Are Russian players superior to other chess players

The other day I was watching a 4 year old play karpov, the 4 year old was Russian, I saw a comment that said chess in Russia is like cricket in India. I thought about that analogy for a bit and I realized it was true

But What piqued my Interest was a graph that said that 1 in every 100 Russians were GMs. When I read that Immediately thought how many players are strong in Russia(above 1600)? So I looked for the player leader board on chess.com, and it turns out that 1897 of rapid players are more than 1600, and 11,000+ players Are above 1600 in blitz. This maybe an under representation as many Russians play on **chess and chess** what are your thoughts on this matter

I am not sure that the blitz numbers matter much. Does it show USA also has 5.5 times as many blitz players above 1600?

How do you get 1 out 100 of any group unless they are already grouped? The premise alone is selective. You could say 1 out of 100 concertgoers are now buying concert DVDs because of the coronavirus (they can't go to concerts now since many bands aren't touring). Or a better comparison is saying 1 out of 100 bands are now streaming online because of the coronavirus. 

But that is selective statistics. You are taking a number of people that are likely to do something and then saying, "YES in fact they are doing it." 

So, let's take Artemiev for example. He wasn't born in Moscow. He wasn't born in St. Petersburg or Volgograd. He was born in Omsk. What are the stats in Omsk? Most likely, not 1 out of 100. If you say that is an unfair comparison because Moscow has 4 times as many people, ok, are there 1 out of 25 GMs from Omsk? I doubt it.

For the very same reason Caruana went to Europe and Wesley So came to the USA via Webster University, chess players gravitate to the bigger cities that specialize in chess. Is it any surprise we have many GMs coming from Webster but not as many from No Name Chess Club in farm town Iowa?

My view is we are looking at skewed results. I know for China for example everyone in China puts Beijing as their hometown even if they live 12 hours by train in another province. This is so they get noticed when placing ads. Seoul, Korea is the same thing. Even more so because the country is so small. But that doesn't mean everyone from Seoul was born and raised in Seoul. 

Hold up, let me check the graph again, the graph says it is 1 in every 10,000

I don't know.

But are people without baby Yoda avatars superior to people with baby Yoda avatars?

Yes.

Yes, that's true. We Russians are naturally superior at chess compared to everyone else.

You talk like a robot.

Star wars sux. 

You don't even know what you're saying.

I'm proud of that.

You would be.

Your thoughts are nonsensical.

"Your thoughts are nonsensical."

I don't concur.

"I don't concur"

Like I said, your posts are boring.

You're fortunate I take the time to read them.

You see kids, this is why you shouldn't take lsd when on the forum.

Wow, you posted something I can almost agree with.

Amazing.

I could make them "interesting", but I'll get banned.

Not in your wildest dreams.

lol, there ya go, that actually felt like not a robot.

Good for you.

I know, I'm the next Shakespeare.