He did win a local tournament & prize money a few years ago. As I first posted though, he did study the game quite seriously/deeply on chess computers for a few years, so it’s not like he hasn’t explored most of his potential. As it was, I think, after he took his age and the social scene into consideration, he decided he’d explored it sufficiently & turned to other things (such as currently being an examiner in his field of specialty).
At one time, he’d also gone back & progressed from Grade 3 violin level (achieved in his youth) to Grade 7 and played as an amateur in a semiprofessional orchestra which he thought was also as far as he wanted to go, considering his age. One lifetime, with its cares & responsibilities, limits how much an individual can explore their interests. We’ve been in a comfortable financial position to offer our kids the opportunities of professional coaching in any area of interest (‘a leg up’ at a young age so they can get further than we did without any parental support or encouragement) but they’ve preferred to explore their interests on their own. I guess they’ve seen that being a Jack/Jill of many trades even if master/mistress of none (DS isn’t notable in any area, but he has nine state/national rankings across his wide range of different interests), can be sufficiently satisfying.
It’s interesting to note that Magnus Carlsen is quite athletic and attended a sports school.
