israel is already a chess superpower. And many of the non Israeli champions and great players have had some Israeli genetic influence despite not living in Israel (e.g. {and ironically} Fischer; e.g Kasparov).
However, in order to win the world championship, it is necessary to produce the best player in the world.
I don't know how he might propose to produce the next Capablanca, Fischer, Botvinnik, Alekhine or Kasparov. I suspect that the offspring of Judit Polger and Garry Kasparov would probably be not as strong a chess player as either parent, but that's just a wild guess and I also doubt that a hundred years of tutoring by the best instructors in the world would raise my ability to the equal of a Super-GM.
On the other hand, I think it would be valuable if everyone on earth were excellent at chess. It would mean that there was a large population of clear thinkers.
On the other, other hand, the strongest chess players in the world tend to be extremely quirky -- some to the point of mental instability. That is one reason why Anand is unusual. So far as I can tell, he's neither crazy nor egomaniac nor any of the other things that tend to tag along with "Strongest chess player in the world".
However, in order to win the world championship, it is necessary to produce the best player in the world.
I don't know how he might propose to produce the next Capablanca, Fischer, Botvinnik, Alekhine or Kasparov. I suspect that the offspring of Judit Polger and Garry Kasparov would probably be not as strong a chess player as either parent, but that's just a wild guess and I also doubt that a hundred years of tutoring by the best instructors in the world would raise my ability to the equal of a Super-GM.
On the other hand, I think it would be valuable if everyone on earth were excellent at chess. It would mean that there was a large population of clear thinkers.
On the other, other hand, the strongest chess players in the world tend to be extremely quirky -- some to the point of mental instability. That is one reason why Anand is unusual. So far as I can tell, he's neither crazy nor egomaniac nor any of the other things that tend to tag along with "Strongest chess player in the world".