idiot savante

Anybody heard of an idiot savant in chess? That is, someone who could be considered mentally retarded in normal life, but is a genius at chess? I'm rated 1600 but cannot balance my checkbook, but I guess that wouldn't be considered uncommon. there are idiot savants in music and mathematics, two fields close to chess. Please, don't mention Fischer in this discussion. I'm talking about people who can't survive by themselves in society, but who play brilliant chess. I myself have never heard of anybody like this. Just wondering.

Well, I would probabaly fall under that category, if I was rated way higher. I could probably mob the floor of anyone here at chess, as a 10 year old, BEFORE I became schizo and my memory went, my chess playing has been on the constant decline ever since, with me coming and going from the game in frustration.

Teachers have called me retarded and stupid all throughout my teens, and it wasn't uncommon for me to rake up 70 hours a week worth of homework, work hard, and acheive 60% at best. Math was the worse, I spent like 4 hours everyday on each homework exercise that would take intelligent, gifted, god loving people 1 hour. The physics lab work was also real bad. My parents, who beleived in their little capitalist Utopia, that anyone who works hard can succeed, always blamed me for not working hard enough, and the teachers pretty much followed suit, even though they admited I worked hard during class, and had no idea what I was doing at home.

In my short adult life, so far, I am in complete financial dissary, group home dump, often in and out of welfare, with never being able to hold a job and the highest I've ever been paid is 8 bucks an hour. Most of my employers admited I work well, they just boot me out because they want a "happy worker", or they want someone with a prettier looking resume to PR their company, not some mentally ill uneducated stupid freak. Well, forgive me if I feel bad about living in a dump, while the rest of my elder employees, who do the same job as me, get paid 3-4 times more and talk about cars, houses and kids, stuff I will never have. I can only play "fake happy" for so long

We live in a day an age were you simply need to fork out a lot of money for education, and be good at school, just to get a job to make a living, which I have neither.

I'm sure I would be 2000 plus rated, easily, if I could actually remember simple things like where I put my glass of water, but with such a bad memory, it makes it almost impossible, or just plain useless, for me to think up moves ahead and variations because I will forget what I think up a few seconds later anyways. My chess moves are 100% INTUITION now, I wouldn't even be able to tell you if they are good or bad.

Well, the fact that you play well, just using intuition suggests that there is some fundamental intelligence at work beneath all the problems you're having. And the fact that you've stuck with chess, through some disappointing periods, also suggests perserverance. So things don't look all that bleak. The thing about chess, unlike life sometimes, is you can screw up a millioin times then resign and get a fresh start the next game.

Well mateulose, You are brave and having gone through some of your games especially against percival86 and iluvtar. You are a good brain for chess.
In life try your best without losing courage and pray. HIS blessings will make you an inspiration for others.
All the best in Chess and Life.
GOD bless you
Pereira

I think there is a 25 or 2600 like this this

can remember reading an article on the guy when he was playing at the olypiad a few years ago

Idiot savante. Sort of like Rainman? But I don't know if he played chess.

Most amazing one I ever saw is the fellow who, upon being handed his FIRST Rubik's Cube, solved it in a few seconds. I saw it on T.V., and it blew me away! He was twisting like crazy, and didn't even hardly even seem to be looking at the cube. I'll bet you anything that if you handed that guy a chessboard, he could KICK BUTT! After all, chess does involve some mathetical calculation, does it not?

Originally posted by Pereira
Well mateulose, You are brave and having gone through some of your games especially against percival86 and iluvtar. You are a good brain for chess.
In life try your best without losing courage and pray. HIS blessings will make you an inspiration for others.
All the best in Chess and Life.
GOD bless you
Pereira

Originally posted by kingisdead
Idiot savante. Sort of like Rainman? But I don't know if he played chess.

Most amazing one I ever saw is the fellow who, upon being handed his FIRST Rubik's Cube, solved it in a few seconds. I saw it on T.V., and it blew me away! He was twisting like crazy, and didn't even hardly even seem to be looking at the cube. I'll bet you anything tha ...[text shortened]... rd, he could KICK BUTT! After all, chess does involve some mathetical calculation, does it not?

Yea, one would think. But have any idiot savante or autistic people been exceptional chessplayers. I personally have never heard of any.

Originally posted by TheMaster37
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