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Feb. 18, 2016
Kyle Jacoby is only in the fifth grade, but already he thinks he’s some sort of chess prodigy. To test his mettle, he challenged six grand–masters to a simultaneous blindfolded chess match, and damn, was he out of his depth here.
Little Kyle isn’t bad at chess, mind you. He has a 1200 rating in the chess circuit, and he’s beaten both his mom and his dad. But, God, the kid played against grown men who have been playing the game for years and years. He really should not have pulled this stunt; it was embarrassing for all everyone involved.
If you don’t believe that Kyle’s bark was way way worse than his bite, all you need to do is watch the games yourself. By the fifth move or so, Kyle forgot which Ggrandmaster he was playing against, guessing moves for each game. At one point, Kyle madeattempted 17 different illegal moves before finally learning that he could legally push his h pawn, which was immediately taken by Grandmaster Nadya Gorski’s bishop.
“I felt bad for him,” said Gorski. “When I signed up for this, I thought, ‘oh, I’m gonna be against some talented child prodigy, this could be a cool way to see the next generation of Ggrandmasters’, but wow, was this kid amateurish. I mean, I even left a knight right where Kyle could take it for a while just so he can take it andould feel like he accomplished something. But he never noticed.”
“You could tell around his third or fourth move against these Ggrandmasters that Kyle was going to learn a harsh lesson about humanity,” said Bruce Jacoby, Kyle’s stepfather. “For God knows what reason, he refused to resign, thinking that somehow over the course of the match he would come to remember where all the pieces were. I felt really bad for him, but Kyle really should have at least tried a few matches of blindfolded chess against me before challenging all those Grandmasters. Between you and me, though, I don’t think he would have won even if he weren’t blindfolded.”
“A few times, I’m pretty sure Kyle attempted to stealthily free himself from his blindfold,” said Gorski, “at one point, we made eye contact. Wow, I’ve never seen so many tears.”
