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Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

annekadet.substack.com

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Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#31

Post by WJW »

btilly wrote: post #19

I used to live in NYC 20 years ago. I played a few of the hustlers. Some you will lose to, but most aren't actually that good. They are entertaining though. One moment that I will never forget was watching two hustlers play each other for fun. The position was something like white had a pawn at a4 and a king at c7. Black had a pawn at h5 and a king at f3. Black to move. Black offered a draw, white said OK, I let out…

I assume there were still other pieces? Otherwise he can just trade queens and it would still be a draw.

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#32

Post by tonguez »

every wrote: post #28

I had a chess phase. I used to play a guy with some national ranking. He wiped the floor with me. He told me my game pretty much sucked but he enjoyed playing me because I was always seeing and doing things that would have never occurred to him. And that was the apex of my chess career...

thanks for sharing

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#33

Post by RockyMcNuts »

rhexs wrote: post #20
wdb wrote: post #3

How's this tax free?

The tax code isn’t enforced at the cash / low income level. Thus you can vote for increased taxes to fund increased social spending and not actually take part in the taxation. In fact, you’ll likely even get additional money back filing taxes when there’s no record of your cash income. Convenient, eh?

And yet the poor get audited more than the rich ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-audit-eitc-five-times-as-li...

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#34

Post by INTPenis »

every wrote: post #28

I had a chess phase. I used to play a guy with some national ranking. He wiped the floor with me. He told me my game pretty much sucked but he enjoyed playing me because I was always seeing and doing things that would have never occurred to him. And that was the apex of my chess career...

Heh that sounds just like my story with my dad. He was national champ in the 80s. I never had enough interest in the game to get good, would rather play Doom on his DOS computer than chess.

But whenever we did play I'd make brainless moves and he'd get this puzzled look on his face and start thinking. He once told me the same thing, that I make unusual moves that forces him to rethink his strategy.

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#35

Post by mellosouls »

For those of you who like this stuff, there are loads of those sorts of games on youtube, e.g. the Coffee Chess channel, which has recently been featuring Hikaru and the Botez Sisters (who themselves have been touring various places including the famous NYC hustlers).

Coffee Chess:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq6gYeqi8RIvVeF-sJwdaBg

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#37

Post by topynate »

WJW wrote: post #31
btilly wrote: post #19

I used to live in NYC 20 years ago. I played a few of the hustlers. Some you will lose to, but most aren't actually that good. They are entertaining though. One moment that I will never forget was watching two hustlers play each other for fun. The position was something like white had a pawn at a4 and a king at c7. Black had a pawn at h5 and a king at f3. Black to move. Black offered a draw, white said OK, I let out…

I assume there were still other pieces? Otherwise he can just trade queens and it would still be a draw.

It's a skewer – the White Queen on a8, the Black King on f3 and the Black Queen on h1 all lie on the long diagonal. The King has to move and it can't protect the Queen on h1.

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#38

Post by adharmad »

daveevad wrote: post #23
btilly wrote: post #19

I used to live in NYC 20 years ago. I played a few of the hustlers. Some you will lose to, but most aren't actually that good. They are entertaining though. One moment that I will never forget was watching two hustlers play each other for fun. The position was something like white had a pawn at a4 and a king at c7. Black had a pawn at h5 and a king at f3. Black to move. Black offered a draw, white said OK, I let out…

Isn't that essentially the same endgame at the ending of Searching for Bobby Fischer?

Yes the same. The pawn race and subsequent diagonal pin are the same.

Re: Life advice from NYC chess hustlers

#39

Post by jamiek88 »

paulcole wrote: post #18
pmoriarty wrote: post #2

I used to play a lot of chess, and it totally took over my life. So I never play it anymore, because for me it's too addictive. For some people (like some of these hustlers and others who can make a living from it) that's ok, but for me I wanted more from life than just playing chess all the time and thinking about nothing but chess.. but for certain types of people it has a way of sucking you in and can be a way of…

Same for me but with Scrabble. Saw the same thing in that scene. I don’t necessarily want more from life, but I didn’t want to be obsessed with Scrabble any longer.

And it’s just 100% memorization. The French champion doesn’t even speak French for example.
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