Yup. These guys are true rounders in chess. I recall this one white guy who was always dressed like a bum and was filthy. He'd sit at his table and scream, in a Russian accent "Nobody can beat me because I am the MAS-TAHHHH!" Of course he really was at a master level, and just took all the plebe money. Nothing but respect for those guys, because they are running a business, like us traders.
I used to play chess with this Romanian engineer at lunch. He attended chess highschool and chess university in Romania. When I started out with him he would face away from the board. I would call my moves and he would call his move and I would move his piece. He could beat me not ever looking at the board. It was a little humiliating but I kept playing him when others gave up. Eventually he had to pay attention. I beat him twice but he blundered both times. Still, I felt I had improved. He never did tell me his UCF rating. So I would try to play in the park and the brothers would hand me my ass. Its the speed. They are speed-chess experts. I needed a few minutes to crunch data and they didn't.
True. Once I was told who he was, I gave him $20 for a game where he gave me a lesson with every move. Imagine sitting with a GM and getting a live lesson for just $20....was awesome. Sadly he was so intelligent some of it was over my head haha
My Cuban friend in Seattle would give masters 5 minutes to his 30 seconds and he would almost always win. I once saw him make 3 moves in the time for the clock to tick down in 1 second.
Man, makes me want to take up chess again, but I am so rusty I would fail completely. Trading is linear thinking. Chess is multi-dimensional thinking, like options? hehe.
They're also legendary frauds. There's a ton of videos of these chess hustlers cheating. One of the more famous ways is piece swapping and touch moving. Piece swapping is obviously illegal (dropping a piece that wasn't on the board before) and touch moving is generally illegal in the USCF. Touch moving matters a TON in a game when you're down to the last 10 or so seconds.They also shit talk (talking is ultra frowned upon in most chess games and disqualifying in USCF games). It's all a distraction. There are some legitimate IM level players that are chess hustlers but they are few and far between. Most of the swindlers you catch out in central park are masters of sleight of hand. I wouldn't play a game against any of them without a ref. Preferably a ref with USCF experience. Their chess magic tricks are entertaining to watch if you've played even a few rated games though. None of it would fly against someone who's played competitive chess.
When you play chess, don't you stare at the board all the time? I do. Never seen a sleight-of-hand-trick.
If you're getting a flurry of insults hurled at you and the guy moves a piece so that its slightly off the board it gives him an opportunity to move pieces where they shouldn't be. I don't have a video queued and ready but I've seen them move pieces extremely fast while someone is looking away. Obviously if you're aware the guy is hustling you and you stay focused you'll beat em 9 out of 10 times.