I'm on my school team, and another kid on it last year was also Aspie. A stronger player I play against sometimes at the local bookstore commented that I know what I'm doing, but I keep falling to silly tactical blunders that I shouldn't be making. He was right- my understanding of the game is around 1800 elo rating level, but because of so many stupid little blunders my practical strength is really low... like 1100 or sometimes even less.
Somehow I find I do better in blindfold than in real games. I think the reasons why- 1) the pieces in my head stay in the center of the square, so less distraction from a disordered board then when I play in real life 2) I'm forced to focus on where everything is and to pay attention, rather than just to glance at the board and move a piece at random and 3) my opponent is never able to handle blindfold as well as I do, because they are so dependent on a board that they can't play without seeing the pieces.
I can generally calculate about 8-ply (four moves for each player) after a couple seconds of reflection, and go quite a bit deeper when I spend more time. Problem is I never spend enough time calculating out all the possibilities.
BTW, anyone interested in a game? PM me, or we can duke it out right here.
1. e4
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WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH