Is talent required to be a top chess player?

jficquette · Nov 25, 2008

Quote from nutmeg:

"If I wanted to be a champion boxer but lacked the strength or speed and got knocked out in the first round every time, soon I would abandon boxing for other interests."
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Typical excuse for a loser. Why bother? If boxing is an analogy to life or a job or schoolwork, maybe I'll find other "interests" like crime or public assistance. Everybody gets an "A" in class, will this help?

It really depends on who in your life is important to guide you. If you are telling yourself, judging your own aptitude, then maybe that is the all you can do. But until you find someone who believes in you, you shouldn't give up without a second opinion. A knock down in the first round can be a motivator or make you a quitter.

Too many kids try something once, lose and say I'm not any good at it. "At least I tried" they say. I call bs, until someone who is better than you tells you, you've done everything you can and then are not very good at it, well then, perhaps you have learned something and gained another asset, then quit.

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"We tend to like what we are good at and successful at and persist in such activities, and dislike and avoid activites that we are no good at."

This may be human nature but until you conquer what you aren't good at but necessary, you have no yardstick on what you can really accomplish.

Example, If you are a right handed boxer, what needs work? The left hand. Suppose you avoided using your left hand because it is not as strong? Well, back to square one, applying yourself to what you are not good at.

You could always teach Boxing.

I am not aware of any pro football coaches that were all pro football players. Don't have to be the best to teach something.

killthesunshine · Nov 25, 2008

try teaching skiing without ever having skiied.

let me know how you make out

MandelbrotSet · Nov 25, 2008

Quote from Bootsie:

Agreed...

You can't teach speed... or a standing 48" vertical (as in Barry's case) ...

Actually, a lot of physical, mental and emotional skill-sets can be acquired with the right training, coaching and conditioning.

killthesunshine · Nov 25, 2008

Quote from MandelbrotSet:

Actually, a lot of physical, mental and emotional skill-sets can be acquired with the right training, coaching and conditioning.

anyone can learn a 'skill set" but that's not same thing as the 'top' or 'one of the best" is it?

shortie · Nov 25, 2008

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2427

"Fabio Bruno, a 44 years old who only recently returned to chess after a 15-year pause"

rated 2374 his performance was 2600! in this tournament.

i also recall reading about a russian who got his FM norm at a tender age 70+.

so, old dogs can still learn new tricks.

GermanTrader · Nov 25, 2008

I don't know for sure, since I am not a talented chess player. I can play chess but have talent no for it, and even little interest in staring at anything not female and at least partially-nude for a long period of time.

I am a profitable trader. The talented chess players I know have no interest in trading, as they are content with the idea of working until they're 75, then retiring on SSI. I don't get it, but that's their mentality about it.

shortie · Nov 25, 2008

Quote from GermanTrader:

I don't know for sure, since I am not a talented chess player. I can play chess but have talent no for it, and even little interest in staring at anything not female and at least partially-nude for a long period of time.

I am a profitable trader. The talented chess players I know have no interest in trading, as they are content with the idea of working until they're 75, then retiring on SSI. I don't get it, but that's their mentality about it.

maybe talented chess players are more like artists than like "normal" people.

andrasnm · Dec 3, 2008

Thanks for posting the article. I think it is. While you can train yourself to be "very good". Being "world class" takes something more.....
I was just "very good" and never had the magic something to be beyond that...

Quote from nitro:

Fascinating article:

http://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/fidestudy/results

Mr J · Dec 3, 2008

Quote from jdeezero05:

Who cares...if you spend the next 10 years studying poker night and day, you still probly won't win the world series of poker. You probly could make a living though after 10 years taking hobbiest pikers money at various tables.
That still hardly maps 1:1 with trading, if anything trading for a living is alot easier than that. Most people though are too delusional, don't know their place on the food chain and basically lazy when it comes to trading that they won't last 2 years let alone 10.

Bad analogy, as winning the WSOP is mainly due to chance. Also, a typical professional these days is a 20 something online player who become profitable within days to months, and online players can reach a high level of expertise within a couple of years. Poker is extremely accessible to new players due to the different limits (so it's not hard to become the big fish in your pond), the low capital requirement, and the ability to read a guide and profit just using abc poker (robotic poker).

maybe talented chess players are more like artists than like "normal" people.

What, because they're content to work until they're 75? That sounds pretty typical of most people.

dsobotka123 · Dec 3, 2008

I am an average chess player and a good trader. But one I do for a lioving, and one for fun. I am sure I could be as good at chess if i wrote down every move, the actions of such moves, and reseached, gone to schools, etc. get my point? it is very hard to be good at something with out a lot of work.