--- title: Grandmaster Maurice Ashley Beats Trash-Talking Chess Player description: Grandmaster Maurice Ashley beats a chess player in Washington Square Park in New York City. canonical: https://time.com/4228077/chess-grandmaster-hustler-trash-talking/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-17T21:19:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:11.719Z og:title: Grandmaster Maurice Ashley Beats Trash-Talking Chess Player og:description: Grandmaster Maurice Ashley beats a chess player in Washington Square Park in New York City. og:url: https://time.com/4228077/chess-grandmaster-hustler-trash-talking/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b6e695381e968f1/69887e10cf40a8065cc4204d/gettyimages-138125883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3872 og:image:height: 2178 og:image:alt: 138125883 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Grandmaster Maurice Ashley Beats Trash-Talking Chess Player twitter:description: Grandmaster Maurice Ashley beats a chess player in Washington Square Park in New York City. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b6e695381e968f1/69887e10cf40a8065cc4204d/gettyimages-138125883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch a Trash-Talking Chess Player Realize He Is Playing a Grandmaster > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 17, 2016 9:19 PM UTC  Game of chess in black and white Game of chess in black and whiteGetty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 17, 2016 9:19 PM UTC A viral video has captured the moment when a man in New York City realizes he has been playing a game of chess with an International Grandmaster. In a [clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5vnpOp0U%5Fg) shot in Washington Square Park, the man not wearing a hat is Maurice Ashley, the first African-American International Grandmaster who will be inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in April. The footage starts with Ashley’s opponent shouting, “You don’t even look at the board!” and ends when him shouting “cut” repeatedly at the moment of defeat and his realization that he was playing someone who definitely knew what he was doing and wouldn’t tolerate any tricks. The scene, filmed for the show _The Tim Ferriss Experiment,_ is below, and [the full episode can be viewed here](http://fourhourworkweek.com/tv/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4228077/chess-grandmaster-hustler-trash-talking/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4228077/chess-grandmaster-hustler-trash-talking/"},"headline":"Watch a Trash-Talking Chess Player Realize He Is Playing a Grandmaster","datePublished":"2016-02-17T21:19:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:11.719Z","description":"Talk about checkmate","url":"https://time.com/4228077/chess-grandmaster-hustler-trash-talking/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b6e695381e968f1/69887e10cf40a8065cc4204d/gettyimages-138125883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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