Cher_Ami
Well-Known Member
I am essentially self-taught, which led to an amusing situation where a family member had to tell me I could not checkmate with a single bishop and king after trying to do it for 30 minutes. Between digital and physical versions, I own over 600 chess books and have taught chess in 3 different religious buildings (despite being an atheist) and 2 libraries. Tournament-wise I won a few club championships in my area won although focus issues, anxiety, and needing to have a job stunted my rating around a low-expert rating. I later became a tournament director and ran a 2-day, 75+ player event alone (and slept 10-12 hours each day after that), as well as become an assistant manager for a team in the first year of the PRO Chess League.
The combination I am most proud of came from this position (White to Move):
SOLUTION:
My opponent just played Bg7?, but I played
1. Nxe5! , because the Queen has to defend d8 (they had to play Rxd3 first)
My opponent then played Be8? (The key is that if 1...Rxd3, then 2. Nxd3 leaves White a pawn up and with a huge advantage) to guard f7, but 2. Nxf7!! is overwhelming, since my Rook can move to f3 and win the Queen if the King ever takes on f7. It's not often a single Knight makes the Bishop pair and Queen foolish!
Chess has hidden many symptoms of what people would look for in Asperger's / HFA, except for the occasional and embarrassing meltdown due to stress - but unlike other social functions, they actually still want me to come back due to my ability. Has anyone else has had similar adventures or had it as their special interest?
The combination I am most proud of came from this position (White to Move):
SOLUTION:
My opponent just played Bg7?, but I played
1. Nxe5! , because the Queen has to defend d8 (they had to play Rxd3 first)
My opponent then played Be8? (The key is that if 1...Rxd3, then 2. Nxd3 leaves White a pawn up and with a huge advantage) to guard f7, but 2. Nxf7!! is overwhelming, since my Rook can move to f3 and win the Queen if the King ever takes on f7. It's not often a single Knight makes the Bishop pair and Queen foolish!
Chess has hidden many symptoms of what people would look for in Asperger's / HFA, except for the occasional and embarrassing meltdown due to stress - but unlike other social functions, they actually still want me to come back due to my ability. Has anyone else has had similar adventures or had it as their special interest?
