Playing chess in Central Park

[touchingcloth]

This features in several films - Independence Day, Searching for Bobby Fischer - but do people actually do this? If not today, did they do it in the 90s?

[bgmnts]

Yes, they genuinely do do this.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Yes, it's real, but the most famous spot is Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, which is quite far south from Central Park.

[Keebleman]

You can also do this in Cardiff, by the Hays Island Snack Bar.  Never seen a single soul do so though, probably cos as all the tables are under trees there is a strong chance of you and/or the board and pieces getting shat on.

[Mister Six]

Yes, it's real, but the most famous spot is Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, which is quite far south from Central Park.

Also in Union Square. The old dudes were still out there last weekend when I went for a walk outside my neighborhood for the first time in five months.

[Ambient Sheep]

There's also Hudson Chess Park in Chicago, which is basically a small-ish park filled with tables that have ingrained chess boards.

[buzby]

They used to do it outside Market St. BART station is San Francisco too until 2013, when it was banned for being a front for illegal gambling and drug dealing and a public nuisance.