Come on, that's good enough for a lol, or at least a chuckle, right? He was unrated but beat me, and I try to sooth my ego by remembering that he is known to be highly intelligent. I hope that I didn't underestimate him because he looked like an athlete. At least I don't think that I did. And by huge, I don't mean as fat as a sumo wrestler. He was tall and strong, but also had to be in good shape to be able to move around quickly on his feet.
The most famous person I have played chess against
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I'm glad that with the intellectual gift that he has, that he's leaving football before he gets too many more concussions from knocking heads against the opposing players.
Interesting
I've never played a famous sole
Jul 27, 2017
0
#7
John Urshel just abruptly retired from the National Football League, after more information came out linking American Football with serious, long-term, brain injuries. Apparently, he's a brilliant mathematician.
Well that is a good excuse to want to keep your brain in tact
Maybe that is the career path he'll go down now
He's still fairly young to retire, I mean
Jul 27, 2017
0
#11
VicountVonJames wrote:
I've never played a famous sole
I have yet to play a shoe!
Damn, soul
That was stupid of me
The most famous person I have played chess against was not known for playing chess. And I didn't recognize his name at the time.
I have faced GM Shabalov four times, and been crushed four times, all in simuls where he had a large number of opponents to consider at the same time...
The person I'm talking about now was a professional football player in the USA NFL, John Urschel. Here's an article about him:
https://sports.yahoo.com/ravens-lineman-john-urschel-math-genius-retiring-football-142045948.html
He was an unrated beginner, never had an officially rated chess game before, and I was paired against him in the first round of the 2015 Pittsburgh Open. All I knew was that he was physically huge. His position in American football, offensive line, is not one for sprinters or even touching the ball, unless its to start the play by snapping it backwards between his legs. The job is more of either a bodyguard to protect the quarterback behind him who is trying to throw the ball, or a bulldozer to clear a path for the running back to carry the ball. Actually more similar to Sumo wrestling then rugby at that particular position.
So I had the honor of giving him his first rated game, and his first chess tournament win.
http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201503088782.4-12438293
At least he IS a math genius!!