

Executives who are exceptional at chess - sethbannon
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8293

======
snth
"Excelling at chess has long been considered a symbol of more general
intelligence. That is an incorrect assumption in my view, as pleasant as it
might be."

\- Garry Kasparov

[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/feb/11/the-
che...](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/feb/11/the-chess-master-
and-the-computer/?pagination=false)

------
mvkel
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. What do all these execs have in common? An
obsession with chess as a youth.

I bet 90% of successful execs had a sweet baseball card collection when they
were 10 years old, too.

------
jpwagner
Realize that the difference between 2500 and 2200 is truly remarkable.

Those under 2000 should probably be considered enthusiasts rather than
exceptional.

~~~
super_mario
Yes, indeed. Breaking the 2000 barrier is really hard. But becoming a
grandmaster is unimaginably hard. There are only a thousand living
grandmasters on the planet today (the highest there has ever been in the
history of humanity) out of 7 billion people. In 1972 there were only 88.

------
hassy
chess is old school. i want to see a list of founders who are exceptional at
starcraft.

(only half-joking)

~~~
vijayr
what about go?

~~~
ricefield
Exactly what I wanted to ask, but you'd probably find that list on a
Chinese/Korean/Japanese website...

------
spot
heh that's interesting i went to high school with vivek rao, he was a couple
years behind me iirc. he said once (i think he was quoting someone else):

a good chess player is the sign of a good mind. a great chess player is the
sign of a wasted mind.

~~~
spot
a little research turns up: "The ability to play chess is the sign of a
gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life." --
Paul Morphy

------
ternaryoperator
If he chose bridge rather than chess, there'd be some really high-recognition
names on the list: Bill Gates (a good enthusiast), Warren Buffet (an excellent
player), Jimmy Cayne (former CEO of Bear Stearns, a national champion), and
many others.

------
llasram
I wonder what the Go list would look like. US-only, probably somewhat random
and maybe even obfuscating, but world-wide is a far more popular game.

------
lpolovets
The lower rated players on this list tend to be cofounders and CEOs while the
higher rated players tend to work in finance. I wonder if that's a
coincidence.

~~~
3JPLW
I think there's a selection effect at play. There are many more lower rated
players, but fewer CEOs and cofounders. Remember that this list is about
executives. As they go up the list, the pool of players narrows. And thus,
they have to dig a bit farther down into corporate ranks to find their execs.

However, the finance correlation would be unaffected by this effect.

------
pinchyfingers
If anything, it seems like an enthusiasm for chess may be a good way to get
introductions or jobs. That's good news if you're not into golf.

------
horatiohnelson
really cool

