- I went to prison when I was 19, and I was very, very emotional, I couldn't adapt to prison.

I spent seven years, seven days in prison.

Out of that seven year, seven days, I spent four years and four days in solitary confinement without ever fighting or having anything violent going on, just all about not being able to control my emotions, 'cause I hated being told anything, I hated being given orders.

And there were people in prison who saw something in me, who saw that maybe you could be a person who could adapt to prison, who could survive this, and chess would be a good skill for you to have.

Chess saved me.

(upbeat music) I couldn't quite grasp it at first.

As I tried to play other people and they would beat me, I would still get frustrated, I was still very emotional, I had to learn how to control my emotional state, I had to learn how to see chess for being chess and detach my emotions from it.

After a while, I started getting it, but once I started to get chess, it became easier for me to accept prison, I started looking at things from a different perspective.

Chess taught me how to control my thinking process, like there are steps to things, on a chess board, it's one move at a time.

So a lot of times, when we first start learning how to play chess, we learn how to move the pieces, but the depth of the game is lost until you start to study the board.

Chess is like a big puzzle, you gotta see it, you gotta see the checkmates sometimes, sometimes it could be camouflaged, it could be hidden in a world of chaos.

Once I started studying chess, I started studying war and I started studying art, culture, religion, and pretty much everything in the world, I became a nerd.

I studied everything, music, acting, everything, once I started studying chess.

And a lot of times, there are people who can beat me on the chess board, at a chess game, but they can't transfer the principles of chess to everyday life, and I realize that that might be a rare gift that I have to be able to say, "Hey man, you have to protect yourself, you have to protect the things that are valuable, things and the people around you that are valuable."

And I learned those lessons the hard way, I had jeopardized myself and jeopardized everything and everyone around me by going to prison, and chess actually helped me regain my life and my hope just through learning those principles about it, 'cause I started looking at myself like I was the king on the chess board, which pretty much we all are our kings, center of our own universes, and things like that.

In fact, I call myself King Christopher.

(upbeat music)