Next Move

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Troy Roberts is the author of</span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Next Move: My Terrible Wonderful Bipolar Life </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>his first book. Raised in a Baltimore family with mob ties he grew up in a tumultuous household surrounded by crime prostitution violence and drugs often escaping with his mother and sister to his grandparents' home near Savannah Georgia. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>As an early teen he fell under the thrall of the Jehovah's Witnesses but by the time he was in his mid-teens he found another far more powerful obsession: chess. Despite an almost crippling affliction of bipolar disorder inherited from both sides of his family he managed to rise from his circumstances and become a top-rated U.S. chess player achieving the rank of Life Master. Troy Roberts is ranked 13th in Maryland and 45th nationally among players aged 65 and over according to the latest United States Chess Federation ratings as of February 2025. </span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Professionally he was the brains behind the rise of high-end designer hardware and plumbing fixtures in big box retailers such as Lowe's and Home Depot. He calls Baltimore home and lives in the area with his beloved wife. He still plays and teaches chess. </span></p>