Tuesday, 24 December 2019

Killing time

"Does being good at chess mean you're good at other things?" Probably not, is my usual response when asked this question, as the list of "other things" can be quite vague. But the skills you develop in chess can be carried over to other activities, especially those that require information organisation.
Certainly chess players have also succeeded at Poker, bridge and Share Trading (although many have failed as well). Add Fantasy Football to the list, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen also doing extremely well in the Fantasy Premier League competition. As of last week he was in first place (ahead of a couple of million players), but I'm not sure if he has maintained his lead this week.
One thing working in his favour is having the time to work on his team selections. IM Gary Lane once told me that a number of English IM's and GM's used to enter lots of different competitions, as it was something could do while travelling (and between rounds), and it provided rewards outside chess. In Carlsen's case I suspect the motivation isn't material, but like most people, the desire to succeed at something they think is important.

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