Alekhine Interview

Check out this rare interview inteview with Alekhine. Apparently it's a BBC interview from 1938.

Quite unbelievable to hear the great man's voice.

http://nl.youtube.com/results?search_query=alekhine&search=Zoeken

WELL..........his voise is not what i expected......didn't like how he said chess players are born good.......still a cool chess artifact though.

Originally posted by chessisvanity
didn't like how he said chess players are born good

I don't think he meant they were born good. It's not like anyone is born knowing the rules of chess, much less born a good chess player.

My understanding of what he meant was that like musicians and artists, great chess players are born with "talent", which is not something that can be taught or trained. But, obviously, if the talent is not developed through training and dedication then it will go to waste.

Conversely, without talent all the training and dedication in the world could only make one in to a technically proficient player, not a great player. Or so thinks Alekhine (or my interpretation of what he meant).

I know what he meant by it......but i don't agree with it.

Originally posted by chessisvanity
I know what he meant by it......but i don't agree with it.

Do you think that with enough dedication and training anyone could become a Kasparov, Fischer, or Alekhine?

if taken from birth and trained yes...of course.......starting late? no never....

look at the polgar sisters!!

exactly......susan polgar would crush Alekhine and Fischer....(Kasparov no...)

but the point being anyone can learn to be great given the right conditions.....

Originally posted by chessisvanity
if taken from birth and trained yes...of course.......starting late? no never....

Really? So if someone was born brain damaged, or sustained a severe brain injury early on in their life they'd still be able to be trained to become as strong as Kasparov?

If you admit that the possibility that these people would be incapable of becoming great chess players, no matter how much training they received, perhaps you will admit the possibility that some, if not most or even virtually all "ordinary" people could be born similarly handicapped when compared to people who achieve greatness, whether in chess or in some other field.

Now, of course, that doesn't mean that dedication, training, education, family life, socio-economic status, and many other factors don't play a role in creating a great player. But I think it's pretty plausible that some people might be born with an edge over others when it comes to having some potential towards becoming a great chess player. Just how much of an edge they may have, or how critical this edge is is difficult to tell... but I admit the possibility that it exists in some people.

Having a good memory, being able to visualize and calculate quickly are certainly abilities that could be trained to some extent in most "normal" people... but people could also be born with either an edge in some of these abilities (like people born with a photographic memory, or synesthasia) or with potential to develop these abilities much further than others.

I CANT BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY SAID THAT.....you have no respect for the physically challenged....my god man....there are exceptions to the rule...jesus man

and you haven't even played a game here!!!

Originally posted by mipmcpt
look at the polgar sisters!!

Their father was a Hungarian Olympic champion. Perhaps heredity played a role there. Anyway, just because these three girls wound up being great chess players doesn't mean anyone could, and it doesn't mean that there isn't some ability or potential that's inherited that needs to be there for someone to become a great chess player.

Originally posted by chessisvanity
I CANT BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY SAID THAT.....you have no respect for the physically challenged....my god man....there are exceptions to the rule...jesus man

and you haven't even played a game here!!!

I'm not talking about people who are physically challenged. I'm talking about people who are mentally challenged, or mentally crippled really... people who are largely incapable of forming coherent thoughts or communicating. I'm not disrespecting them. I'm just recognizing that they exist.

And I'm not making any kind of generalization about every single severely mentally challenged person in the world. I'm just saying that there are some people who will have great trouble even learning the rules of chess, much less becoming mediocre (nevermind great) chess players... and that they are this way because they were born that way (whether through heredity or through in utero damage).

Likewise, heredity and in utero conditions may well confer certain critical advantages to the people who will go on to become great chess players. I think this is a pretty obvious possibility, considering our knowledge of the role that genetics and fetal development plays in later stages of development (including the role they play in learning).

Finally, I really don't see what me having played a game on this website has anything to do with the validity of what I am saying. Even if I didn't know how to play the game that wouldn't mean that what I'm saying is wrong. Let's try to stick with the content of what we're saying instead of trying to smear the person saying it.

Originally posted by mipmcpt
look at the polgar sisters!!

Right like he said their father was a great chessplayer and they probably influenced each other a lot.

Intelligence is partially inherited, and nurtured at birth-teenage. If a baby's brain is stimulated a lot during infancy and childhood the child will have a better developed brain. This is why I think a lot of Asian kids are really smart, because in their culture the parents start teaching them at a young age.

And also I think the polgar sisters didn't go to school. They just played chess all day. If anyone devoted every waking second of their life to something they would be pretty good too.

Originally posted by MoneyMaker7
Right like he said their father was a great chessplayer and they probably influenced each other a lot.

Intelligence is partially inherited, and nurtured at birth-teenage. If a baby's brain is stimulated a lot during infancy and childhood the child will have a better developed brain. This is why I think a lot of Asian kids are really smart, because in f anyone devoted every waking second of their life to something they would be pretty good too.

and the funny part is that we devoted our life to many things, and we also went to school...but I bet we know much less than Polgar sisters on average knowledge...even in school you are supposed to....
At least they do something very good 🙂

interviewer mispronounced alekhine's name repeatedly, wasn't prepared well, must have really pissed off alekhine