I think about this all the time

I think the only thing that's accurate about this story is that he lost to some random guy on the street.

@MagnusCarlsen better watch out for the roaming savant

He's just a casual player, not too serious about it, just messes around playing the computer from time to time. And he's 2100. Ok.

He may well have played a homeless Bobby Fischer.

new york chess hustlers are on a different level. personally, I think it would be great for content if we invited one as a player to Las Vegas, mic'd them up, let them talk trash.. but I don't really know how to pitch that to the team

He doesn't talk about chess like he's a 2000. Chess players say "I went knight c3, he went bishop a5". That's how chess players talk.

You shouldn't. 2100 is great but nowhere near unbeatable. That guy was probably just good. Richards probably thinks he was unbeatable becasue he doesn't understand how poor his actual understanding of chess is.

So what happens when you put 2 savants to play each other?

I hung out a few times with a brilliant schizophrenic homeless chess hustler named Susan Cohen in Tucson in the late 90s. We happened to go to a café, where a young aspiring grandmaster happened to be giving paid lessons. (thread...)

Find him, Kostya!