Wow, such a shame... Can't imagine how strong would Jeff be if he continued to study and play chess...
What happened to Jeff Sarwer?
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Sep 18, 2016
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#3
Then he came out of retirement and crushed the opposition in a rapid tournament.
Crazy story, just finished my Google searching. A true shame he didn't continue with the study of the game considering how strong he was as a kid. The fact he is at IM strength without being active in play is unreal.
I've met him in Gdansk last month. He is a very nice guy, I was surprised. I thought he could be an antisocial type, but no. A smiling, friendly fellow, not bitter about his past whatsoever.
He didn't even want to talk about his past and why he stopped playing chess, but when I told him that I found some speculations about him in internet and I'd like to know the truth he told me a bit.
Wow, what an amazing life the guy has. let me tell you. Many of you probably know, that he was raised by a maniacal-depressive father. The guy was very antisocial and told his kids (Jeff and his 2 year older sister Julia) that everything what society offers is bad.
He taught them for example how to steal. They where stealing everything and everywhere. He left them when they were 6 and 4-years old on their own for a week locked in the apartment with food that they stole before.
He never bought clothes, he barely took care of their diet. They were hungry almost all the time. He didn't believe in washing - he didn't wash himself, never used cosmetics and never allowed to do so anybody who lived with him. He did many other weird things, like gathering junk - everything from McDonald's napkins, flyers, empty milk containers to broken furniture and equipment. He even had to rent a warehouse to keep it there, there was so much of it.
But most importantly Jeff's dad didn't allow anybody else to control his kids' life. They didn't go to school and were totally dependent on him.
He got in some legal problems and his kids were taken away to a foster home. They escaped back to their father, because they were more familiar with life around their dad. Their life after this became even weirder. They went deep underground, became fugitives and changed their names, so nobody could find and report them. They were living in the car, moving around, taking part in hippie gatherings, driving cars into lakes, doing all kinds of crazy things. God, his life is like a film.