[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: The Karpov Quote: A Follow-up

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
The Karpov Quote: A Follow-up
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205382646.shtml


   In [1]this post, I presented the following Karpov quote, from his 1978
   work My Best Games:

     I always want to be first. If I were not a chess player, I would
     want to be first in whatever I was doing. And even more in chess -
     otherwise it would be silly to play seriously. If you are not
     first, it means you have been defeated. And who wants to be a
     loser?

   There was an interesting discussion about this in the comments
   section, some of it focused on Karpov's last, somewhat harsh-sounding
   comment about being a "loser". That is part of what caught my eye in
   the first place, too, but yesterday I came across a second Karpov
   quotation, this time from a 1973 or 1974 article cited in Karpov's
   co-authored (with Aleksander Roshal) Chess is My Life (published in
   English in 1980; based on the content I'd say the original was written
   in 1978), page 122:

     I always want to be first. If I weren't a chess player, all the
     same I would aim to be first at something. Well, let's say, not
     first, but one of the best. And what about in chess? In chess--even
     more so. Otherwise it is stupid to play seriously. And besides, if
     you are not first, it means you have lost. And who enjoys losing?"

   These two quotes, though not their surrounding contexts in the two
   books, are almost identical. So this seems almost like a creed for
   Karpov, something like a motto or a purpose statement. The one obvious
   difference is the final statement in each case: the first quote sounds
   harsher and more sweeping: if you don't win, you're a "loser". The
   second quote doesn't describe the person, but only the event and its
   psychological effects.

   Based on the strong similarities, I'm guessing that what we have here
   is a difference among translators, though any readers with access to
   Russian-language originals are welcomed, indeed invited, to say more.
   (For those who are curious, the translator of the "loser" passage was
   Hanon Russell of [2]Chess Cafe fame, while "losing" was translated by
   Kenneth Neat.)

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1204526716.shtml
   2. http://chesscafe.com/