chessplayers

Many chessplayers live in a world of their own. The game of chess has touched off some very bizarre behavioral patterns among chessplayers. Here are some examples of the eccentrics of chess.
Alekhine was famous for his eccentrics. He drank very heavily and was nicknamed "Ale-and-Wine." In a few tournaments he was found in a field drunk. He would urinate on the floor in other events. He married four times to women 20 to 30 years older than he.
Nimzovich stood on his head during chess events or did exercises in the tournament room. After losing a game, he once jumped up on the table and yelled, "Why must I lose to this idiot."
The Mexican master, Carlos Torre, was found running down Fifth Avenue in New York in the nude.
Tartakower lost 5 games in a row and was asked why. He replied, "I had a toothache during the first game. In the second game I had a headache. In the third game it was an attack of rheumatism. In the fourth game, I wasn't feeling well. And in the fifth game? Well, must one have to win every game?"
Steinitz had delusions of telephoning people without any phone. He thought he could emit electrical currents and move chess pieces at will. He even claimed to be in direct contact with God and occasionally beating Him at chess with pawn odds.
Morphy imagined himself persecuted by his relatives and went into a state of seclusion. He thought his food had been poisoned or that someone was trying to kill him. He had a fetish with women's shoes.
Rubinstein was so paranoid that if a stranger came into his room, he would run or even jump out of a window. In chess tournaments he would make a move then stand as far away as possible from the board until his next move. During World War I, he invested all his money in German War Bonds.
Emanuel Lasker was a successful chessplayer but a failure as a farmer. He once tried to breed pigeons and enter them in poultry shows. He tried for many months and failed. The pigeons were all male.
Blackburne hated to lose at chess so badly that he once threw an opponent out the window after losing a game.
Capablanca refused to pose with a film star, saying, "Why should I give her publicity?"
Henrique Mecking lost his match with Petrosian and made a formal protest. He accused Petrosian of kicking the table, shaking the chessboard, stirring the coffee too loudly, and rolling a coin on the table. He went to the referee twice to complain that Petrosian was breathing too loudly. Mecking kicked back at the table and started making noises of his own. Petrosian responded by turning his hearing aid off.
William Russ was the leading American compiler of chess problems in the 19th Century. He adopted an 11-year old girl and proposed to her when she turned 21. When she rejected him, he shot her 4 times in the head, then shot himself twice. She survived, he did not. His chess book, published posthumously, was entitled AMERICAN CHESS NUTS.
David Janowski was a great chessplayer and an addicted gambler. In one tournament in Monte Carlo, he gave all his money to a friend and made him promise not to return the money until after the event. However, the lure of gambling was too much and he begged his friend to return his money. His friend refused, so Janowski sued his friend.
Bobby Fischer could have played Boris Spassky anywhere in the world for millions of dollars in their 1992 re-match. Instead, he agreed to play in Yugoslavia against US and UN sanctions. He spit on the U.S. Department of Treasury warning not to play in Yugoslavia, played anyway, and is now facing 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In 1999 he gave radio interviews denying the holocaust of the Nazis and accusing the Jewish community of conspiring against him (Fischer is half Jewish). After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S., Fischer applauded the attacks and said America deserved it. In 2002, he made a radio interview encouraging the Icelandic government to kick out the U.S. military from Iceland. He encouraged the Icelandic government to send anthrax to the U.S. government if the U.S. failed to leave Iceland