Cerebral palsy hasn't stopped me becoming a chess pro

Each move is forensically and skilfully calculated in his mind – leaving his opponent with nowhere left to go.

Skilled Dale McLauchlan- Young, who has made his debut in the Southampton Chess League for Fareham, is everything you would expect from a top class chess player: cool, calm and totally collected.

But this shrewd player has never said the words ‘check mate’ – and he never will.

For while his mind is that of a skilled mathematician, he cannot speak and his body is unresponsive.

Dale was born with cerebral palsy and despite his sharp mind, he is imprisoned by his physical disabilities. He relies on a wheelchair and care around the clock.

Incapable of any verbal communication, the only way he can express his frustration is by rolling his eyes upwards.

But determined to escape the paralysis of his condition, Dale began playing chess aged just six.

Using a communication code verified by the English Chess Federation, the national chess body, his assistant and full time carer Mark Davis points down the rows and along the chessboard until Dale rolls his eyes upwards to indicate which piece he wants to move. Another look upwards indicates the right direction.

Now 15 years later, and after challenging everyone who visited his home to a game, football-mad Dale has found a sport where he can compete on a level basis with able-bodied people.

Meeting Dale at his Titchfield home proved an inspirational experience.

Mark had already briefed me on how to interpret Dale’s eye movements: a look up meant ‘yes’ and a shake of the head indicated ‘no’.

Yet despite the yes/no conversation which followed, Dale’s warmth and humour shone through.

And his ability to honestly convey his feelings and everyday frustrations was profoundly moving.

Yes, he agreed the long tedious process needed to move each piece across the board was annoying and at times painstaking.

But he also made it clear that playing chess alongside able bodied people was empowering.

He knows he is good and often beats his dad Jim.

But is he put off when he plays a really good player? Dale shook his head and laughed. Of course not.

He loves how his disability does not matter when he is sat behind a chess board.

In fact his mum Linda – who jokes she wishes Dale could inherit Harry Potter’s skill of looking at chess pieces to make them move across the board – recounts how he often practises online and competes with people all over the world.

Once he played a 74-year-old professor from Holland who was blown away by his skills when he was just 15 and had no idea of the physical disabilities he faces.

Mark, 49, said: “What Dale does breaks down all boundaries. If someone is paraplegic and has lost the use of their legs, they can still do basketball, tennis etc. But for someone like Dale who is quadriplegic, it is very hard.

However, this is something Dale can do to compete on an even keel with other people.”

Dale, a former pupil of Treloar’s College in Alton, relays the struggles he can be faced with.

He agrees he is always happy to tell people about his condition as his mother recounts a heart-warming story of a four-year-old boy who was mesmerised by him and whose father brought him over to request a demonstration of Dale’s electric wheelchair.

He admits it is frustrating when parents pull their children away – or people make wrong assumptions and talk to him differently to an able bodied person.

Dale has been skiing, wall climbing, raised £3,000 by completing the Great South Run for Scope, and even led out his idols from Portsmouth Football Club at Wembley stadium. With that track record, Dale makes it clear that disabled people should not be judged by what they cannot achieve but rather their abilities.

In chess no prejudices exist.

Mark said: “In the league there is someone who is blind and people with learning difficulties but there is no one I know with cerebral palsy. Everybody he has played has been really positive, some have gone the extra mile to make Dale feel welcome and there has been no negativity at all, they have been really good.”

And for many, including Mark, Dale is an inspiration.

He said: “It’s very, very seldom that Dale’s not upbeat and happy and that’s the one thing I think is pretty cool to be honest and sometimes it makes you think that when you have got a headache or bit of a hangover you think shut up and just get on with it.”

In the future Dale hopes to improve his chess skills and use an iPad which could be wirelessly controlled by his electric wheelchair in order to make his moves much quicker.

Mark, said: “I know Dale would love to be able to kick a football around but that’s never going to happen. This is something he can do, it’s empowering and he loves it.”