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Playing chess in Washington Square Park

As mentioned in my last post I've been around Washington Square Park this weekend. When I came to the south east part of the park I saw quite a few people there playing chess. Most of them have been playing speed-chess against the clock. And there was one man playing chess with a boy who might have been about 10 years old. He didn't use a clock. I stopped and watched them playing two games before I asked to take some pictures. The boy's father came over while the third game was going on. They have been french tourists and already came there the day before to play chess with this guy called Norman.

After the game finished I introduced myself to the man sitting on this small bench. We where talking for a while and Norman told me that he comes to the park every weekend, usually very early in the morning to try and catch his favourite table. Competitors are tough.
Norman told me that he's trying to make a few bucks through the game. He doesn't like speed-chess, he rather wants to teach chess. And if he loses a game he doesn't charge for it since he was not able to teach his students.
Norman is 58 and originaly came from Louisiana to New York. His parents moved here when he was still a kid. He asked me if I'd like to play a game of chess with him. I had to reject since I don't know how to play chess at all. He showed me the basic moves and I told him to come back next weekend to have my first lesson.

The following photographs show other people playing chess in Washington Square Park.

Posted by Martin Fuchs on May 9, 2005 11:26 PM