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In the 17th podcast episode, I interview Life Master Michael Aigner, who resides in the Bay Area. Some of his chess highlights include tying for second place in the U.S Open in 2006 and playing in the U.S Chess Championship in 2007. Thanks to his love for the birds opening, he has the nick name "fpawn." I first met Michael when we played in the 2009 Chicago Open. While Michael was born with quadrilateral phocomelia, four short limbs and has been wheel-chair bound his whole life, that hasn't stopped him from reaching for the stars, getting a MS in Biomedical Engineering at Stanford and becoming a Life Master. In this interview, we discuss his background, chess pedagogy insights, the importance of getting outside one's comfort zone, ways to motivate more disabled players to participate in tournaments and more.
