Magnus triple champion

Steinitz delusional
Lasker was well rounded
Capa was decent...a drinking womanizer
Alekhine probably a crazy Nazi if they won the war
Euwe boring
Botvinnik was also well rounded
Smyslov seemed normal
Tal was Tal
Petrosian I dunno
Spassky seemed normal
Fischer crazy as bat shyt
Karpov normal
Kasparov was aggressive

Definitely a variety of temperaments.

Hi Booger

"Smyslov seemed normal ."

'...He [Smyslov] seemed to believe in astrology and the prophecies of
Nostradamus, and was convinced that chess originated on Atlantis. '

http://britishchessnews.com/2020/04/16/smyslov-on-the-couch/

Hi Booger,

"Botvinnik was also well rounded"

Paying someone to blow smoke in his face whilst he studied. Normal?

And this from Averbach. Botvinnik was paranoid about being poisoned...even by a friend.

'Once, on Sunday, my wife came to Botvinnik's dacha with a fresh cake from Cafe
National, which was famous for its sweets back in the day. You should have seen
how glad were all the guests when they started to eat the cake. But the host didn't
even touch it. Only during supper, when the cake was placed on the table again,
Botvinnik did eat some - after he was sure that everyone who ate it at the dinner were all right.'

https://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/yuri-averbakh-remembers-mikhail-botvinnik

@greenpawn34

The smoke in the face was training for chess playing halls where smoking was allowed.
Understandable.

Also, poisoning during the Soviet Union did happen so it's also understandable to be careful.

Hi Booger,

Fischer crazy as bat shyt

Quite a few people were worried about Bobby's mental state when he was young.
In the late 1950's a meeting was held to discuss how best he be treated.

"Then someone raised a question: What if therapy worked? What if treatment sapped
Fischer's drive to win, depriving the United States of its first homegrown world champ?
Meeting adjourned. No one, Kaufman recalls, wanted to tamper with that finely tuned brain."

https://psmag.com/social-justice/a-psychological-autopsy-of-bobby-fischer-25959

So people were concerned, but they left him untreated because they wanted an
American chess champion...and make money out of him.
As time went on he got worse. It was not his fault he was mentally ill.

@booger said
Steinitz delusional
Lasker was well rounded
Capa was decent...a drinking womanizer
Alekhine probably a crazy Nazi if they won the war
Euwe boring
Botvinnik was also well rounded
Smyslov seemed normal
Tal was Tal
Petrosian I dunno
Spassky seemed normal
Fischer crazy as bat shyt
Karpov normal
Kasparov was aggressive

Definitely a variety of temperaments.

Eccentric players of the past are a lot better than a quitter like Magnus Carlsen and Fischer.

Not all world champions were nuts and even the ones who were a little off are better than quitters.

@paul-leggett said
First you get on Greenpawn about comparing Carlsen to eccentric players from the past, then in this post you call them "well-rounded". Did you change your mind?

Hi Booger,

I was agreeing with you and given you some examples of odd harmless behavior.

Bobby on the other hand had problems that nobody understood (or ignored).
Having won the title after being obsessed with it since he was young there was only
thing that could happen, he was going to lose it, and that was not going to happen.

Carlsen, who came from a more stable background, is a millionaire. He wants to
enjoy life without the burden of the title and possibly one day standing on the
rostrum as the ex-champion. Anand and Kramnik seemed to accept it. Kasparov
waited a few years then retired when he too was number one on the rating list.
(also a quitter?)

I do not think Carlsen will return to the world title cycle. He may take part in some of
the qualifying events. The World Cup etc but give up his qualifying spot.

I, like many others am disappointed that Carlsen turned his back 150 of chess history
and in a way demeaned the title without any valid reason other than he cannot be bothered.
Comparing him to Fischer is not quite correct. Carlsen willingly retired the title.
Bobby still called himself the World Champion till the day he died.

@greenpawn34

The Kasparov PCA fiasco and the years of BS after that would be quitting in my book.

Magnus is definitely the best ever and tosses the title away making it less.

We just got over the Kasparov/FIDE battles and now this.

I'm making it into a big deal because I always considered the world champions as almost godlike.
Jealousy and envy are definitely part of it. 😉

I also take challenges and title defenses seriously.

No matter if it's the world championship or a rivalry between friends or siblings.

@booger said
I also take challenges and title defenses seriously.

No matter if it's the world championship or a rivalry between friends or siblings.