Hello dear readers,

As you all know, I am very worried about losing my Top Blogger badge after that ridiculous episode of the Duel Of Nations series, where I had the audacity to compare a small and irrelevant chess country with the powerful Marshall Islands. Therefore, this time I have decided to bring a more informative and serious topic to balance it out.

However, that doesn't mean the article won't be interesting or fun to read, so please stay with me for the next few minutes, because today we are going to talk about some chess prodigies from the past who, despite their outstanding talent, were unable to live up to their potential for various reasons. Let's get started!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Peter Winston

2. Jutta Hempel

3. Jeff Sarwer

4. Arturo Pomar

Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION

What makes someone rise to the top? Natural talent or hard work? I think for most elite sports these days, the fairly obvious answer is "both", and it's not necessary to delve too deeply into this discussion, which you have probably heard many times before.

However, it is also undeniable that natural talent has a considerably greater chance to enchant us and make us marvel at feats that seem unbelievable. Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, is a fantastic player, but a video of Ronaldinho's best moments is certainly much more fun and entertaining to watch.

This is even more true when these highlights come from children or teenagers. Theoretically, they haven't even had time to really learn the skill, and yet they have mastered it so well.

But why don't these brilliant youngsters always reach the top or have careers as great as we imagine? Lack of dedication and motivation? Lots of moments of genius but little consistency? Or is there something more?

Today, inspired by my friend @AstroTheoretical_Physics, I bring you the story of four great chess prodigies who ended up not shining as adults. Come with me to understand and explore the different reasons that led to their failures.

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PETER WINSTON

Name: Peter Jonathan Winston

Date of Birth: March 18, 1958

Place of Birth: New York City, USA

Some child prodigies are so brilliant that only a great and mysterious tragedy can ruin their future. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened to this boy genius.

At 18 months, Peter Winston learned the entire alphabet. He could read before the age of two. By the age of three, he demonstrated proficiency in basic arithmetic, including the manipulation of fractions, and could instantly calculate the day of the week for his birthday in any year!

At the age of 5, Winston precisely analyzed the assassination of John F. Kennedy using information from newspapers and television. At 6, he was sent to a school for gifted boys, where his teachers described him as the most intelligent person they had ever met.

He was also active in regional chess tournaments. In 1967, Peter won the New York Elementary School Championship with a perfect score, a feat he repeated in 1968.

In 1969, he won the New York High School Championship, and two years later drew with GM Walter Browne, the second-best American player at the time, behind Bobby Fischer. Winston became a Master in June 1972, 3 months after his 14th birthday. He then played Walter Browne again, this time securing a shocking victory.

1974 was his most successful year, winning the US Youth Championship in Philadelphia and showing that a new star was rising. The U-20 World Chess Championship was held a few months later. Peter, at the age of 16, finished in 8th place.

But from 1975 onwards, there was a huge decline in his game. To understand what went wrong, we need to go back to when he was twelve. His friends at school said that Peter had begun experimenting with small doses of LSD and was showing signs of mental problems.

Upon entering college, he suffered a nervous breakdown that led to his hospitalization. Initially diagnosed with schizophrenia, his condition was later reclassified as manic depression. Winston received regular hospital treatment, but often stopped taking his prescribed medication and resorted to self-medication, drugs, and alcohol. The collapse became clear when he played a tournament in New York and lost all nine games. His once-promising chess career was quickly crumbling.

His friends said his room had become a mess, with dirt and cockroaches everywhere. Peter also looked terrible, his eyes red and tired. The next morning, when advised to see a doctor, he jumped up and ran screaming out of the flat.

Peter was last reported to be at a friend's house. But when he heard his mother was after him, he quickly said goodbye and left. That was the last time anyone saw him. Winston disappeared in mysterious circumstances and was never seen again.

A few days later, the Great Blizzard of 1978, the fourth most destructive snowstorm of all time, hit New York. It is unlikely that Peter survived the storm, which wiped out all traces of him.

A body was found, so he is presumed dead, but it has not been identified, so in reality, no one knows his true fate. There has never been an official investigation into the case. In the end, we are left with only one conclusion: Peter Jonathan Winston had walked away and vanished.

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JUTTA HEMPEL

Name: Jutta Hempel

Date of Birth: September 27, 1960

Place of Birth: Flensburg, Germany

Usually, when discussing chess prodigies, we talk about their achievements as young players and then move on to some of their accomplishments as mature players. But this second part is not always true. Among the most unusual such stories is that of a little girl whose achievements were worthy of the fictional Beth Harmon, but who never blossomed into the story of an adult champion.

At the tender age of three, Jutta Hempel was already able to watch an entire game and replay it from memory. Her father, Hermann Hempel, immediately recognized his young daughter's talent and became the main catalyst for her early career.

When she was five, Hempel became the top junior player (U-18) in Flensburg. But the most incredible thing happened on the exact day of her sixth birthday, when Jutta achieved the impressive feat of scoring 9.5/12 in a simultaneous exhibition against local club players.

After that, the little girl quickly became a media star, appearing in news reports from all over Europe as she gave simultaneous and amazed people with her precociousness and cuteness.

I was considered a child prodigy because I started playing chess at the age of three. This was followed by exhibition tournaments against ten or twelve opponents in simultaneous chess, public chess performances, playing blindfolded, etc.

I was more interested in the chocolate next to the board than in the game itself.

In her next simultaneous match, Hempel won with a decisive 9/10. She also won the Flensburg Junior Championship at the age of seven and played six games of simultaneous blindfold chess that same year.

At the age of eight, some of her exhibitions were even broadcast on television, and a year later she managed to win a chess problem-solving competition. Another very impressive achievement was her two draws, at the age of 9, against the Danish IM Jens Enevoldsen, who had been national champion five times.

Despite her enormous chess talent, she went on to attend business school, following her own motto: "First study, then find a job, then maybe play again". After that, she spent two and a half years as an employee in a Danish bank.

Hempel married in 1986 and became a very "normal" adult. At that time, she said that a woman could not make a living from chess, but that she would certainly teach her children to play.

There are no tragedies or dark explanations in her case. Jutta simply chose what she thought would make her happier. A pity for chess fans, but we can only respect it!

I was an addicted chess player and that's exactly the reason why I decided to stop playing at the age of 19. It was an exhausting time. Other reasons were friends, sports, and other hobbies.

If you can read German or want to translate it, here is a very interesting testimonial from her: Was wurde aus dem Schachwunderkind Jutta Hempel.

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JEFF SARWER

Name: Jeffrey William Sarwer

Date of Birth: May 14, 1978

Place of Birth: Kingston, Canada

A child prodigy, charismatic, with an outstanding talent that made him a well-known media figure. This Canadian boy seemed to have everything in place for a brilliant future career. But if he is mentioned here, you know that this was not the case. As life is not always predictable, circumstances led him down different paths and robbed us of the chance to see him play at the highest level.

Sarwer learned to play chess at the age of 4 from his older sister Julia. At the age of 6, he joined the prestigious Manhattan Chess Club, where his talent earned him a free lifetime membership, a privilege usually reserved for grandmasters.

At seven, he was playing against more than 40 people simultaneously in Ottawa, Canada, and also played speed chess in New York City, where crowds gathered to watch. Jeff was even invited to analyze the 1986 and 1987 World Championship matches between Kasparov and Karpov on PBS TV Channels.

When Sarwer was nine years old, it was widely believed that he would become one of the strongest players in history. Allen Kaufman, head of the American Chess Foundation, said:

Jeff at 9 is stronger than Bobby Fischer was at 11.

Bruce Pandolfini, an American chess author and coach, also stated:

Of the several thousand kids I've taught, Jeff is certainly the most amazing I've ever seen.

Representing Canada, he won the 1986 U-10 World Junior Chess Championship and went on to become well-known in media circles, appearing on various talk shows and documentaries.

However, this success was not complemented by a happy personal life. His father was accused of abuse towards his children. As a result, Jeff was not allowed to continue his chess career.

He and his sister were both taken into custody and placed in foster care. A few months later, the children ran away back to their father and hid from the authorities. The family moved illegally to Europe, which thwarted the chess prodigy's plans for many years. The Sarwers lived in different countries and got used to an anonymous lifestyle.

In September 2007, Sarwer returned to the competitive scene in a small semi-rapid tournament in Poland. He finished third in a group of 86 players, including four grandmasters. FIDE gave him a provisional classical rating of 2250. In January 2010, he gave an interview about his current life in Europe and his ambitions to become a grandmaster.

It would require at least two years of dedicated hardcore study and practice, especially in regard to opening preparation.

He also talked about his childhood experiences and his relationship with his abusive father. Today, Jeff holds the title of FIDE Master (FM), awarded in 2015, with a rating of 2266. His peak ELO was 2344, which he reached in July 2015, but only lasted for a few months before dropping sharply. Since 2008, Sarwer has also been playing Poker and has earned around $500,000.

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ARTURO POMAR

Name: Arturo (or Artur) Pomar Salamanca

Date of Birth: September 1, 1931

Place of Birth: Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Those who have been following me since the beginning will remember that this player was mentioned in the blog about chess in Spain. However, since there are a lot of people who started reading my blogs only after that text was published, I thought it would not be a big problem to repeat some information. The story about Arturo Pomar is in my opinion, although not the most tragic, the saddest of this article.

Hailed as one of the most promising chess prodigies of his time, Pomar won the Balearic Islands Championship at the age of 11. Many enthusiasts in Spain began to compare him with great historical names such as Paul Morphy, José Raúl Capablanca, and Samuel Reshevsky.

At the Gijón tournament in 1944, when he was only 12 years old, Pomar played against Alexander Alekhine. To everyone's shock, he outplayed the world champion in an endgame and reached a theoretically winning position. However, a few inaccuracies at critical moments made the game end in a draw. Still, a stunning result for someone so young. Alekhine took a keen interest in the teenage prodigy and even offered to give him a series of special chess lessons.

Obviously, such talent did not go unnoticed, especially as dictatorships love to use people who excel in sports as a propaganda tool for the regime. This was exactly the idea of the Spanish dictator General Franco. The press, controlled by him, made the teenager an early star, but one thing had to be "corrected": Artur, the original Catalan version of his name, was changed to Arturo, the Spanish version, and this is how he became known worldwide.

His chess career was far from a complete disaster. He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of Grandmaster in 1962, became a seven-time national champion, and played for Spain in twelve Chess Olympiads, winning the individual bronze medal in Leipzig in 1960. However, given his potential, it was far below expectations.

The main reason for this is because, over the years, he lost social relevance and was neglected by those who had supported him, being later abandoned when he no longer served the regime's purpose. It is widely believed that the pressure to represent Spain and the "greatness" of the dictatorship during his childhood probably affected him psychologically and prevented him from reaching higher levels.

During his adulthood, Pomar had to take unpaid leave from his job to compete in international tournaments, which he attended without any financial or technical support. As a result, he never received the training he needed to play among the elite.  Nevertheless, Arturo played at a good level and even drew against Bobby Fischer.

Exhausted by constant traveling, games, and exhibitions, he began to suffer from a degenerative disease, with memory loss and confusion. Pomar died in Barcelona on 26 May 2016, at the age of 84.

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CONCLUSION

I hope this blog was interesting and informative. "Child prodigies” is a subject that has always fascinated me, and I have often wondered what are the reasons why some excel in the future while others fail to live up to their great potential. Here I have tried to make my small contribution to the topic and the debate.

Writing such an article has also helped me to learn more about these extraordinary people. Hopefully, it has had the same effect on my readers and you have all discovered something new.

These are just four specific examples, but the whole discussion is much broader. How much do coaching, resources, and financial support affect prodigies? The psychological aspect certainly plays a crucial role as well, as many young talents struggle with high expectations, burnout, or the transition from childhood success to adult competition.

This phenomenon occurs not only in chess but also in some other sports. Good examples I can think of are Bojan Krkić and Alexandre Pato (football), Bernard Tomic (tennis), or Giorgio Pantano (F1).

Still, let's not forget that no matter how far they went, their achievements as kids and teenagers were already incredible enough to be called genius. Life choices and trajectories can vary, especially for children. So, it is safer and more ethical not to expect too much of them before their brains are fully developed and they have decided what they want to do with their lives.

See you in 15 days, on the 16th of March!