MARK RUBERY CHESS

There is little doubt today that the earlier one learns how to play chess the further and faster one can move through the ranks. However, in the era before computers this did not always hold true. Here is a sprinkling of some of the greatest players and those who gave them initial guidance:

Alexander older brother. Alekhine learned at the age of 7 from his

Viswinathan age 6 and was Anand taught learned by his the mother. game of chess at

Max Euwe learned at the age of 9 from his parents.

Reuben his cousin. Fine learned chess at the age of 8 from

Bobby older sister. Fischer learned at the age of 8 from his

Robert father. Hubner learned at the age of 5 from his

Anatoly Karpov learned chess at the age of 4 at the Pioneers Palace.

Gary Kasparov learned at age 5 from his father, who later died in a car crash.

Paul Keres learned at the age of 4.

Paul Morphy was introduced to the game at age 8 by his father.

Hikaru Nakamura learned how to play chess at the age of 7-and thereafter it was blitz on the Internet.

Vasily Smyslov learned chess at the age of 6 from his father and from the chess books in his father’s library.

Boris Spassky learned chess at the age of 5.

Capablanca claimed he learned chess at the age of 4 by watching his father play chess against friends.

Emanuel Lasker learned at age 11 from his older brother.

Mikhail Tal learned at the age of 8 by watching patients play chess at the hospital his father worked at.

Veselin Topalov learned at age 9.

Amos Burn learned at 16 the same age as Mikhail Chigorin (Who only started to play seriously at 24!

The English master, Joseph Blackburne, (and joint SA blindfold record holder) was 19 years old before he discovered chess from a book he had purchased.

The famous talent, Sultan Khan, only learned the rules of international chess, having until then been only acquainted with Indian chess, at age 21.

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