Why Israel is excellent at chess

Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

JEWS are excellent chess players because they are more intelligent, better- educated and more motivated than the average person.

Several times, it has been dangerous to be Jewish, and many hid their faith to avoid persecution. Two such periods were from the 15th to the 18th century during the Spanish Inquisition, and in 1938 to 1945 during the Nazi Holocaust where an estimated six million Jews were killed.

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

Even now, Israel is surrounded by nations that do not recognize its right to exist.

The facts are extraordinary. There are at most 13 million Jews in the world today, yet they control Wall Street, the entertainment industry, the diamond trade and big business.

Forty-five percent of the top 40 of the Forbes 400 richest Americans are Jewish. One-third of American multimillionaires are Jewish. Twenty percent of professors at leading universities are Jewish. Thirty percent of American Nobel prize winners in science and 25 percent of all American Nobel winners are Jewish.

The percentage of Jewish households with income greater than $50,000 is double that of non-Jews.

Forty-five percent of the Jews live in the United States, which constitutes only two of the American population. The incredible influence of this small group of people has resulted in a vast transfer of wealth from the United States to Israel, due mainly to the political power of the Jewish lobby.

Big names and thinkers are Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud, among many others.

A big number of actors and actresses are Jewish as well as musicians, scientists and business professionals.

Let us not also forget the original Jews (Hebrews)--Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Mary, Jesus of Nazareth and the main propagator of Christianity, Paul of Tarsus.

Jews are not generally known to be good in sports. There is one exception though and this is in chess, which is not surprising.

Despite its small population (7.5 million), Israel is ranked as the third top playing country in the world. It is ahead of the USA, China, India, France, England and
Germany. Only Russia and Ukraine are rated higher simply because of their big population.

There are 34 grandmasters, 43 international masters and 145 titled players in Israel and the game is played all over the country by all ages. In addition, there are a good number of GMs and IMs who are citizens in other countries such as Russia, Ukraine, USA, Hungary and other European nations who are Jewish.

The quality and number of chess players who are Jewish or half-Jewish are fantastic and extraordinary. World champions include Wilhelm Steinitz, Emmanuel Lasker, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Alexander Khalifman and Boris Gelfand.

Other famous players are the Polgar sisters, Aron Nimzowitsch, Miguel Najdorf, Efim Geller, Larry Evans, Reuben Fine, Viktor Korchnoi, Peter Svidler, Richard Réti, Siegbert Tarrasch and Mark Taimanov.

Let us not forget also Boris Alterman, Yuri Averbakh, Joel Benjamin, David Bronstein, Dawid Janowski, Lev Polugaevsky and the great Samuel Reshevsky.

SAN ROQUE. The battle of monthly champions was played last Jan. 24 at the barangay hall of San Roque, Talisay and the grand winner was Gerard Donn Ouano with a
perfect score of seven points.

Runners-up were Krystell Kaytte Ouano, Jeffu Dorog, Loraine Powao, and Steven Keith Pacada.

Sponsors were San Roque Barangay Captain Antonio Cabrera, Jojo Powao and Cepca member Gerry Ouano. Tournament director was former Cepca president Manny Manzanares.

Here is some good news for Cepca members: One of our original members, Yegor Abelita, will try his luck in the 2010 Chess World Open in Philadelphia on March 31 to

April 4 together with his granddaughter.

(boypestano@chess.com,www.chessmoso.blogspot.com)