Livermore cont

He would use all kinds of foul language, such language that would have me barred from Chowk forever. So I will not repeat it, I hope you get the message, he would use the C word, the A word the B word, along with the F and the P and the U and the Y words. The worst letters like D and M and N he would save for those moments when he really wanted to throw his opponents off. Then once he had them make the tinsy, tiny error, he would be all over them. Yelling "I am in your house", "I am all over you"
And the pieces would be flying as the time came close to the final seconds. And there he would have his opponent either mated or winning by flagging him on time.
Ofcourse I had to become friends with Livermore, he was such a treat to be around. I shouldn’t say he was my friend but such a colorfull fella that I want to call him my friend. I was just one of the many that he used to earn his living. And I gladly gave it to him. Ocassionaly he would let you win. The idea being that intermittent reinforcement would make the urge stronger and the opponent would keep coming back for more punishment. Later on when I met Livermore again I discovered two things about him. Livermore was gay, and while he was beating up and degrading his opponents he was usually high on Coke. I found out that Livermore was gay because after taking my money (about a couple of hundred dollars) He invited me for supper. And here I thought this great chess player wants to be my friend. We went out for steaks and drinks. Thats when the brother (Livermore was African American) who was by now extreamly intoxicated made his move. It was so cute, the way he made his pass. He wanted to buy my services by offering the two hundered dollars that he had won from me. Huh, that was Livermore. A few years later I heard that he had died of Aids. I had a moment of silence for him. I think that some people are just sent on this earth to have the maximum amount of fun, and its the excess that kills them. No doubt about it Livermore enjoyed life. He had no job, no family, no real friends. But he had the audience that would circle around him whenever he played chess in washington Square. People enjoyed his sense of humour and loved to watch his opponents squirm as each of them went down at five dollars a game.
There were times that the odd grandmatser would show up to give Livermore a challenge, but they were no match for him. Word would spread like wildfire, Livermore is playing such and such IM or GM. But Livermore was very respectfull, he would still degrade them but rather politely. I will never forget him, he taught me the value of having fun and not to take life too seriously.
In the world open in 81, I made another chess friend his name was Dusan, Dusan was from Yugoslavia. Dusan was unrated and in the final round he had already won the unrated prize. Now there was the matter of what would happen if Dusan won or lost. If Dusan won his opponent would miss out on a prize of first place $1500. And if Dusan threw the game then his opponent would get fifteen hundred dollars. The opportunity was prime for a deal to be made. But we had several serious communication challenges to overcome. The language barrier between Dusan and his opponent who was French. In came Livermore and he understood the situation clearly. The problem was that if Dusan threw the game he wanted some garuntee that his opponent would pay up so he was asking for a downpayment. His opponent did not trust Dusan would be able to convincingly trow the game away. The position was such Dusan was clearly wininng. All this is going on as everyone is watching the game and me and Livermore are talking to the two players outside in the hall. Soon Livermore had convinced everyone and had the deal sealed. He would hold the downpayment from the French guy for $500. This shows his good faith. Dosan would collect his share of the money next day when the banks open and out of this he would pay Livermore his cut of $200 for brokering the deal. The French guy would also give a portion of his winnings to Livermore. So out of the whole deal Livermore made $400, Dosan and the French guy each made $550. The rest was up to Dosan to lose convincingly. Which he did, as everyone watch Dosan slowly pinned himself in a corner, and as the clocked ticked by he made a move that looked like it was totally winning. Even the French guy was taken aback. But upon closer look, he had only one move, and it was a winning move. What an amazing game, The French guy was forced to win....
The next day they all drove in my car and we went to White plains NY to cash the check. Even till the last minute Dusan was nervous. We calmed him down but he insisted that we all go inside the bank. The money was all exchanged and we all headed back. My cut in this whole deal was that someday I could write about it. Also I had the gratitude of my friends Livermore and Dusan.