Jim Harbaugh & Chess

Submitted by MichiganMan2011 on

I've been listening to The Art of Learning on Audible which is a book about learning (duh) written by the chess prodigy who inspired the film Searching for Bobby Fischer.

At one point the author mentions training down in Orlando at a sports psychologist and running into none other than Jim Harbaugh. I'll let you him pick it up from here:

FauxMo

April 25th, 2016 at 5:13 PM ^

Jim Harbaugh beat IBM's Watson at chess so badly, that the almost-sentient AI at the core of its processor decided it was best to just self-destruct and start all over again...

Elmer

April 25th, 2016 at 6:32 PM ^

I tend expect the unexpected with Harbaugh, but this one really caught me off guard.  The guy is incredible.  Thanks again, Jed York.

kevin holt

April 25th, 2016 at 7:02 PM ^

"the chess prodigy who inspired the film Searching for Bobby Fischer"---Also known as just Bobby Fischer?

As a (decent but still pretty bad) chess player, I had no idea Harbaugh played. That's awesome.

RIP RJD

April 25th, 2016 at 8:52 PM ^


Is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This occurred in his second life after chess.



I my last tournament it took me 1hr 45mins to defeat an adorable 6 year old girl. My next match took 3.5 hours as I lost to a 9 year old boy. I suck at BJJ, chess and football but I like them all.

Wolfman

April 27th, 2016 at 1:32 AM ^

but I would have been surprised to learn he did not, or at some point in his life, had spent countless hours, learning, experimenting and in a rather rapid manner, had made himself welcome to wherever it is they played when he was learning and becoming an active and willing particiant.

For those of you who play you understand what a great game it is. The many strategies you can employ, and how your attack changes, the level of agression, wisdom of either keeping key members of your batallion unexposed or, in your opinion,  would it be wise to try and trap your opponent by utllizing exposure, hoping they bite, not realizing you have your soliders in position that should they grab the piece you sacrificed, game over. This is the type of game Jim loves, one on one, macthing wits wth anyone that sets down,

Think Jim was a fine player when he had time to devote to  game.

LSAClassOf2000

April 25th, 2016 at 8:05 PM ^

The picture of Harbaugh in the time he has been here continues to get cooler and continues to amaze, and the revelation that he is an avid chess player is part of that for me, although I can see that parallel mentioned in the excerpt and you get the sense that, even if Harbaugh didn't play, he'd be awfully good at it. 

I play too, like others in the thread, and that makes this all the more awesome in a way. 

dipshit moron

August 29th, 2017 at 8:35 PM ^

how many people continue to call harbaugh names, try to diminish what he has done as a coach, and refer to him as overated. he has always come across to me as honest when he answers questions and no more quirky then the gods of college football, saban and meyer.

Sideline

April 25th, 2016 at 11:11 PM ^

He's Michigan Alum. On the voice. Top 11 as of now. Cmon guys! I have been a member of the blog since '07 and I don't have enough "points" to make this a thread. I've seen worse threads. Vote for Laith please!

soda123

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drz1111

April 26th, 2016 at 7:42 AM ^

Really good guy, really amazing at chess, really remarkable how normal he was outside of chess (including academically), totally fucking awful at touch football QB.

Banks718

April 27th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^

We need a gif for Harbaugh's reaction to Movie Josh offering Poe a draw in the national championship (nooooo), then owning the poor kid when he rejects it (yessssss).

God I love that movie.