8-Year-Old Harlem Chess Whiz Plays Surgeon WhoHelped Fix His Eyesight in New York

GRAMERCY — An 8-year-old chess wunderkind was
supremely confident when he played against the New
York City surgeon who helped fix his eyesight.
"I knew you were going to lose by the first move," Sami
Uyanik told Dr. Mark Steele after quickly putting him in
check while they played at the doctor's NYU Langone
Medical Center office Friday afternoon.

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The Harlem family of Sami, who played his first
tournament at age 5, feared he would never be able to
play competitively again after contracting a rare eye
condition in 2013 that caused him to see double.
“He became like this empty shell of a kid,” his mother
Jeannie Uyanik told DNAinfo New York about Sami’s
spirits toward the end of the nearly yearlong ordeal.
“At first grade, all of a sudden you stop being able to
read. He was a nuisance in the classroom.”
Jeannie, 41, happened to be at Sami's school, Dalton , in
October 2013 with his younger sister when a teacher
came to find her.
“She said, ‘Hey, there’s something wrong with Sami and
he can’t see,” Jeannie recounted. “It was really surreal."
The family immediately took Sami to his doctor.
“She was really worried,” Jeannie said about their
pediatrician.
Fearful that he could have a tumor, Sami's family had
him undergo an MRI.
“We saw everybody — ophthalmologists, neurologists,”
Jeannie said, adding that nothing, including getting her
son “Coke-bottle” glasses, helped.
Sami took things in stride and still tried to play soccer
and chess, but it was a struggle.
“You would see him knocking [chess] pieces over. It’s
important to notate moves. It was really hard for him to
write,” she said. “We had him play soccer, but he could
never find the ball. It was kind of comedic.”
But Sami was determined, and the family brought him to
the state chess tournament in Saratoga, N.Y., in early
2014.
He failed to place, but Jeannie met two parents who
were doctors and offered to help.
They recommended the family meet with the pediatric
ophthalmologist and surgeon.
“From the moment the first person picked up the phone
it was an entirely different experience,” Jeannie said
about working with Dr. Steele’s office.
Dr. Steele was able to answer all of the family’s
questions and put Sami at ease immediately.
He explained how a nerve that helps control the outer
muscle of the eye was not functioning properly, causing
his right eye to be crossed.
The family decided to go ahead with surgery last July
within weeks of meeting with the doctor.
Dr. Steele described Sami as a mature child with “the
insight to understand what is going on.”
He added that while the surgery was not life-
threatening, there was a chance it would not work the
first time and Sami might have to go under the knife
again.
But the youngster was undaunted and went ahead with
the procedure on July 31.
“He woke up from the surgery and the first thing he said
was, ‘Mommy, I can see,’” Jeannie said.
“It was unbelievable. He looked like a different child
when he said that.”
When he got back home, he played chess against his
father.
He kept playing and went back to the state
championship this year, where he placed 11th in his
group.
He also wanted to honor the doctor who helped put his
burgeoning chess career back on track.
However, it would probably not be much of a
competition, the doctor admitted.
“I looked it up online and found out chess is a game
where you don’t jump — that’s checkers,” Dr. Steele said
jokingly before the match.
After they started to play it was quickly apparent how
overmatched he was.
"I am more nervous now than for your operation."
But seeing Sami back doing what he loves should help
soften the likely defeat.
“Seeing kids out of the office and better then when they
first came in is always rewarding,” he said.
Sami was a good sport about the match and expressed
his appreciation for Dr. Steele.
"I couldn't see straight, so it was hard for me," he said
about playing before his surgery. "It's actually really fun.
I say thanks a lot [to Dr. Steele]."
Dr. Steele is set to be honored Wednesday, April 29 at
the annual KiDS of NYU Langone Springfling at the Plaza
Hotel. Proceeds from the event will go toward child life
services at the medical center.