There have been several recent forum topics about nationality.  For example, "Why are Russians so good at chess?"  And "India will provide 30-40% of world's top chess players in next ten years" which is about a prediction made by CEO and Founder of Chessbase Software Frederick Friedel.  There has also been a thread along gender categories titled "Men are better than Women at Chess."

For the observations and hypotheses of the above linked posts and threads, a number of reasonable reasons are proffered:  Numerical Advantage and/or Culture.  

Now with regards to the numbers of GMs, Elite GMs, and World Champions, there seem to be a large number of players who are either Jewish or of Jewish descent.  The most prominent names being Bobby Fischer who's mother is Jewish and Garry Kasparov whose father is Jewish.   Other famous Jewish Chessplaying GMs and World Champions are Botvinnik, David Bronstein, Reuben Fine, Viktor Korchnoi, Emmanuel Lasker, Susan, Szofia, and Judit Polgar, Sammy Reshevsky, Akiba Rubenstein, Wilhelm Steinitz, Mikhail Tal, and many others.

Now these players of Jewish descent do not have the  numbers, or a high numerical population pool like Russia, China, India, etc....  YET they vastly outperform their population numbers.  By far.  

Is it culture?  If so, what specifically is it about Jewish culture that is so helpful for attaining GM excellence in chess?

Are folks of Jewish descent smarter than other ethnicities, generally speaking?  For example, if you look at Nobel Prize winners, many of them are also of Jewish descent.

In the Bible, or the Old Testament, or the Torah, the Hebrews or Israelites or Jewish people are said to be God's Chosen People.   Might this partially account for their excellence in Chess?  

FWIW, I'm not of Jewish descent.  I'm a goy.  A Gentile.  But I'm making an observation that there is considerable number of Super GMs and World Champions who are Jewish or of Jewish descent that is much, much greater than their population.  And I was wondering what might account for this phenomenon.   Thoughts?

for one, to play chess, it does not take much financial resources to start.     just a cheap chess set and board are fine.    That is unlike sports such as golf.     and you do not need a team of players to play, like football or soccer.

why distinctly, there have been a preponderance of top notch Jewish chess players relative to the number of Jews is beyond me.   

However "Chosen people" has nothing to do with Jews having special rights or talents over others.     Rabbis will tell you that Jews were chosen to live by the laws of Torah to be "a light among the nations".    

Jews highly value education.     Traditional Jews will not move to areas where there are no schools.     Chess, as an intellectual game will be encouraged.

That said, you should not automatically assume any Jew wearing a skullcap is an angel.    There are bad apples among Jews, as there are with every other group of people.

I agree that, in general, Jews highly value education.  And thus, chess, as an intellectual game will be encouraged by the general Jewish community and by Jewish parents.  

I wonder if an academic has written a paper or thesis on the phrase "highly value education".   And if there is some operational definition or some type of measure for the construct "highly value" by a culture within the context of education or intellectual achievement.  

I'll accept the assumption, and I think it's reasonable to assume this, that Jewish people highly value education.  As mentioned in the OP there are posts about the rising numbers and potential of chessplayers of Indian descent.  Other people in thread comments have noticed the rise of chessplayers of Chinese Descent such as Hou Yifan, Wesley So, Wei Yi, Awonder Liang, Carissa Yip, etc....

Now the same observation that Jewish people "highly value education" seems to also apply to Indian and Chinese cultures.  With regards to Russia I seem to recall with respect to Bobby Fischer and the Russian hegemony in Chess, that the Russian government or oligarchy encouraged and emphasized Chess among its citizenry and youth to showcase and demonstrate the intellectual superiority of Russia and Communism over America, Western Nations, and Capitalism.

It would seem that there would be an academic construct of the actionable practice of "highly valuing education."   This would be interesting to read.

"That said, you should not automatically assume any Jew wearing a skullcap is an angel.    There are bad apples among Jews, as there are with every other group of people."

Absolutely!  My post did not assume any such thing.  I simply recalled the teaching that the Jews are God's Chosen People merely because that is what is written in what is considered to be Sacred Writings.  If one knows the Old Testament or the Torah, God severely punishes His Chosen People many times, over and over again.

Advancement in chess is based on merit.  Given the anti-semitism in the Soviet Union, during the last century, it was easier for Jews to advance in a meritocracy rather than the bureaucracy of the Communist regime.  And, in the instances, where the anti-Semitism forced many Jews to emigrate to other countries, it was easier for newly arrived immigrants to immediately eke out a living in thier new country by playing chess, where language skills and professional certification were not required.

Another note, I think about 70% of people with IQ 170 or over are Jewish, the vast majority of Nobel prize winners are jewish. Nutjobs on the internet have some antisemitic theories about this, however there is one evolutionary theory I once read In a book titles The Jewish Mystique. 

The thesis is that the commandment from God was to be fruitful and multiply. The only intellectual avenue for a poor person to become well of was the church. The theologian, the rabbi. The profession satisfies those with exceptional intellect and provided their offspring with nourishment. So these people pass on their traits in greater numbers and with greater survival rate. 

Contrast this with Christians who's intellectuals were sworn to a life of chastity. 

It's not just chess. Vladimir Horowitz said, "There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists."

Wh-why would this matter?

I have one thought, it is related to Shabbat and religious Jewish.

You cant make mainy things when it is Shabbat (sorry if its not correct spelled).

But chess was allowed, so mainy players came to chess like that.

I got this info from Lucas Anderson series "The Life and chess ......" on youtube i cant recall on witch specific one

#8
It has nothing to do with religion: many of the players of Jewish descent are not religious and do not observe the rules about the Sabbath. Some like Reshevsky did and refused to play chess on Saturday. Besides pious Christians respect similar restrictions on Sunday.

The number of top players from Jewish descent is impressive indeed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_chess_players

It is mostly a cultural issue: chess fits within the values of the Jewish culture, just like classical music and science, in particular mathematics.
Most of the leading pianists and violin players were of Jewish descent.
Many Nobel Prize winners were of Jewish descent.
It is no coincidence that dad Polgar claimed he could make any child excel at either chess, or classical music, or mathematics. Those 3 fit with Jewish culture and values.

hi, jewish guy here

so here is why

1. for years, we have been oppressed and not allowed to study, so we decided to become better than everyone. its just a passed down trait and tradition, since we are so small, we need to be the best of everyone

but ywah 
thatd it

Hi, 

Religion isn't for general forums, 

Thanks