Demis Hassabis

His dad was an aspiring singer-songwriter and sold toys out of the family's beaten-up Volkswagen van.

Luckily for Demis, he discovers chess when he's four.

He has a natural aptitude for the game.

He first sees his father play a game against his uncle.

That causes him to want to learn how to play.

Within a few weeks, he had mastered the game well enough to defeat adults.

Keep in mind he was four.

By the time he's five years old, he begins competing in tournaments, sitting on a telephone book...

On top of a chair so he could get his head over the table.

He was relentlessly competitive.

That is something that's going to be repeated over and over again.

I think I heard him say one time that half his brain is dedicated to competition.

He is ferociously, ferociously competitive.

And so when he is six years old, a renowned chess player and a television commentator goes up to Demas' dad and says, hey, your son is the best six-year-old chess player I have ever seen.

And Demas says, what are you going to do when someone tells you that?

My parents were fairly normal people living normal lives, and a renowned expert is telling you this.

His father responded to the message as though instructions had been handed down from God.

And for the next half a dozen years, weekend after weekend, he bundled his young son into the family's van and drove him off to tournaments.

The father-son duo spent nights in sleeping bags laid out in the back of the van, and other times they found a cheap hostel and shared a bunk bed.

Remember, his parents didn't have a lot of money.