Was Albert Einstein a very good Chess player?

I know that Einstein used to discuss his theories with Emmanuel Lasker..!

Im not really sure that you could assign a value to his play after one game, but he certainly played significantly better than a 1500.  From my experience in USCF, players at 1500 and below are basically tactical and strategic beginners, and have merely gotten to the stage where they dont play completely terrible.  This game showed Einstein was not a tactical beginner.  Oppenheimer on the other hand ...

Yes, but you just described how GMs think of regular masters.  They've just gotten to the point where they can avoid obvious blunders and aren't terrible, it's all relative.

At 1500 USCF I was very familiar with the ruy e file discoveries, the Qh5+ tricks, and after eating the rook the Bh6 move.  At 1500 I could have played most of this game blindfolded, so IMO his play wasn't "considerably better" than 1500, and certainly not 2000, but again, his opponent was so poor it's hard to tell much.

Yeah, but his IQ didn't make him good, he wasn't good until he practiced harder than probably anyone in the history of chess, except maaaaybe Kasparov.  He pathologically practiced it -- much less common than an IQ of 180 was his drive to perfect his game, it wasn't healthy and it wasn't normal and basically that's really the only way someone with no GM coach from the age of 5 and no strong chess surroundings could single handedly obliterate the worlds best.

I guarantee you Eo if you studied as hard as Fischer did you'd have an international master title easily.  Same for me, and about about 80% of the population too.

Disagree. If you don't have the talent he did, you can study all you want, and not beat the world champ. 

You're right, even though his study is what made him good, not his IQ, it's not realistic to think anyone with hard work could become a world champ... so instead lets aim a bit lower and say with all that work the average person could reach... maybe... I dunno, an IM at least

Its hard to judge his strength when his opponent plays like an 800

I would hazard that they had other things on their minds..

 I doubt IM.

Maybe a titled player would weigh in on this, but IM as an upper limit to an average person's chess playing potential is a reasonable estimate IMO.  And basically if you study chess 10-14 hours a day, Fischer even did as much as 17 hours a day (yes, that means he wasn't getting much sleep...) then you're sure to max out your potential, nearly by definition alone.

Don't get me wrong, I respect titled players.  I'm currently trying to improve but I don't expect to make master unless I keep this up for the next 7 or so years, and I'm "already" class A.

of course a 1000 rated player will, in one out of a hundred games play like a 1400 rated player, a 1400 player like a 1800 player...a 1800 player like 2200..so on...that is why sometimes low rated players beat high rated players, so of course,,,you can make a broad judge of a players strength by one game....I mean, if its a 1800 strength game..you can be pretty sure that the person who played it is better then 1200, but less then 2400...but beyond that...who knows...I would say this is about a 1800 game on Al's part though...

Interesting topic.  Einstein shouldn't of knocked Lasker and Lasker shouldn't of knocked Einstein.  His theories logically followed and would of been found, based on incompatibities between theories, and Lasker is allowed to play a game and have some fun :).

I have read Einstein and Chess by Bill Wall.

BUT:
There is something I still can't find.
Could please anyone tell me where Einstein said something about the cruelty of chess? (something similar to, "...Chess is a cruel game. there are only 3 results: 1/0.5/0 point. You build up the game, outplay the opponent and then 1 bad mistake and your score is 0, which doesn't tell anything about the actual play in the game...")
I remember reading such a quote by him long ago, which I have been searching for in vain for years... :-( I would like to use the quote in signatures...there is so much truth in it.

 One of Albert Einstein quotes was:

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else."

From Lev Alburt new book "CHESS for the Gifted and Busy!"

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

From Bill Wall

Einstein is quoted as saying, "Chess grips its exponent, shakling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom and independence of even the strongest character cannot remain unaffected."

Einstein also said, "I always dislike the fierce competitive spirit embodied in [chess]."

He was Emanual Laskers friend.

Thanks, but you just copied what I had already read.
I am still looking for the Einstein saying mentioned in my previus post...

I have a book by Bill Wall and Einstein. It might be in there. I will scan it today. I also have four other books written by Einstein.

Hoemberchess,

I have not run across the quote you are looking for and I have pretty well researched anything related to Eisntein and chess.  There are documents of all his papers on line or in archives, but someone needs to go through that.  I am still researching where the Einstein-Oppenheimer game came from.  Not convinced it was Albert and Robert yet. 

Chess is 99% pattern recognition and 1% creativity on the spot. A world chapion can run though a 200 person simul, where everyone has 9 minutes per move and the world champion has 3 second per move. Even if the masses are class C physicists, they will all lose. The time they spend thinking and using creativity does not compare to all the patterns and knowledge the world champion has.

Here are some of Einstein's chess quotes:

The value of chess pieces is relative; it depends much on position.

The faster you play, the more difficult it is to pick up a piece. They seem to gain mass.

Time seems to flow slower for a player who gets up from the table to fetch a cup of coffee.

God does not play dice. He plays chess.

Is it chess or checkers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gafALL-R1nI