October 20th, 7 men were ticketed at the Inwood Hill Park's stone chess tables in NY City for playing chess, and are now expected to appear in criminal court on December 28! (As reported in the Manhattan local news) Given all the problems in NY city, one might ask, do the police not have more important business than ticketing people for playing chess? I would love to hear what chess.com players think of this situation. please comment.

That's pretty stupid.

They were ticketed for being in an playground designated for children. I can see the overall logic of keeping adults out of kid's play areas when they're not accompanied by a child, but the chess players were in a seperate area seperated from the playground by a fence. Overall it just seems the cops picked an easy target to push around.

This sounds like it's going to cost more than it could possibly realize in "revenue".

Here is hoping the judge has enough common sense to throw out the charges. Police officers should not quotas. It is a shame law abiding citizens have got mixed up in this. They deserve an apology from the NYPD, not a ticket!

Yeah, I would say they were looking for an easy target. Gotta make those quotas!

Much was made in NYC law enforcement circles of the "broken windows" theory of crime prevention.  This was back in the early 1990s, under Rudy Giulliani.  The idea is that by showing zero tolerance to minor infractions, you signal that more serious crimes will not be tolerates either.  Not that I see anything wrong with playing chess in the park, but this may be the explanation.

It is obvious dear reader that one of the esteemed constabulary (police officers for yu yanks) must have been watching the state of play and deemed the standard so abysmal he had no choice but to put them in the Hokey Pokey....I know, a young 'park player' (myself  actually) in Sydneys Hyde Park when I was 16 I was given two rooks and a queen start by an old russian called..wait for it ..Boris!

GM Walter Shaun Browne played $5.00 a game blit in same Hyde Park Sydney tables giving odds of 5 minutes to one before he won the Australian Masters Championship when a young man...

Now GM Browne couldve been arrested in the park for 'wagering'...though we do know it was no gamble !!! 

FideMaster John Curtis

I remember that Boris fellow. I happened to take a picture of him:

Even if Giulliani's theory of busting down on minor infractions detures more serious crime, what kind of punishment should you get for playing chess in a park?

good riddance to the hooligans

That's not Boris.  This is Boris (with Natasha):

i guess that the caught ppl were chess hustlers 5$ / a game. A police raid maybe caught them and charged them for illegal gambling i suppose... chess is a gamble game as it is a mind sport...

Here's a link to the NYpost with some more info on it.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/kiddie_pawn_shock_KnKyQ0JfMITAIqGawRJf8J

I especially like the commentary left by Cracker_nation.

I bet this case goes further. I have it on good authority that these "chess players" were really eating salt on trans fatted food! The cops also caught some of them smoking. 5 of the 7 had cigarettes, 1 had chewing tobacco on their persons and they weren't wearing any safety equipment! Several sugary candy bars and non diet colas were found. When their urine was tested it was discovered these criminals were not eating their veggies. It's a damn good thing there no children around

I got asked to stop playing chess on a travel set in a pub in Birmingham once by a bouncer (at lunchtime).  Carried on (thought he was joking) and got asked to leave.  Classed as a gambling game and they didnt have a gambling licence.  Funny thing is, most chess clubs meet in pubs or clubs....

I assume it is the gambling element that is involved in this case.  Or possibly jealousy on the part of the police that other people can do something better than them, in which case they should arrest everybody....

Even if it was in a children's area, they should have been allowed to play as long as they didn't have their bishops exposed imho.

"This is yet another example of why NYC is going broke" - comment on the site

the cop response: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/cops_defend_chess_move_zDC2dac4KjGXX3JIZhxNpK

San Francisco has also recently cracked down on street chess.

Here's the article.

It's an excellent (though insignificant) example of BS tabloid journalism -- The headline was eye catching and a damn lie. They were busted for playing chess -- No. They weren't. They were unaccompanied adults in an-adults-with-children-only area, but that's actually BS too... they were homeless guys and the NYPD seems to be running some initiative right now to police the homeless. (Our local sidewalk wino was getting hassled for no good reason yesterday too.) And, they're cracking down on seatbelt scofflaws too. The seatbelts crackdown is  revenue enhancement... bullying the homeless doesn't generate cash -- but I think there's an effort, prior to winter, to A) drive the homeless out to other areas to lower the demand for NYC services and contradictorily B) to outreach to homeless so as to get them off the street and into shelters so they don't die outside!

I've played in Washington square more times than I can remember and to be quite honest the place became a haven for the scum of the earth a long time ago. These guys would sell and smoke ganja right in front of police and not be bothered.

But that was not enough.

It wasn't until they raised the bet and started selling crack that things got out if hand there. It went from a peaceful place to a hangout for violent racist degenerates who would be so messed up they would crap their pants while sitting at the table.

A well known Russian master, who also is homeless, was mugged by these scum after he had made money for playing tourists. The park is now temporarily closed and I say good riddance until they learn to behave like human adults should.

For now union square is both well lit and competitive.  Try there, theres no harrasment and its right in front of passing police.