Tom Murphy: King of Dupont Circle
Tom Murphy in his office at the famous Dupont Circle.
Photo washingtonpost.com
Vaughn Bennett just sent me a link to an article from the Washington Post on Tom Murphy, a DC-based legendary chess hustler. Those who have been to Dupont Circle in Washington, DC have no doubt heard his name uttered. Those who have been to a World Open have no doubt seen him. His reputation as a strong blitz player precedes him.
With quite a checkered past, Murphy’s inate talent for chess is somewhat of an irony given the life of hard knocks that he has had to endure. In the video below you will see an articulate man of passion… a man who sees the world from a pragmatic view… a man who sees the world through a chessboard.
The 3:49-minute video clip gives a preview to the lengthy article and makes for intriguing reading. I was actually interviewed for the article and had forgotten about it. In fact, I cannot remember making some of the statements in the same context. However, the article gives a man deserving of honor his day in the sun. Tom Murphy will always be spoken of as a man of mixed fortune… a man of triumph… a man of tragedy. This appears to be the measure of history’s most intriguing men.
To read, “The Days and Knights of Tom Murphy” click here!
I know Tom Murphy, and consider him a friend. This article is relatively fair, but it does not fully do justice to his sparkling brilliance, his civility, his character, or his abiding integrity. Also, the author makes it a story about “what could have been”, but if you really know Tom Murphy, it’s hard to escape the notion that it’s not quite too late, that his story is really one of “what could be.”
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Another factor is also the lack of resources in urban schools, I’m not saying this is a lack of capacity in the minds of the students, but rather a lack of ability to hire chess coaches and have sophisticated chess programs and databases available for young students of the game. It’s shocking how quickly some kids today are becoming GMs.
There are a few other stories about Tom at my blog, Urbanagora, here’s the thread:
https://www.urbanagora.com/2007/09/legendary-tom-murphy.html
Tom is a great Teacher pal and MOORe : 😀
Will someone do a story on all the Street Masters past and present
Mr Murphy is not good enough to make a decent living playing chess, nor playing poker. But it seems to be what he feels he needs to do .. for reasons that perhaps even he doesn’t understand. Clearly he is talented, and you just know that if he can overcome whatever demons he is struggling with, that it would be straightforward for him to live a more prosperous life.
Daaim –
Agreed. That is why I chose my words carefully in my previous post ..” a more prosperous life” is not necessarily the same as a happier life.
I’ve played Tom on numerous occassions, and I agree he ( like many of us writing on these blogs and reading the chess drum) has a lot of potential to be a top player. The question it seems is how to move up from a plateau: where it be rating, chess playing ability, life’s situations, or otherwise. Others have done it, (e.g. Nakamura wasn’t born rated 2700) so it is possible. If I were to offer my humble opinion, I think the answer lies in overcomming that which stops us from developing the self-discipline to work hard and overcome our self made limitations. Personally I think a coach (or Fritz) can help or not (see Self Improvement for the Adult player) but as a friend of mines said … If you really want it badly, there’s nothing stoping YOU; so it comes back to the same questions: How badly do we want to improve? Can we say no to ourselves and distractions? Can we live up to our potential?
8)
Personally Tom has always been a great friend and teacher to me. At his best, he channels his very spirit in the chess board. I can not think of a single better spokesman for our game.
Much has already been said/written about Tom, now I would like to move forward. Since the article has appeared, Tom and I have sat down & talked about where does he go from here—
Tom is interested in improving his rating and this past week played at the Arlington VA Chess Club-he held his own GM’s and IM players, he is doing this to get ready to play in tournaments.
He and I talked about improving his presence on the web, so with Tom’s permission I have created a “Tom Murphy” profile on both myspace.com and facebook. In the future he would like to write a blog about what is going on in his life and of course chess!!!
An email account has been established and if you would like to write Tom, you can reach him at: tommurphy111@yahoo.com
On a personal note I have been taking lessons from Tom and my regular opponents have remarked that I am a much tougher/stronger player-all credit and thanks to tom.
I play chess in dupont circle on the weekends, so if there is a message you’d like me to deliver to tom, my email address is:
brill22314@gmail.com
Daaim
I found your profile on facebook and sent you a friend request from tom. Not sure if it went through.
Tom’s facebook profile is still a work in progress-will be adding more content and photos soon.
I will tell tom that he is welcome to blog here. I think it is a great idea and will pass along your comments to him. All the best,
brill
❗ Stay tune to BBC radio.Tomm will be have live unterview featuring others in the Park, Also a doc) was done by the Germans toms liveing conditions have changed 😀
The interview is on
the air now! click onBBC media player
Click on BBC World Service|OUtlook
Emailing: BBC – bbc.co.uk homepage – Home of the BBC on the Internet https://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok
Great Article on Tom Murphy i lived in Dc from 06 til 2009 and those lessons and pure beat downs from Tom inspired me to create my club here in the carolinas.I hope and pray that Tom will bring it all together and attain his goal of Master an champion .Although he may not have all the glitz and kudos some top players receive he is with out question a lover of the game .His passion and fearless approach to the game is incredible.
In the south there are not many African American Top players over 2000 except Ron Simpson 2360 of Nc, An Keith Eubanks 2062 of SC .Put with your site and coverage of black players its very promising.Thanks for covering Tom
Tony (Tiger )