Thomas Dwayne "Tom" "Murph" Murphy (born March 1957) is an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, formerly homeless/transient

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

hustler who plays primarily in Chicago, where he also teaches, and who previously played in

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle (or DuPont Circle) is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He is considered one of the top regular players in Chicago, and one of the best

blitz chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blit ...

players in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

. He holds an Expert

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both. Rating or ratings may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...

with the USCF. Murphy grew up in North Carolina, where he played briefly in scholastic tournaments. In the 1980s, he lived with his grandmother in Philadelphia, worked for the City of Philadelphia, and hustled in the skittles room (a place for casual noncompetitive chess, see

skittles Skittles may refer to: * Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company *'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical'' * Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated * Skittles (ch ...

as a metaphor) of major tournaments like the World Open and National Chess Congress, while during the year he would play mostly in Love Park, Clark Park, and the homes and offices of other strong area players, plus area university chess clubs. After his grandmother died in 1997, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the National Archives for a time. In 1989, after a patron sponsored his entry into the World Open Blitz, he split matches with four-time US Champion Robert Byrne and IM

Anthony Saidy Anthony Saidy (born May 16, 1937) is an International Master of chess, a retired physician and author. He competed eight times in the U.S. Chess Championship, with his highest placement being 4th. He won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship ...

, on his way to capturing the u2200 class prize of $300. He placed 15th overall in the 2005

World Blitz Chess Championship The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapi ...

. In 1998, he won the Arlington Chess Club's annual championship, beating two

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...

s in the process. Murphy plays on chess.com as Totofish11, where his rating fluctuates between 2200-2300.

References

Dupont Circle People from Washington, D.C. Living people 1957 births {{US-chess-bio-stub

Further reading

References