Self-taught players

Do you know if there are/were any self-taught players? I mean, they learn only by studying on their own and analyzing their games, without teacher, coaches, etc..

There was this bloke called Adam......

i think capablanca was totally self-taught. he claimed he never read a book.

But did he write any? If he did, his claim was wrong. 

Bobby Fischer I'd guess among modern GMs. I'd also guess many of the great players of from hundreds of years ago were self-taught

ProfBlunderer,

I am self-taught, except I went throught Josh Waitskin's Chessmaster Academy twice, and spent 60% of my time on TT in learning mode and Silman's Chess Mentor program.

I have bought a book on opening theory and plans, Silman's on improving your chess tactics and strategy, and (recently) Pandolini's Endgame program. Remember in "searching for bobby fischer", Josh said he learned his chess from Pandolini and they mainly focussed on endgames, which gave him a greater feel for the use of pieces.

So, I do not know if that is self-taught, or a logical selection.

I thought Fischer hoovered up every chess book he could get his hands on?

I may be wrong though...

IpswichMatt,

Bobby may have hovered over every chess book while learning chess, but later, he was also seen to be hovering over young Russian female chess champions. The story goes that when locked up in Japan for having no passport, Spassky tried to get into the prison too so they could play chess together. Bobby supposedly said he would prefer a particular Russian female player instead!

NO, Boris did not try to get into prison with Bobby. He made the remark to some reporter with his tongue firmly in cheek. 

I saw a documentary on Bobby Fischer that distinctly showed he did study chess books to learn from them.

I believe you're thinking of booby fisher, not Bobby Fischer

what about paul morphy, adolf anderson, wilheim stenitz.

I'm self-taught as well, but I've had help reading some books and playing against the computer.  Maybe some day I will actually get good at it.

I'm a good example of a self-taught player, we don't get far lol  

agree kiwi, fully self taught, no real books except what I would call a classic "Chess for Children" circa about 1950 with really cool cartoon pieces (note chesskids). my rating tells it all.

Did anyone else use this book?

@paulgottlieb

Yes, I mean players without formal coach

ProfBlunderer,

I still keep goimg back to your ratings (1250 to 1350) and reflect on gaps in your learning. And the absence of online chess and Chess Mentor experience is just so bleeding obvious.  

Really, why would you be even thinking of a personal coach (which will cost heaps),when premium membership of Chess.com is only  $100 per year, and will immediately start to fill the void in  your chessic learning?

I'd think that the study of books would be allowed in a "self-taught" program, but I'm also thinking of a character in Sartre's Nausea who set about the task of reading every book in his local library, alphabetically by title.  This character was called "The Self-Taught Man".

I think that even in the past, like 200 years ago, people got some coaching inorder to understand how the pieces moved and the object of the game. Since there weren't enough books about chess back then, someone had to take the time to explain enough details and coach them to spark interest in the game, right... I don't really think you could get very far playing competitively without any help or reference at all.

If you define playing for a decade [1980's] against a tabletop Novag chess computer as being "self taught" then I am self-taught.

The Novag wasn't that bad. It would thrash the chess.com chess computer.

Then again, so would your grandma.