Chess anecdotes
Central Misperception
Leon Trotsky, who spent much of his time during World War I playing chess in Vienna’s Cafe Central, was regarded by his acquiantances as simple, harmless, even slightly pathetic.
In March 1917, the Austrian foreign minister was notified by an excited subordinate that a revolution had broken out in Russia. “Russia is not a land where revolutions break out,” the minister skeptically snorted. “Besides, who on earth would make a revolution in Russia? Perhaps Herr Trotsky from the Cafe Central?”
Classic Tartakover
The famous chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower was once asked to explain his abysmal performance at a certain tournament. “I had a toothache during the first game,” he explained. “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!?”
Source: Anecdotage Press
