Former chess prodigy Jordan Ford looks to deliver a checkmate in the EuroCup

Once a chess prodigy in California, Jordan Ford made everybody aware of his scoring ability on his BKT EuroCup debut

Celebrating a winning shot by shouting "checkmate" would be cold, but what if an actual chess player pulled that off? In this year's BKT EuroCup, somebody could turn that hypothesis into reality and he was actually close to it in Round 1.

Debuting in international competition with a 32-point effort and shooting 11 for 11 from two-point range against the 2022-23 champion, Dolomiti Energia Trento guard Jordan Ford left quite an impression in Gran Canaria.

What's even crazier is that the 26-year-old guard could have chosen a much different trajectory rather than spreading quickness and explosiveness on basketball courts. By second grade, he was already a two-time California State chess champion and ranked in the top 10 nationally for his age group.