Curbside Hustler Finds Chess, Money Make a Perfect Match

To many people, chess is just a game. But to Murray Turnbull, a nationally-ranked master who plays the game in front of a coffee shop in the Square, it's a living.

"I paid all my expenses and even saved 300 bucks over the summer," says the 34-year-old Turnbull, who plays matches for money in front of Au Bon Pain.

Turnbull says he has no other job. His only income is from the passerby who pay a dollar for the chance to stump him, he says.

If you win or draw, you get your dollar back. If you lose, Turnbull keeps it.

During the summer, Turnbull says, a load of 30 to 50 games a day nets him approximately $35 dollars.

Now, he says, cold weather has driven his business away one day this week has brought only about a half-dozen customers by early afternoon.

Turnbull stays at the stone table with an in-laid chess board from about 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

He was wearing gloves and a cap and smoking French cigarettes as he talked recently about making a living at chess.

"I started playing when I was about 11," he says," but I didn't start taking it seriously until I was about 21. I only became a master when I was 31, which means there's still hope for people who start late."

After an unsuccessful college experience in which he withdrew after three years. Turnbull began working at odd jobs, including metal work in a factory and driving a taxicab.

Finally, he says, he began to play chess in coffeehouses, trying to get his opponents to bet on the games He saw other players out doors and decided to set up shop outside Au Bon Pain.

Turnbull says the police don't bother him about his business, although gambling is illegal in Massachusetts In fact, he says, "they have sort of taken a liking to him because he is not doing any harm and people seem to enjoy it."

Turnbull who also offers lessons, says chess is "a beautiful objective game" in which was can be like a general or the boss of a company. "The game, he adds, is also " very good for teaching logic."

Turnbull enjoys having spectators and boasts that he wins about "95 percent of the time." He says no past games stand out in his memory, although he has written down the moves of a few.

He says there are some difficulties inherent in making a living on the street: beggars sometimes pester him for loose change, and transients sometimes ask him for cigarettes.

But that's not enough to deter him. "I found my niche, what I'm good at," he adds.

I like to earn my living at chess. You're your own boss. I spent years getting good and it would be nice if I could make my living at it," Turnbull says.