Colorado Brothers to Represent Team USA in International Chess Olympiad
Full Interview is published by Westword
At eight years old, Griffin McConnell underwent a third brain surgery to treat his life-threatening epileptic seizures. The operation disconnected the left side of Griffin’s brain, limiting function for half of his body and forcing him to relearn how to do basically everything.
Long before he could walk or talk again, Griffin was back to playing chess with his younger brother, Sullivan.
“Even though there was no speaking, it felt like I could still communicate with him,” Sullivan recalls. “He was still in there.”
Chess has bonded the brothers for as long as they can remember. Today, the Golden residents are both national masters and have won the Colorado State Chess Championship a combined sixteen times. Now, 21-year-old Griffin and eighteen-year-old Sullivan are taking their talents to a world stage.
Griffin and Sullivan were both selected to represent Team USA in the FIDE Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, making up two-fifths of the national team.
The international event is described as the Paralympics of chess. From October 19 to 26, players from 35 teams around the world will gather in Astana, Kazakhstan to compete. It is only the second chess olympiad for people with disabilities, with the first taking place in 2023 in Serbia.
Following Griffin’s fourth and final brain surgery in 2021, a hemispherectomy to remove half of his brain, he has chronic headaches and limited movement in his right hand and leg, at times requiring a wheelchair to get around. He says chess is an ideal sport for him because of its quiet atmosphere and intellectual nature, rather than physical.
“My disability doesn’t shine whenever I’m playing chess,” Griffin says. “There are moments when my disability goes away whenever I’m playing chess.”
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