Talk:Carl Schlechter

Jewish?

There appears to be considerable debate as to whether Schlechter was Jewish. Check out the discussion on the chessgames.com site referenced in the article. As far as I can tell, the more reliable references cited there (Alekhine's rant can hardly be considered "reliable") seem to indicate that he was not. Accordingly I am removing the two Jewish categories from the article. If anyone can find a really definitive reference one way or the other, please cite it and restore the categories if appropriate. The default, based on that very limited info on the chessgames site, should probably be to omit them, however. -- Bill-on-the-Hill 03:24, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

We need to ask why there is a category Category:Jewish chess players at all. The answer is that we normally don't care what religion or race a chess player is, except that Jews are massively overrepresented among top chess players, and this is notable (Gerald Abrahams has a chapter in a book entitled "Why are Jews good at chess?"). Accordingly, I don't think it is necessary to examine every single chess player to determine with 100% certainty whether s/he is Jewish. The point that many Jews are good at chess can be established without the dubious/disputed cases such as Schlechter. So I say, if in doubt, leave it out. I agree with the deletion. Rocksong 03:47, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Apparently Schlechter was a German-Austrian Catholic, but in any case, not Jewish. See Chess and Jews, by Edward G. Winter. Winter is obsessive about getting these sorts of details right, so barring strong evidence to the contrary (apparently the Jewish Encyclopedia incorrectly lists Schlechter as Jewish), I think this is settled. One of Winter's sources was Warren Goldman (1994) Carl Schlechter! Life and Times of the Austrian Chess Wizard (ISBN 978-0939433186), but I don't have this book. Quale 01:05, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Looks like this question has recurred. I see no changes in primary references that would justify putting the categories back; accordingly, I have once again deleted them. But really: aren't there birth/baptismal/bris/burial records out there that could settle this once for all, without relying on dubious secondary sources? -- Bill-on-the-Hill (talk) 21:49, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

I agree that listing ethnicity/religion and/or religion of ancestors is increasingly less important but if a Jew or Black person accomplished something in the 19th century or before, they did so despite significant social and even legal discrimination. If someone was an ex-slave or had been chased from his home by anti-Jewish riots but was a world chess champ or inventor, this is worth noting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.230.251.244 (talk) 01:24, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

Lasker a "Cagey Bird"

I do not think to call Lasker a "cagey bird" to be corteous and even more to be true.

It's a quote, so we should leave it in, or insert "..." to indicate a broken quote, or choose a different citation. Other writers (e.g. Horowitz) have written that Lasker was a shrewd negotiator, so I don't think the quote it's unreasonable. Peter Ballard 23:56, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

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