There are several chess threads already on AFF; however, they are all several years old. Therefore, I am posting this question in a new thread.

Do any of the active members of Aspies For Freedom like to play chess?

Isn't it common for aspies to be bad at games of strategy because of deficits in working memory?

I'm not very good at chess. I'm even worse at checkers, kids get p*ssed off at me sometimes because they think I'm letting them win.

I'm good at games where you can play each turn pretty much on its own merits. Like scrabble.

In my experience, a lot of aspies are actually good chess players. In any case, I dislike generalization in the absence of hard data.

This post was last modified: 12-01-2010 06:04 AM by Semicolon.

Ah, that explains why I like you.  I dislike hard data in the absence of generalization.

Love chess, but scrabble is more fun for me.

This post was last modified: 12-01-2010 06:07 AM by aboniks.

Yes, it was just something I read once. Quite likely a generalization or assumption without a lot of substance behind it. Hence I phrased it as a question rather than as a statement.

My working memory is very poor. I am absent minded in the extreme. I often lose the thread of what I am saying halfway through a sentence, for example, if I am not very focussed. I lose things and forget things all the time.

Playing chess supposedly involves working memory (I've seen a documentary where they did some kind of brain scan on a chess master to show that). I have never played chess with an aspie that I know of. I'm guessing that aspies who are good at chess either have much better working memories than I have, or they have made adjustments for it which I haven't managed to do.

I like playing it, but I'm not particularly good at it.  Once I remembered the basic movement rules I was okay.  Past that, I just improvise, and lose fairly regularly.

Ummm....I did.  When I knew the rules.....
Uhhhhh*Metaphorically Toes Circles in the Metaphoric Dirt*  I kinda forgot 'em.  *Apologetic Smile*

I can't do the thinking many moves ahead that makes a successful chess player. I also enjoy books and movies for their texture rather than their plot, which I either lose track of during or forget after. In music I'm strong on harmony but not on form. Love architecture, though.

I've always had difficulty explaining my experience with books.  You've summed it up beautifully.  I'm a voracious reader, but If someone asks me what the book I just read was "about", I'm usually incapable of remembering enough to give them a coherent synopsis.

I don't really like chess. It's too visual-spatial for me; I much prefer things with more abstract logic than spatial stuff.

This post was last modified: 12-04-2010 12:24 PM by Callista.

I've tried to play chess in the past, but somehow I just couldn't develop a sense of strategic thinking. People say airily that you learn that through playing with other people, but not for me.

I've never played much.  Honestly, it is probably because I'm pretty mediocre at it.  I like checkers.

I like checkers also. but prefer chess, for the challenge.

No, but sometimes i play Risk.

I've been playing a lot of chess against my new laptop. Difficulty level goes from 1 to 10, and I'm currently holding my own at difficulty level 2. I haven't managed to beat the computer yet at difficulty level 3, but I will get there. I'm sure that if I set my mind to it I can become a half decent chess player.