"Cerebral ones" take on Princeton chess masters

Saturday, November 22, 2003

By JOEL BEWLEY
Philadelphia Inquirer

TRENTON -- Terrance Manley acknowledged yesterday that he was being an ungracious victor, but just couldn't help himself.

"I thought he was going to bring a good game, but he was a bum," Manley, serving time for manslaughter, snapped as his fellow chess-playing inmates at New Jersey State Prison laughed. "He couldn't handle me. This shows I'm the best player in here."

The defeat was suffered not by another prisoner, but by one of four Princeton University chess whizzes who went inside the penitentiary walls to challenge 58 inmates. Each Princeton student was playing about 15 boards at once.

Jonathan Heckman, the senior who was beaten by Manley, also had two draws. The pressure of going from board to board for three hours made the matches difficult, he said. The result would have been different if he had more time to spend at each board.

"But I'm not using that as an excuse," he said. "This was fun. I would do it again."

The trip was the first for Heckman, but the second time a group of Princeton students visited. They plan to come back next year.

Though they are imprisoned for some of the worst crimes, the group of chess-playing inmates is one of the most well-behaved in the prison, said Craig Haywood, the recreation supervisor.

"They are the thinkers, the cerebral ones," he said. "There are a lot of people who are going to be in here for a very long time. This helps them keep their minds sharp."

The inmates hope to form a chess club sanctioned by the U.S. Chess Federation, the national governing body. Yesterday, they took two matches and forced four draws. Senior Brandon Ashe gave up a win and a draw, and junior Ian Prevost also played to a draw.

The only Princeton student to leave unscathed was freshman Samson Beren, a two-time national high school champion from New York City.

"You know, you had me at one point," Beren told an opponent he had just beaten. "It was about 25 or 30 moves ago."

Inmates watched in amazement as Beren, move by move, re-created the board as it had been more than an hour earlier. He then showed the inmate how he could have taken the match.

"He wasn't able to find it, and I didn't panic," Beren said. "That he was able to get into that situation was impressive."

Many inmates say they enjoy chess because it is a metaphor for real-life situations where they often were unable to come out on top.

"If you make one wrong move, you are at a disadvantage, and sometimes you can't recover," said Charles Bryant, 40, convicted of robbery, kidnapping, sex and weapons charges. "That's chess, and that's the way it really is."

Some inmates are looking forward to the rematch, which could come in February.

"This was great for us," said Phillip Dixon, 37, a member of the Camden High School chess team when he was arrested for murder in 1985. "It's like escaping for a little while, but without the chance of getting shot."

Dixon, who is serving a life term, and Prevost played to a draw.

"He's a good player," Prevost said. "He played a solid game."

Quddoos Farrad was the day's other winner, pulling off an upset over Ashe.

"I made a mistake, but then he made a mistake, too, and I was able to capitalize on it," said Farrad, 57, incarcerated for drug, weapons, assault, robbery and sex offenses.

Heckman said he was not sure whether he would discuss his loss with his father, James, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2000.

"I'll see him at Thanksgiving," he said, "but I might lie about it."

(This article has been reprinted courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.)