Meet Marty Anderson

I met Marty on Saturday August 13 at the corner of Washington Square Park, New York. It is the corner where all the chess hustlers hang out and you can play them for money. My family took me there because they wanted me to play Russian Paul, who is the most famous player in the park and on the grandmaster level, but they did not spot him and so I played with Marty. He is there all day every day. We played a couple of 3 minute games and meanwhile he told me his life story.

Marty was born 12 Nov 1964 and he grew up in Baltimore along with 7 brothers. Four brothers became policemen and four brothers had run ins with the law. Marty had the run ins, because he joined the Black Panthers. He was 4 years old when Martin Luther King was assassinated. One of his policemen brothers taught him how to play chess at an early age, which was great as it keeps you focussed and do well in school. However, Marty was not only focussed on chess. He became a father when he was only 18. His mother, who is his Queen, told him to face the consequences and take care of his family. So he dropped out of school to earn money in a restaurant, doing the dishes. A horrible job, but he worked his way up to become a cook. Eventually, after going back to college he earned a degree and ended up teaching disabled people how to cook. Marty has 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. The boys are out of the picture, but the girls keep in touch. Especially his oldest daughter, who is now 41 years old (the math does not really add up here) and behaves as if she is his mother. For instance, she tells him not to play chess in Washington Square, but he has to. He lost his job during the lockdown and a man needs to find a way to pay the rent.

I do not remember all the games that I played with Marty. I have conveniently forgotten the first one, in which he thrashed me and mocked all my moves (Oh Robert, are you really going to do that, Robert?). But I remember two other games that you can find below. I think Marty threw the second game. On the web there is a photo shoot in which he says: “I lose on purpose, because if I beat them too much, their ego gets hurt and I don’t make as much.”

Marty-RF  1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.Nf3 c5 5.e3 Qb6 6.Bb5 a6 7.Bxd7+ Bxd7 8.dxc5 Qxb2 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.Nxd5 Bxc5 11.Nc7+ Ke7 12.Nxa8 Bb5 13.Nc7 Bb4+ 14.Nd2 Bxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Rd8+ 16.Ke1 Qc3+ 0-1

RF-Marty 1.e4 e5 2.Be2 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.e5 Nd5 5.Qxd4 Nb6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Qe4 Be7 8.Nc3 O-O 9.Bd3 g6 10.h4 d5 11.Qe2 Bg4 12.Bg5 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Bxg5 14.hxg5 Qxg5 15.Kf1 Nxe5 16.Qh3 h5 17.Re1 Nbc4 18.Nxd5 c6 (the obvious move Nd2+ wins easily) 19.Ne3 Nxb2 20.g4 Nbxd3 21.cxd3 Nxd3 22.gxh5 Nxe1 23.hxg6 Qb5+ 24.Kxe1 Qb1+ 25.Ke2 Qb2+ 26.Kf1 Qg7 27.gxf7+ Rxf7 28.Rg1 Rd8 29.Rxg7+ Rxg7 30.Qe6+ Kh8 31.Nf5 Rgd7 32.Qh6+ Kg8 33.Qg5+ Kf8 34.Qf6+ Kg8 35.Qg5+ ½-½

More info on the Facebook page New York chess: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2988651461375211/

The photo shoot is on: https://pavementpieces.com/not-playing-by-the-rules/

Please play Marty if you are in New York. Or play Russian Paul. A cool video in which Russian Paul loses(!) a game against one of the Botez sisters is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3eEwYI6awM.

Robbert Fokkink