I think it was meant to show that if you look beneath the inherited skill, you'll find a lifetime of hard work, just like with anyone else. Still, that's not what I'd call quality writing. I'm surprised it made it past the editor.

Right, because if you accept the contrary argument, that it's about nothing but raw talent and work is irrelevant, you would assume that the training didn't hurt but didn't matter either.

Show me a quarterback whose 5'2" dad who stopped at middle school peewee trained them, and I'll be impressed.

From Wikipedia:

"László Polgár (born 1946) is a Hungarian chess teacher and father of the famous "Polgár sisters": Zsuzsa (Susan), Zsófia (Sofia), and Judit. He authored well-known chess books such as Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games and Reform Chess, a survey of chess variants.

Although he himself is a modest chess player, Polgár is an expert on chess theory, owning over 10,000 books about chess. He is interested in the proper method of rearing children, believing that "geniuses are made, not born". Before he had any children, he wrote a book entitled Bring Up Genius!, and asked for a wife who would help him carry out the experiment. He found one in Klara, a schoolteacher, who lived in a Hungarian speaking enclave in the Ukraine. He married her in the USSR and brought her to Hungary. They have three daughters. He homeschooled his three daughters, primarily in chess, and all three went on to become strong players. An early result was Susan winning the Budapest Chess Championship for girls under 11 at the age of four"

I would rephrase it as - "geniuses are born and can be made"

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/02/geniuses-are-made-no...

Yeah, they definitely should have gone with this story instead. I won't say it's proof (clearly people with chess "talent", if such a thing exists, could be born to people without) but it's at least not anecdotal evidence of the opposite.

Yeah, that was my first thought too - but the example does support the 'Deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance' idea. The father taught his children where to focus their efforts.

Also reminds me of one of Feynman's anecdotes where he mentions that his dad was really involved in educating him:

"My father taught me continuity and harmony in the world. He didn't know anything exactly, whether the insect had eight legs or a hundred legs, but he understood everything. And I was interested because there was always this kick at the end-a revelation of how wonderful nature really is." (from "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track", an awesome book).