A chess player is going viral for climbing to an impressive 2400 ELO after replacing his substance addiction with the 64-square board game, instead.
In 2020, a user revealed that he had been struggling with a “hopeless addiction” to marijuana before coming across chess YouTuber Antonio ‘Agadmator’ Radić while high.
While the user claimed to be 1200 ELO at best, he became obsessed watching Mikhail Tal videos. “His attacking style + Antonio’s commentary + influence of marijuana made his games seem like a work of art,” he said.
After learning the Fried Liver Attack and going against opponents who knew how to counter it, the player got more and more into chess, spending more time thinking about the game rather than where to get their next fix.
“The more time I spent learning these, the less time I had left to think about my life and spiral into substance abuse. It was an unhealthy relationship, like one addiction replacing another, but at least chess wasn’t actively destroying my life,” he explained.
Fast forward five years later and the chess player, who goes by ‘peaked_in_high_skool’ on Reddit, revealed a major accomplishment in an update to his story.
Former addict hits 2400 ELO by swapping substance abuse for chess
According to the player, while he had some relapses in those six years of being really into chess, it continued to help immensely.
“I relapsed many times, but kept coming back to Chess and using it to suppress relapses. And in tandem, I managed to cross 2400 on Lichess a few months ago,” he wrote.
In a screenshot, the user showed how he had peaked at 2425 ELO.
Unfortunately, he now feels like chess has done all it can for them, and the player is moving on now that their former addiction to marijuana is under control.
“While chess is a great addiction, I feel it has served its purpose and it’s now time to say goodbye to it,” he explained. “Chess taught me how to take something complex, and analyze it in its parts. I learnt how to train for a defined objective with discipline and expand my mind regarding what is possible.
“Chess has taken a lot of time from my years, and it is now time to focus on more important issues of life.”
Peaked_in_high_skool noted that they might return to chess down the road later on in life, but for now, their chess journey had come to an end.
The player thanked an assortment of content creators, including GothamChess and the late Daniel Naroditsky, for their years of help.
The chess community has rallied behind this player and their impressive jump, and wished them the best in their path ahead.
Chess has proven to be quite the addictive game and it’s not limited to traditional chess, either. Last year, a man in China went viral after he sat in the rain for hours analyzing a game of Xiangqi after he lost.
