By: Khojinur Usmonov
“A battleground for chess enthusiasts. A playground for canines and children.” – Washington Square Park
From folk singers to dancers, from hippies to hipsters, from NYU students to tourists, Washington Square Park is always active and it is a preferred locale for the energetic people. You won’t see people with a “low energy.”
And there is chess. Unlike a real battle, you can always come back to play another time in a chess battle. Players battle it out in the heart of Greenwich Village. Out of eighteen chess tables at the park, Thomas Nashan is at one of them. Featured in the film “The Prison in Twelve Landscapes,” Nashan learned his craft in prison that installed him philosophy that carried him through the rest of his life.
Prison is a challenge that allows inmates to think differently and more broadly. “Being patient in your thinking, in your ways, in your moves, and dealing with another situation or scenario,” Nashan stated, allows you to adapt and survive in this world. The amateur chess player became a chess master while incarcerated.
Art led the passionate man to chess, a “game that many insights, many multiple ways to play, helps you to think, foreseen, recognize, and knowing how to understand the situation and resolve it,” said Nashan.
Playing it in the most popular park in the city means meeting “a lot of interesting people….from all parts of the world.” Nashan added. It also means extra cash.
Thomas Nashan on the right with his opponent, Leroy Mack, on the left.
All season long, there are tourists wandering around the park. Dennis Blom – a tourist from Sweden and a casual chess player – challenged one of the chess players in the park for $10 and lost. “That was all for fun,” said Blom chuckling.
The chess players in Washington Square Park are “known for playing for money,” said David Rigo, a manager at Chess Forum, located two blocks away from the park and a decade old chess store that was originally owned by a Russian grandmaster. Not only are the games a bet, but also a lesson.
The chess players at the park are even “good teachers, so you kind of get this experience of playing with a very good players, but in the best case, it’s like $5 chess lesson. You basically pay them to play,” said Rigo.
Leroy Mack – homeless and former prisoner – makes his living by beating people in chess. People like Mack and Nashan play and teach the game for money in the park. Chess game bets can range mostly from $5 to $20 in the city parks. Making over $60 a day, sometimes even more.
In addition to making little extra money at the park, both Nashan and Mack takes up various odd jobs on the side, including that of street sweeper. The chess games and the odd jobs allows them to buy the necessities needed to survive on the streets.
Besides the money, you also get a spotlight. Sometimes the people chess players meet can give them opportunities to be in a movie of any kind. “There’s a movie coming out called “King of Drones”…..they’ll see me playing and whole other legendary guys playing chess in the movie…..and it’s shot right at the Washington Square Park,” said Mack, one of the chess players at the park.
This is an addition to other films chess players got to be part of. Nashan was in “The Prison in Twelve Landscapes,” which is playing currently in select theaters throughout the nation.
The players do get paid most of the time for any type of interviews, from documentary film to podcast. They believe you need a great story to share because that’s what the interviewers are looking for. For films like “The Twelve Prison in Twelve Landscapes,” Nashan says the person who filmed the video did his due diligence on him to make sure the story checked out.
Some people just want to learn. Ali Macbahi hailed to Washington Square Park to absorb some chess lessons for $20. Playing four games for $5 each, Macbahi admires “the knowledge that can be gained by playing with people smarter than me.” The chess master told him that the pawns are the strongest weapons because they can be turned into anything. Macbahi who calls himself “pre-professional” plans to compete in regional chess tournaments later on. That is one major reason he’s seeking an education from the professionals.
The cold is here and you’re probably reading this somewhere warm. The players don’t let the cold stop them. They don’t give up. They keep going. “I dress warm. And drink a lot of hot hot liquid that keeps me warm,” said Mack comfortably in a 40 degrees. On the other hand, Mack said people are less willingly to show up during the cold days.
Whatever you want to learn a chess, battle one other, or play for fun, here are the best chess places, outdoors and indoors, to go to in the city.