I GET AN EDGE
PART THREE
“I BECOME A CHESS HUSTLER.”
My new partner in crime chain-smokes Gauloises and scratches his forehead until it bleeds. He’s sparse with the bio, doesn’t even introduce himself.
But when I ask about his chess ranking is he can’t help bragging.
“I’m a Master, 2200 rating.”
I flash him a dubious look.
“If you don’t believe it, look me up, ” he says.
I have him on the defensive. “You have to tell me your name.”
He realizes he’s been trapped into a forced move, so he tells all.
“Getty B….m. I played for Harvard.”
“What did you major in?”
Somehow my use of the word “major” tars me as a provincial. He regains the advantage with patrician sniff. “I guess you could say I majored in chess and mescaline,” he says. “Anyway, once I destroyed Yale for them they had no further use for me.”
His system uses the standard system of chess notation, dividing the board into numbers. He flashes the numbers by touching his nose with his fingers. When he rubs his eyes it means the number is greater than five. First signal indicates the piece to be moved. Second signal the designated square. As the game develops and most of the pieces are deployed he signals the square, depending upon my knowledge of the position to know which piece he is indicating. If I have a question I touch my king and he gives the original position of the piece. For example if he wants me to move a knight , he touches his nose again with two fingers, indicating the knight’s opening position
He knows I can play the first seven to ten moves of any opening or defense so he wanders around kibitzing other games until I signal him by lighting a Marlboro. Then, he saunters over, takes in the board in a split second and flashes his signal. He stays long enough to maneuver me into a winning position, then saunters away and leaves me to finish the game.
“We’ll beat these guys with their own vanity,” he says. “They all think you’re an easy mark. They’ll go nuts and double up when you beat them…”
We start with Ronald. He plays a simple Ruy Lopez opening and I hang with him for eleven moves before I need help. Getty strolls over as if he’s making a tour of the tables. He flashes me a signal and then moves away. I realize he has backed Ronald into a forced position where only one move is possible. He doesn’t even have to watch the game. He flashes the signals from another table. I follow his instructions and marvel at the elegant inevitability of his strategy. Ronald stares at me in disbelief and knocks over his king in the universal gesture of resignation.
“Again,” he says.
“For five bucks?” I say.
“Make it ten,” he says. “Lightning never strikes twice…”
“This time I play white,” I say.
White pieces make the first move and allow the player to determine the opening. Getty makes me play the Guioco Piano, a simple opening played by most beginners. It lulls Ronald into a false sense of confidence. He plays carelessly. Getty stands behind him and signals my next move. I am a puppet amazed at my master’s brilliance. I watch in astonishment as he maneuvers Ronald into a steel trap and begins to shut its jaws. Ronald tears his hair. He flicks bloody boogers. After two more games his spirit is broken. And we’re thirty two dollars ahead.
Next night I meet Getty outside the West 4th. Street subway stop.
“Ronald won’t play you anymore,” he says. “We’ll go to Fritz. He’s a jailhouse player. A lot of natural ability, but no theory. He’ll try to trick you with the King’s Bishop, but it’s the kind of opening where the attacker loses his advantage if the defender plays correctly. His friends will be watching so I’ll give you the first eight moves now.”
“You know what he’s going to play?” I ask, amazed.
“He plays the same opening every night,” Getty says. “He wins ninety-five per cent of the time. Now let’s split up. Remember, people are watching. Don’t even look around like you’re waiting for me to show. I’ll be there when I have to be.”
I take a few steps up Sixth Ave. When I turn, Getty has vanished./
Heads turn as I enter the park. I get a few grudging nods from the weaker players. They know I’ve jumped a level. I try not to swagger.
Ronald waves me away, just as Getty predicted. “Oh no, not you…”
I see Getty talking to Fritz’s entourage of tough black dudes. Is he making bets? When a loser gets up I slide in.
“Five dollars,” Fritz says. Getty wanders away as the game begins. Sure enough Fritz plays the King’s Bishop opening.
“You’re gonna do this,” he says after making what he thinks is a crushing move.
Armed with Getty’s sure thing I can’t resist a little kibitz. “No, I’m gonna do this,” I say and make the move that blunts his attack. A few moves later he resigns. “Beginner’s luck” he says. He pays the five and sets up the pieces. This time I take white and play the same opening he did. “You can’t beat me at my own game, boy,” he says.
I can’t, but Getty can. Thirteen moves later Fritz resigns to avert disaster. I offer a rematch, but his backers mutter uneasily and he waves me off. “Back of the line…”
By the end of the night I’ve taken Jack, the DA for twenty and Serge, the intern for ten. With Fritz’s money it adds up to a forty-five dollar night.
At dawn I follow Getty and his classy blonde girlfriend into the West Fourth Street station. He doesn’t introduce us.
“You owe me twenty-two fifty,” he says.
“What did you collect from Fritz’s boys?” I ask.
“Oh yes,” he says. “Twenty from them…” He gives me ten crumpled ones. “It was a good night.”
“Amazing,” I say.
He doesn’t want to talk.” We shouldn’t be seen together,” he says.
“I feel like I’m learning so much,” I say.
“Your game might come up a notch,” he begrudges. He walks to the uptown train. The blonde hesitates as if she wants to tell me something, but then turns and follows him.
“I feel could take over the game after you make that one brilliant move,” I say.” I wouldn’t need you anymore.”
“Maybe,” he says over his shoulder. “But that brilliant move is the one you’ll never make.”
NEXT: I LOSE MY EDGE
