Have there ever been any autistic GM's? Idio savants (phonetically
written) can have a great capacity for remembering sequences and
patterns, but can also be dumbfounded by a pack of cards because
the sequence always changes.
I'm facinated as to the way their thought processes work, and was
wondering if it could give some autistic people an advantage in chess?
Jon
Hi Freak, it's actually "idiot savants" a French term, (don't you live in
Belgium?!)... just kidding. Anyway... autistics aren't actually idiot
savants, they are somewhat more rounded than that. They seem to
have major difficulties in attributing and understanding the mental
states of others, so this would seem to make them bad candidates for
Grandmastership - If you can't work out what the other person is going
to do next (a major hallmark of autism) then it's gonna be hard to
play winning chess. I think you're right about idiot savants however.. if
a particular person with this symptom had the symptom about abstract
(logical) spatial patterns like chess, they might very well have an
advantage over us,
good post, thanks!
Joe