Disclaimer: I found this article in the newspaper, and had to post it. It was originally in Portuguese so forgive the funky translation.
Check-Mate
Invite a friend over, sit down in front of a chess table and close your eyes. You opponent must narrate every move. The catch? You have to play by memory; develop your strategy simply by memorizing each piece’s position on the board. Is that hard?
Well that is how Roberto became Brazilian chess champion. The first of many titles.
The story begins at a taxi stand, at the church ‘Largo da Matriz’, in Itapecirica da Serra, a small town 33 km outside of São Paulo.
It was 9 o’clock at night, on a winter night. A couple arrived and asked for a ride to the nearest expressway, Regis Bittencourt.
Ernesto, the cab driver, thought that the run would take awhile, so he dropped by his house, which was on the same block, to pick up his son Roberto to keep him company.
It was a regular drive, no extra traffic. Once at the drop-off point, the man and the woman alighted. The lady, pregnant, fishes in her back looking for something, her husband’s wallet or… She pulls out a gun. Mr. Ernesto floors the cab.
At 28 years old, that is the last image Roberto sees. The shot hit him in the head.
It was June 28, 1994.
“Eight out of ten people shot in the head die, and two lose become completely disabled. At the beginning, that was the outlook.”
But months later, supported on a cane, Roberto Carlos Hengels was already walking, talking, and had regained full movement in all of his limbs.
He had however, lost his eyesight.
Chess, a childhood passion which had become a profession, was reduced to memory.
Six years later, without being able to teach chess, Roberto entered law school. It was an expensive course. His only chance in making it, was an internal championship, each semester, which would free the top scorers from paying two monthly fees a year.
The game? Chess.
“I had never played again, since the accident. But I had to try.” He recalls.
He tried, and playing solely by memory, he won. Each one of his opponents had perfect eyesight.
That same year, 2000, he was the Brazilian chess runner-up among the visually impaired; the next year, Champion. A title he won again in 2003, 2005, and recently in December of 2006.
He participated in the World Championship of Amateur Chess in Spain, and Poland, and was awarded the bronze medal in the Pan-American Games for the visually impaired last year.
Now he doesn’t play solely by memory. He bought an adapted chess board, and timer. On the adapted board, the pieces fit into the board, and there are markings on the pieces to indicate their set, and rank. The timer tells him how much time he has left for a check mate.
“My performance increased 50%,” says Roberto. “Before, people would cheat with the old timer.”
His self sufficiency, however, had another side-effect. “Before, everyone thought it was nice of me to play. Trying to include me, they would say, ‘Yeah sure, come over. You can play, lose and it will be fine.’ These days there are people who avoid playing with me, so they won’t lose to a blind man.”
For more on Roberto Carlos Hengles, here is another interview with him. Warning! Link is in Portugese.
* * *
Check-Mate
Invite a friend over, sit down in front of a chess table and close your eyes. You opponent must narrate every move. The catch? You have to play by memory; develop your strategy simply by memorizing each piece’s position on the board. Is that hard?
Well that is how Roberto became Brazilian chess champion. The first of many titles.
The story begins at a taxi stand, at the church ‘Largo da Matriz’, in Itapecirica da Serra, a small town 33 km outside of São Paulo.
It was 9 o’clock at night, on a winter night. A couple arrived and asked for a ride to the nearest expressway, Regis Bittencourt.
Ernesto, the cab driver, thought that the run would take awhile, so he dropped by his house, which was on the same block, to pick up his son Roberto to keep him company.
It was a regular drive, no extra traffic. Once at the drop-off point, the man and the woman alighted. The lady, pregnant, fishes in her back looking for something, her husband’s wallet or… She pulls out a gun. Mr. Ernesto floors the cab.
At 28 years old, that is the last image Roberto sees. The shot hit him in the head.
It was June 28, 1994.
“Eight out of ten people shot in the head die, and two lose become completely disabled. At the beginning, that was the outlook.”
But months later, supported on a cane, Roberto Carlos Hengels was already walking, talking, and had regained full movement in all of his limbs.
He had however, lost his eyesight.
Chess, a childhood passion which had become a profession, was reduced to memory.
Six years later, without being able to teach chess, Roberto entered law school. It was an expensive course. His only chance in making it, was an internal championship, each semester, which would free the top scorers from paying two monthly fees a year.
The game? Chess.
“I had never played again, since the accident. But I had to try.” He recalls.
He tried, and playing solely by memory, he won. Each one of his opponents had perfect eyesight.
That same year, 2000, he was the Brazilian chess runner-up among the visually impaired; the next year, Champion. A title he won again in 2003, 2005, and recently in December of 2006.
He participated in the World Championship of Amateur Chess in Spain, and Poland, and was awarded the bronze medal in the Pan-American Games for the visually impaired last year.
Now he doesn’t play solely by memory. He bought an adapted chess board, and timer. On the adapted board, the pieces fit into the board, and there are markings on the pieces to indicate their set, and rank. The timer tells him how much time he has left for a check mate.
“My performance increased 50%,” says Roberto. “Before, people would cheat with the old timer.”
His self sufficiency, however, had another side-effect. “Before, everyone thought it was nice of me to play. Trying to include me, they would say, ‘Yeah sure, come over. You can play, lose and it will be fine.’ These days there are people who avoid playing with me, so they won’t lose to a blind man.”
* * *
For more on Roberto Carlos Hengles, here is another interview with him. Warning! Link is in Portugese.
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