Early Chess Prodigies
Early chess prodigies were Paul Morphy (1837–1884) and José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942), both of whom won matches against strong adult opponents at the age of 12; and Samuel Reshevsky (1911–1992), who was giving simultaneous exhibitions at the age of six. Morphy went on to be unofficial World Champion (before the official title existed), Capablanca became World Champion, and Reshevsky—while never attaining the title—was amongst the top few players in the world for many years.
It was more difficult for players of the "pre-computer" chess era to become a true prodigy than it is today. This is because it is necessary to play opponents of top level strength on at least a semi-frequent basis to develop these chess skills. Computer chess nowadays is at a very high level and nearly anyone has access to these programs anywhere in the world. At the time Bobby Fischer become a teenage sensation in the 50's and 60's, he notably lived in New York City where he joined the Manhattan Chess Club, the strongest in the country.
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Famous quotes containing the words early, chess and/or prodigies:
“Here is this vast, savage, howling mother of ours, Nature, lying all around, with such beauty, and such affection for her children, as the leopard; and yet we are so early weaned from her breast to society, to that culture which is exclusively an interaction of man on man,—a sort of breeding in and in, which produces at most a merely English nobility, a civilization destined to have a speedy limit.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem.... I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”
—Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968)
““... The grave and my calm body are shut to your coming as stone,
And the endless beginning of prodigies suffers open.””
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)