Larry Evans on Chess: Colossal egos
June 14, 2009
“Chess is vanity,” observed former world champion Alexander Alekhine.
Indeed, humility is a rare affliction among experts.
Efim Bogoljubov was a born optimist unperturbed by losses, and Alekhine used him as a punching bag in two title matches while ducking his arch rival, Jose Capablanca. (Capa refused to pose with a film star, saying, “Why should I give her publicity?”)
In his heyday, Bogoljubov boasted, “When I am white, I win because I have the first move. When I am black, I win because I am Bogoljubov.” He claimed that Alekhine hypnotized him and blithely explained away his steady losses to the new generation: “The young demons have read my book. Now I have no chance against them.”
Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort were once at a dinner where a toast was proposed to the world champion. They both rose!
Ignatz Kolisch, a penniless chess pro, abandoned the game for banking, made his fortune and then became a great patron of chess in the 19th century. He missed a chance for a match with Paul Morphy because the American refused to play for a stake and Kolisch, as a “professional,” refused to play without one.
Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch clicked his heels and bowed curtly before his title match in Germany with Emanuel Lasker in 1908. “To you, Herr Lasker, I have only three words: check and mate.” Tarrasch blamed his lopsided defeat on the fact that he was sensitive to the sea even though Germany was his homeland and Dusseldorf was some 170 miles from the coast.
Amos Burn, a veteran British master, observed at the end of a long career that he never had the satisfaction of beating a perfectly healthy opponent.
Bobby Fischer, sick and tired of hearing excuses, said: “People have been playing against me below their strength for 15 years.” On a TV talk show, Fischer confessed that his greatest thrill came from “crushing the opponent’s ego” — an ambitious but impossible undertaking.
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Evans forgot about Goichberg, the biggest ego of all. He’s willing to bankrupt the USCF instead of apologizing for his action.
about “tired of hearing excuses”, I think Judit has once said: ” I have never beaten a healthy man”.
I guess Susan could have said it earlier, too.
🙂
That’s not what Judit said. That’s was the famous quote from Susan Polgar.
Bobby was the best!
Susan is the prettiest!
But then there’s Tartakower:
“I had a toothache during the first game. In the second game I had a headache. In the third game it was an attack of rheumatism. In the fourth game, I wasn’t feeling well. And in the fifth game? Well, must one have to win every game?”
“A chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third…when you know you’re going to lose!”