
Hustling the NYC Chess Hustlers!! feat. Nh5
It's on every chess player's bucket list, especially for those in the US - playing a chess hustler in New York City's Washington Square Park.
I was visiting NYC for my birthday last week, and visited Washington Square Park on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, on my birthday! I played three games: two with one player, and a third with a different player.
I only remember the opening bits of each game, but enjoy the bits I can recall for you!
Hustler 1 (looks like I remember chess moves better than names): $5 for 2 games, $3 for just 1 game. If I win the game, the game is free. Wasn't clarified what would happen for a draw. Time control is G/5, no increments/delay.
I went on to win a nice attacking game, with black deciding to put his king into the fire by castling queenside. It was discovery-galore for white, and the white rooks had a field day on this one.
The second game also produced an odd opening, although I have seen this one before on chess.com blitz, with good results for black.
This was a game where I had a nice advantage as black and stretched it, eventually getting something like a 3 or 4 pawn advantage and a winning position, but I ran down the clock quite a bit. Although he may not have been playing the best moves, he was FAST! I jokingly offered a draw with 6 sec on the clock, and my opponent accepted. Two things I got out of his playing style: SPEED, and sketchy positional ideas.
After it was all said and done, I didn't really lose a game, but I decided to donate $3 since I DID draw one game. GGs! Result against Hustler 1: 1.5/2
Another player badgered me for a game when I was about to leave, and who am I to stand there and look like a coward??? He said he believed he played me before, but he must have mistaken me for someone else; this was my first time here!
Hustler 2: no money, just playing for donations! No time control
I thought this game would be fun to show in a cute tactics puzzle! Can you find the best move here?
I'm a 23-year old chess player in Boston, MA who is on the journey to becoming a National Master. Chess isn't my full time job, but I do take it seriously when I can. Follow my chess journey and life!
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