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What did the Gods study?

What did the Gods study?

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I'm sitting here going over games from the Gods...(Alekhine, Capablanca, Reti , Nimzowitsch etc etc)

And I wonder what they studied?...I've seen books from way back then and they are brutally basic.

Anyone out there have a theory....a serious one...please post.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
I'm sitting here going over games from the Gods...(Alekhine, Capablanca, Reti , Nimzowitsch etc etc)

And I wonder what they studied?...I've seen books from way back then and they are brutally basic.

Anyone out there have a theory....a serious one...please post.
I would imagine that they studied each other's games more than anything. Unlike us dopes, they'd be smart enough to decipher the evolution of chess ideas through the games rather than some book tutorial.

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yeah....I would imagine that is why the lines are named for them....because they developed them. Otherwise we'd be studying the "some guy you never heard of who played chess in antiquity" line that Nimzovich was so fond of.

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Originally posted by caffiend
yeah....I would imagine that is why the lines are named for them....because they developed them. Otherwise we'd be studying the "some guy you never heard of who played chess in antiquity" line that Nimzovich was so fond of.
🙂

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wow caffiend is so funny. if i didn't feel sorry for him i'd laugh more.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
wow caffiend is so funny. if i didn't feel sorry for him i'd laugh more.
oh stop.
I get plenty of pity from folks who actually know me. Don't need the digital kind also!!
All in good fun.
To be frank, I'm sure the masters didn't weave perfect games out of thin air. Every breakout player in chess history stands on the shoulders of those that came before.
There just happened to be a little more room for innovation and discovery than is left in the game today.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
I'm sitting here going over games from the Gods...(Alekhine, Capablanca, Reti , Nimzowitsch etc etc)
lame.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
I'm sitting here going over games from the Gods...(Alekhine, Capablanca, Reti , Nimzowitsch etc etc)

And I wonder what they studied?...I've seen books from way back then and they are brutally basic.

Anyone out there have a theory....a serious one...please post.
If you believe the legend, Capa never studied books at all. He was to busy wining and dining with the aristocracy of the day. He was apparently a complete natural, the like of which we will never see again! He never even had a chess set at home.

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Originally posted by chessisvanity
I'm sitting here going over games from the Gods...(Alekhine, Capablanca, Reti , Nimzowitsch etc etc)

And I wonder what they studied?...I've seen books from way back then and they are brutally basic.

Anyone out there have a theory....a serious one...please post.
They studied the games of Morphy, Anderssen, Steinitz and Tschigorin.

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that answers that...thanks

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Even the Neanderthals could study the games of Heidelberg Man. Of course, these mostly consisted of moving large rock-shaped pieces down on top of the opponent's head.

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They sat down at their boards and thought hard, moving the pieces by hand, making copious notes by hand, and deciphering the hidden ideas behind great master games. They studied tactics, tactics, and more tactics. All the incisive strategy in the world doesn't add up to much unless it has a tactical significance.
There's a connection between the hand and the brain, and sometimes I think that computers have severed this connection. (Although, it has been claimed that Capablanca didn't even own a chess set!)