Have you ever met a wizard?

Back in the 80's I met a genuine wizard. Her name was Mary, she was an advanced placement student at the Univ. of Washington. After getting crushed by her in a small tournament in Seattle, she cheerfully set up the board in the analysis room, and played over our recently completed game (about 27 moves) from memory, stopping now and again to point out the strengths and pitfalls on both sides. She also played over a few games she had memorized from Modern Chess Openings. Despite her obvious talent and amazing memory, Mary was always respectful and friendly to everyone she met. Her peak for chess a tie for 4th-5th at the US Women's championship in about 1985. She left chess soon afterward to pursue her graduate studies, and for the last 30 years has been focused on her job doing research work at the University. Mary has just begun playing OTB again, but I can only imagine how far she could have gone in chess if the inconvenience of a career had not interfered. Mary's blog is below.

https://www.chess.com/blog/mkkuhner