Bad at chess

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I've always been terrible at chess, and wondered if this is related to autism? Or is it just me?

I can't think more than one or two moves in advance. And this seems to be true for my life choices as well. I have trouble guessing at the consequences of my major life decisions. Basically, something seems like a good idea, but I really have no idea if it's going to work, or fail, so I just try it and hope for the best!

Anyway just wondered if this is an autistic thing, or something else?

No, I don't think this is an autism thing. I have AS and I'm rated in the top 100 players in the US for my age in chess.

I'm okay at chess, not great, but not bad ether.

i look at chess as an impenetrably arcane game of mysterious rules, in the same manner as the typical housecat looks upon a doorknob. i'm crap at anything involving rules. i don't even comply too well with the laws of gravity and motion most of the time.

No

I used to be really good at chess, learned from a computer game.
Any game that involves strategy I am decent at.

I'm not a fan of chess. I dislike the way, like logic puzzles or math or an IQ test, it supposedly is supposed to measure talent or intelligence, but really anyone who dedicates themselves to learning move patterns etc. can become good at it. But even so, people continue to use it to measure their talent and intelligence against other people even after they've clearly taught it to themselves, and established that talent and intelligence isn't the main factor. The competitiveness of the game has a really athletic quality to it.

Meanwhile if I were to meet a brilliant and dedicated chess player who wasn't smug, I would definitely be impressed by their discipline and find them that much more awesome for it. I think the flawed& artificial way chess/sports/math/IQ tests/academic marks measure people against eachother is what puts me off from them . . . I don't like being measured by things that aren't relevant to me and wouldn't be able to get validation from getting really skilled at these. (Except maybe improving my marks just cuz I could get scholarships and go to grad school.)

(but don't mind me, I'm a hypocrite. I'm studying classical music and enjoy the smugness that accompanies reading classic novels and keeping up to date with political correctness.)

When I played chess when I was little, I was both a bad winner and a bad loser, so I didn't end up playing it often. Around middle school I joined a chess club, but I didn't like the attitude of the other chess players. (Did I mention I love Scrabble?) Maybe I'm just not good at chess and still don't take losing well? That's probably it.

Meanwhile funny story, someone brought a chess tube to school today and I was riveted, and actually really wanted to play it all of a sudden. Like, these are just the contradictory stances I'm holding simultaneously until I decide what to think of this chess thing. Also chinese chess is cool, though I probably couldn't remember the rules offhand.

Some people are good at it, others aren't...just like with anything in life.

I think that I have enjoyed playing it, but if I try to really predict different possibilities and strategy I get a bit obsessive compulsive and get a headache from thinking too much. So I tend to play rather randomly, at least until the choices aren't too large, so I tend to lose to people who plan a bit more at the begining.

Thanks for all the responses, that is interesting to know! I guess it remains a mystery why I am awful at chess (or anything involving strategy)... In real life I have difficulty guessing people's motives or predicting how they will behave, and I guess I have the same trouble in games too!

Also like someone else said, I'm not very competitive by nature, so that could explain why I was never really interested in chess to begin with :/

I have something related with chess: I'm actually good in chess? But I seem to feel chess, not think chess. So I'm doing great as long I just play and don't think about it, the moves just come to me, but the moment I want to figure out what the hell I am doing or why I did what I did: nothing. I just can't seem express it at the level of language.

I used to be good at chess, and even better at checkers. Now I am too impatient and I have always found it harder to play on a computer. I am much better playing on a real board. I am good at breaking things down and figuring things out so I just figured chess out.

No I don't think that Autism as a factor on how good a chess player is. I started playing when I was six, am ok & have on & off of playing.since I started playing. My chess right now is a bit rusty. Over few the last two years I been re teaching myself, my training is paying off as I have improved my chess quite alot.

IMHO the key to good chess is the study of annotated games, the use of chess training software to coach you(especially if you have problems finding a chess coach to mentor you) & to have go at solving chess puzzles.

Actually, I think that chess is the type of activity that could be easily mastered by people on autism spectrum, due to its rational nature. I used to be in top 50 players of my age category nationally and I must say, that several people there clearly showed signs that they might be on the spectrum. Also, best player of my country is probably an Aspie (shy, weird type, who is distinguishable from distance by his awful clothes and clumsy moves; also I heard some stories from his former coach and it appeared that even as a kid, he was interested in chess to the point of obsession - always carrying some chess book with him, memorizing the entire games, etc.).

Personally, I am not really good player, especially because I have never got anyone to train me, and I really suck in learning the opening theory (several players commented that for my playing strenght I have unusually low knowledge of theory); that contributed to my playing style: I am strategic player who tries to survive openings, create complicated, but closed position with multiple weak points in positions of both players and then slowly overpower the opponent. Because of that, I am much better in longer games than in blitzchess.

What is interesting is that I am good at blindfolded chess; I can keep up there with players who are normally fairly beyond my playing strenght. I would attribute that to the fact, that I am good in visualizing. I have also no problem to play more than one blindfolded games simultaneously; my personal record at blindfolded chess was three games simultaneously combined with the fact that this was played in a bar; it was very noisy place, I could not concentrate very well, but it did not prevent me from winning all three games.

I got on a Top 100 List in the United States in my age group (Age 18, if you want to know) knowing just one opening, espionage, and playing by intuition. I could not even sit down long enough, and back when I seriously played tournament chess you were allowed to get up and walk around, and I could not sit down for a long period of time to save my life, so I walked around to the other games in my section and read the scoresheets of the other players to see what openings they were playing. I would literally make a move and get up and start walking around again immediately. There were times where I was thinking about other people's games instead of the one in front of me. I don't think it was actually cheating since I never prepared with an opening book beforehand and I still had to win the middlegame or endgame, and a lot of lines when I played black led to equal positions where you had to play hard for the win. It is a little known fact when I played in American tournament chess back then that you can read a book about the endgame while you are in the opening phase of the game, or any other non-opening book or newspaper for that matter. I am not sure they can still do that though...

Chipshorter has good advice, but I only use a computer for analyzing games quickly and doing puzzles. I don't play against it at all because of the human element of the game. Chess is a lot about pattern recognition, especially for checkmates, so I feel it is conducive for a person with autism. The only opening I knew was all about "rote memorization" and patterns, so I just crushed people when I played it. I scared someone into not playing it, and I beat the highest-rated high school player in a major American city in a 5-minute game because apparently he did not see what I did to his teammates when they sat down across from me. This was a school that won national championships as a team and they were specifically taught the opening I played; needless to say I did not lose a game against them on either side. We're not talking about close games either; the only reason why they drew was because I messed up. Chess is a lot easier than people think if you see enough patterns to use them effectively, especially for checkmates.