[isoos]

The Polgár sister's story backs you in that:

"Polgár and her two older sisters, Grandmaster Susan and International Master Sofia, were part of an educational experiment carried out by their father László Polgár, in an attempt to prove that children could make exceptional achievements if trained in a specialist subject from a very early age.[11] "Geniuses are made, not born," was László's thesis. He and his wife Klára educated their three daughters at home, with chess as the specialist subject."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r

[maxander]

Which begs the question, when people are willing to commit their children to this kind of super-intensive training regimen at such an early age, why on Earth are they doing it for games or music and not something (if you will excuse a crass way of saying it) useful?

Imagine a physicist or mathematician or engineer tutored in their discipline from age five! And imagine if those were as common as the little kids one sees dutifully going to piano practice every afternoon. The world would look very different.

[foldr]

Quite a lot of physics and mathematics is less useful than playing the piano, since it is equally lacking in practical application and doesn't even give other people pleasure.