< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 5 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Apr-03-14
 | | perfidious: <Saw Asa just the other day.> A momentous event in chess history. |
|
Apr-03-14 | | Moszkowski012273: "I-need-to-get-outta-the-house-more...."(FYP) |
|
Apr-03-14 | | ChemMac: Of course Asa and I have a long chess history. I was the Manhattan Club President when he got elected Vice-President. I always seemed to finish ahead of him in tournaments, but never could win from him in regular games. Whether fairly or unfairly, Asa always was thought by many to have a rather shady reputation. As far as I know, his only income for some time was from playing against all comers for money; later, he earned money from teaching. Perhaps; a personal tragedy: a passion for Chess, yet never able to equal the best.That's not bad when one is an amateur, if at USCF Master level, with a profession. Another NY player, who did get his IM title, but never a GM, is Bernard Zuckerman.
Chess can be a cruel occupation. |
|
Apr-03-14 | | Moszkowski012273: I've gotten to know him pretty well over the last few years. Very recently he married a lovely lady he dated almost 40 years ago (with of course a huge party at the Marshall afterwards). Yes his rating is slowly fading away, but the man has never seemed happier. |
|
Apr-03-14
 | | perfidious: <ChemMac> Never heard anything one way or another regarding Asa's reputation. Recall the first time we met, summer 1985: a friend introduced us at the Manhattan Club and we spent the better part of a Sunday afternoon playing blitz. Believe one of us won the odd game more than the other. Just reading back <Granny>'s kibitz, mentioning the games which have evidently been correctly attributed to the Argentine GM Hoffman: my guess would be that there are not a great number of people, other than Nakamura and myself, who have met both Alejandro Hoffman and Asa Hoffmann at the board. |
|
Apr-03-14 | | ChemMac: <Moszkowski012273> I can only wish Asa all happiness! I probably know the name of Asa's wife, but I have been out of the NY chess scene for nearly 30 years. I DID actually play one game for the Marshall Chess Club in the then Metropolitan Chess League in 1954. I'd recently arrived in the US, and visited the Marshall. Their first board hadn't shown up for a match against the NJ team: would I like to play? OK...I won fairly quickly against Clinton Parmelee who apparently had won the US Amateur Championship...but then explained that on $92 a month, which was what Columbia U. was paying me as a graduate assistant after taxes, I couldn't see paying even a small membership fee. So: no serious Chess for another six years. Asa was known as a chess hustler, but in fairness to him, he had to live somehow! There are usually two sides to every story. |
|
Apr-03-14 | | Moszkowski012273: Well put! Her name is Virginia and she's a WONDERFUL lady. The both of them (along with Bonin) are still at the Marshall almost every single day. |
|
Sep-03-14
 | | stoy: I remember Dr. Karl Burger telling Asa in the early 1960s that he could get Asa out of the draft. I also recall Asa being Armed Forces Chess Champion somewhere in the 60s. Such is life. |
|
Sep-03-14
 | | perfidious: <stoy: I remember Dr. Karl Burger telling Asa in the early 1960s that he could get Asa out of the draft....> Nothing like friends in low places. |
|
Dec-16-14 | | Moszkowski012273: A new book is out by Asa.... |
|
Dec-18-14 | | Moszkowski012273: Also... Asa is featured in November Chess Life as being the #1 blitz player over the age of 65! |
|
Dec-18-14 | | john barleycorn: Is it my imagination or are there physical similarities to Robert Huebner? Robert Huebner |
|
Dec-18-14 | | Moszkowski012273: Hmmmmmm..... Methinks you are correct sir... |
|
Dec-19-14 | | domradave: I think Asa is a good guy. Every encounter I had with him was fine. |
|
Dec-19-14 | | Moszkowski012273: I used to see Asa quite a bit, but not so much now that he's married... He's a good guy. |
|
Dec-19-14 | | Moszkowski012273: <domradave> are you in NYC? |
|
Jan-05-22 | | jerseybob: I would recommend getting Asa's excellent game collection, which I bought around 1999 at the Manhattan CC bookstore on 46th street, and his book on the Czech Benoni, also worth owning. I first met Asa at the chess tables in Bryant Park, part of an NYC that no longer exists. |
|
Jan-05-22
 | | HeMateMe: Are you talking about the hustler tables set up on the sidewalk, on 42nd street or the sit down tables within the park itself? Central park has a lovely little set of stone chess tables on an elevated area, around the 70th street area.i don't think many people know about those tables, rarely see them being used. |
|
Jan-05-22 | | jerseybob: <HeMateMe: Are you talking about the hustler tables set up on the sidewalk, on 42nd street or the sit down tables within the park itself?> Within the park itself. The city rec department had a booth that loaned sets out by the hour and it was a lovely setting. Not aware of any sidewalk action on 42nd street, but I do remember the tables in Central Park with their inlaid boards. Never played there, but I did play downtown in Washington Square a few times in the late 90's/early 2000's. Hard core hustlers there! |
|
Jan-05-22
 | | keypusher: <jerseybob: I would recommend getting Asa's excellent game collection, which I bought around 1999 at the Manhattan CC bookstore on 46th street, and his book on the Czech Benoni, also worth owning. I first met Asa at the chess tables in Bryant Park, part of an NYC that no longer exists.> Ooh, good to know about the Czech Benoni book. I was Hoffman's victim in Bryant Park long ago.
Asa Hoffmann (kibitz #5) |
|
Jan-05-22
 | | chancho: Scott, you might be interested in his book:
https://www.alibris.com/The-Chess-G... |
|
Jan-05-22
 | | keypusher: <chancho> Thanks, I know I should really get that one. Too many books, not enough time, insufficient talent! Sometimes I think I should just do Aagaard puzzle books for the rest of my life. |
|
Jan-05-22
 | | chancho: I hear ya... got so many of them!
It's a constant fight resisting the urge to buy another! |
|
Jan-05-22 | | jerseybob: <keypusher: Ooh, good to know about the Czech Benoni book. I was Hoffman's victim in Bryant Park long ago. Asa Hoffmann (kibitz #5)< He was selling them in person at the Marshall back around 2015, the last time I recall seeing him. |
|
Jan-05-22 | | Granny O Doul: Asa has another book in the works, more of a memoir. Not sure about projected release dates. |
|
 |
 |
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 5 ·
Later Kibitzing> |