People, particularly chess players themselves, say the darnedest things about chess and about chess players. Here are some of our favorite misconceptions about the royal game. Some of these sayings are unquestionably off-target, some of them are uneducated impression, and some of them are controversies that might or might not be valid.
1 ) Chess is difficult to grasp.
Chess may not be the easiest game to pick up, but it is far from the most prohibitive. You have to know the moves of the six pieces, where the object with the slightest significance, the Pawn, has the most complex moves. Then you have to memorize the rules about attacking and defending the King, including castling. Then there are a few rules about games where neither player wins. One side of this myth is legitimate – – it is difficult, very difficult, to learn to play chess well. One player in a hundred achieves supremacy.
2 ) You have to be brainy to play chess.
There is some link between chess talent and general intelligence. Minimum smarts are required. Cats and dogs will never make out the basics; no one has tried giving lessons to dolphins and chimpanzees. ...