YEFIM & EDE

Today I talked to Yefim and Ede.

I am wandering around Plummer Park in West Hollywood. The place is lively and full of people. A young wavy-haired guy teaches a woman how to dance. She obviously didn’t move for a long time. Every movement she makes is unnatural and stiff. The guy doesn’t seem discouraged at all. He shows her the movements over and over again, and she imitates him. Further away two women talk while pushing swings with their toddlers in them. The children are so tiny that they look like soft puppets hanging on wires. The scene is really amusing. On the basketball field, a tall lonely man throws the ball and scores a basket.

I notice two men playing chess at a table. Ede is short and skinny. He looks about eighty years old and wears a green cap. His partner - Yefim – is taller, larger and wears a straw hat. They are very concentrated on the game and don’t seem to notice anyone around. I stand by their table for a while, trying to remember the basics of chess. Suddenly Yefim looks up at me. “Do you mind if I watch you play?” I ask. “No. Please sit,” he says and points out a spot next to him. I sit down.

It seems like they have been sitting here for hours. Their faces are burnt by the sun and their bodies are tight. They play on a leather chessboard. Four yellow straps hold it to the table. Each time one of them plays, he stops the chess clock. It counts the time separately for each move that each player makes. The surrounding noises don’t interfere with their intense concentration. They are both totally silent. All of a sudden Ede speaks. “Mate,” he says. The game is over. They remove the few remaining pieces from the base. I take advantage of the moment to jump in and ask a question. “Do you play here often?” I ask. “Every day. Two to three hours. Even Saturday and Sunday,” answers Yefim. Ede laughs. They bustle about putting the black and white pieces in position to start the game. It starts over again. I realize that my question time is short. So I better choose a good one.

I observe Yefim and Ede’s movements and try to follow their thinking. Both of them are quick and incredibly focused. Ede’s sharp eyes move to the left, to the right, up and down, as if following a scared mouse lost on the chess pad. His jaw trembles regularly from side to side. He seems to mumble and constantly evaluate the consequences of each move. On the contrary Yefim looks as quiet as a rock. His elbows are resting heavily on the wooden table. His stare is fixed but his feet and knees shake nervously. The game is over again. They remove the pieces in silence. “How long have you known each other?” I ask. Yefim answers first. “Sixteen years.” Ede adds: “I’ve been in this country for forty years. And I’ve know him since he’s arrived.” They speak like they play: quickly, with short sentences and always one after the other. “Where are you from?” I rush to ask one more question. “I’m from Odessa. And he’s from Hungary,” says Yefim. In a wink of an eye they place the pieces back on the chess pad, reset the clock, and start a new game.

Around them, life goes on. A tiny girl unwraps a bright yellow ice cream and squeals in excitement. Three middle-aged Russian ladies sitting close to us complain about their lazy relatives and seem happy to agree about everything. A girl in pink velvet pants walks her furry little dog and smiles to the child who wants to touch it.

Yefim and Ede don’t look around. They just play and play more. Their hands move so fast - taking a piece from here, moving it to there, then stopping the clock, and grabbing another piece again - that the action is impossible to follow. At a certain point they don’t bother counting the time anymore. More than an hour has passed. I feel the sun burning the left side of my body. Game over again. I give them a picture that I took of them as a present. Yefim is too preoccupied by the game he just lost to say anything. Ede gives me a warm and surprisingly firm handshake. His lively sharp eyes twinkle. “Tomorrow?” he asks and grabs a white piece to start the next game.