Chess Grandmaster Takes On 10 Jail Inmates Blindfolded, And Wins « CBS Chicago: I’ve been playing chess for a long time. I don’t know exactly when I started playing but it was before elementary school At the age of 33 this is close to 30 years.
I played in high school tournaments, I played one rated tournament where I fared ok but I had entered too low of a bracket and was bored with the game play and could have done far better. I would play at a local chess club and played against a former United Sates Grand Master, as well as a 3 time MN State Chess Champion.
In college I was elected the Vice President of the University of North Dakota’s Chess Club before I left the state to return to MN. There I would play against a young man who eventually took the ND State Title the year after I left. I won approximately 1/3 of the games he and I played together.
After returning to MN I volunteered as a chess instructor for Valentine Hills Elementary School. Under the tutelage of myself and my uncle our school took first place in a district wide tournament with some of the poorest students at day one moving on to win most of the games to take that title.
I have played a total of 4 games blind folded. I’ve lost all four, this was about 40 moves into each game. I got lost and misplaced where my opponents put their pieces. I have also played 8 tables (where I am playing between 4 and 6 games against the a different opponent on each board). In my table play I have lost a total of 3 games. Both blindfold and table offer their own set of hindrances. In a blind folded game just as Grandmaster Gareev pointed out, it is nearly impossible to keep track of all the pieces. It is hard enough with one game let alone 10 games. With table games you are playing a different opponent on every board, the strategies will differ and the number of combinations create the situation where you have to recalculate you next move with every rotation of the board.
I do not envy the Grandmaster I could not have played that well. Playing a table I may have been able to defeat all 10 opponents though now that I am woefully out of practice.
The concept here however I think is well worth while. One of my favorite things about teaching chess to elementary school students was that I was teaching the children how to see cause and effect and how to plan long thought out strategies.
I think this is a charity that would be well worth getting involved in.
‘via Blog this’
-BrotherLeRoy
