Fwd: Why the Russians are good at chess

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--- D Ramapriya <ramapriya.d wrote:

 

Sun, 8 Jul 2007 06:31:13 +0400

" D Ramapriya " <ramapriya.d

Sreenadh <sreesog

Why the Russians are good at chess

 

After months of negotiation with the authorities, a

Talmudist from Odessa

(in Russia) was granted permission to visit Moscow.

He boarded the train

and found an empty seat. At the next stop a young

man got on and sat next

to him. The scholar looked at the young man and

thought: This fellow doesn't

look like a peasant, and if he isn't a peasant he

probably comes from this

district. If he comes from this district, then he

must be Jewish because

this is, after all, a Jewish district. On the other

hand, if he is a Jew,

where could he be going? I'm the only Jew in our

district who has

permission to travel to Moscow. Ahh? But just

outside Moscow there is a

little village called Samvet, and Jews don't need

special permission to go

there. But why would he be going to Samvet? He's

probably going to visit one

of the Jewish families there, but how many Jewish

families are there in

Samvet? Only two - the Bernsteins and the

Steinbergs. The Bernsteins are a

terrible family, and a nice looking fellow like him

must be visiting the

Steinbergs. But why is he going? The Steinbergs have

only daughters, so

maybe he's their son-in-law.

 

But if he is, then which daughter did he marry?

They say that Sarah married

a nice lawyer from Budapest, and Esther married a

businessman from Zhitomer,

so it must be Sarah's husband. Which means that his

name is Alexander

Cohen, if I'm not mistaken. But if he comes from

Budapest, with all the

anti-Semitism they have there, he must have changed

his name.

 

What's the Hungarian equivalent of Cohen? Kovacs.

But if they allowed him to

change his name, he must have some special status.

What could it be? A

doctorate from the University.

 

At this point the scholar turns to the young man

and says, " How do you do,

Dr. Kovacs? " " Very well, thank you, sir. " answered

the startled passenger.

But how is it that you know my name? "

 

" Oh, " replied the Talmudist, " it was obvious. "

 

--

Ramapriya

 

 

 

 

 

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