06.06.15 After reading our recent article on the blindfold chess players at the Ellsworth Chess Club, one ChessMaine.net reader felt compelled to write and express her opinion. She sent the following information and images to, in her words, "...set the record straight!"

Thanks to Greg Hofmann and Hannan Hoffman for contributing to this report.

We received the following letter via email from one of our readers in Chicago:

I was disturbed at the distorted representation of the blindfolded chess players in the recent article "Ellsworth Chess Club Hosts Blindfold Competition" in the May 31 edition of the Ellsworth American.

Yellow journalism pales in comparison.

"Others hopelessly rested their head in their palms with fingers splayed across their face," is the quote that really set me off, since it seems to be referring to the man in the photograph who is resting his chin on his hand none other than ChessMaine.net web editor Dan DeLuca.

I'll have you know that not only does he look calm and pensive--far from hopeless--but I know him personally and can vouch for that's actually the way his face looks when he's in extreme joy!

Furthermore, I happen to know that DeLuca does all sorts of things blindfolded.

In fact, he does all his daily activities blindfolded including cooking, shaving, and driving. In addition to these mundane everyday activities, he's also done some spectacular things blindfolded like walking a tightrope and surfing the Banzai Pipeline. He met with JFK while blindfolded!

He regularly competes in national biathlon events blindfolded and represented the United States in the biathlon in the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in 2010. He finished in seventeenth place, edged out by sixteen Swedes, who we believe were using steroids.

He had a two-year stint as a blindfolded striker on the Real Madrid soccer team.

He worked as a chef at the Benihana restaurant in New York City while blindfolded!

He's been wearing a blindfold since he was a boy and performed his first marching band practice while blindfolded in seventh grade!

This man, and many others, are easily capable of playing chess blindfolded. No sweat. During the game they have plenty of room left in their imagination to simultaneously plan dinner, do their taxes and play a couple hands of whist.

Your tendency to blow things out of proportion is truly disturbing. I hope to never read such blatant exaggerations in your publication again.

I am happy to finally set the record straight!

Chagrined in Chicago

DeLuca (second row from left and second from the front) got his start with blindfolded performances during his involvement with his middle school marching band. The conductor of the band stated that he had never seen someone play the French horn and march in cadence while blindfolded until he met DeLuca.

After graduating from high school and looking for greater challenges, DeLuca, inspired by Philippe Petit, the French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, became the second person in history to make the death-defying walk between the Towers on a high wire and the first to do it blindfolded.

DeLuca became the first person to scale Mount Everest while blindfolded. Here he celebrates with his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay after summitting the world's highest peak.

DeLuca competed blindfolded in two Winter Olympics: Vancouver, 2010 (Biathlon) and Sochi, 2014 (90m Ski Jumping). He finished 17th in the Biathlon...

...and just out of the medals (in fourth) in the 90m Ski Jump.

Always excited about culinary arts and an adept chef, DeLuca took a brief stint at Benihana Restaurant on West 56th Street in New York City in the spring of 2007. Restaurant patrons, initially concerned to be served by a blindfolded chef wielding knives, were delighted by DeLuca's skill and artistry.

In a foray of inspired athleticism before turning to blindfolded science and politics, DeLuca joined the Kirov Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In this image he is dancing the "Peasant" pas de deux in Giselle while blindfolded.

An accomplished theoretical physicist, DeLuca was one of Einstein's key consultants during the development of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. The two men were often seen in classrooms and coffee shops in Princeton, New Jersey. Remarkably, DeLuca conducted all of his meetings with Einstein while blindfolded.


This perchance meeting with Che Guevara in the fall of 1958 in Las Villas province, Cuba set DeLuca on a course of political involvement and activism that would see him meet with some of the world's greatest leaders and decision makers.

DeLuca (blindfolded on left) meets with John F. Kennedy in the spring of 1961 to advise him on issues surrounding the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

DeLuca addresses a Joint Session of the United States Congress in the fall of 2013.

Three days after addressing the Joint Session, DeLuca confers one-on-one with President Obama.

Chess is just one of the many activities DeLuca participates in with aplomb and dexterity while blindfolded.