Juan Corona

Never wearies of his work

Late afternoon at the Seattle Public Library, Juan Corona, right, matches wits with Ron Cruz over a thrift-store chess set, an activity so popular the Central Library has limited play to one board at a time in the vast Living Room. Corona on chess:

Q: How did you learn to play?

A: I started in 1995 in Wenatchee. There was big snow that year, and I was without work. I was in a church, and two old guys were playing. Every single piece moved differently. I asked one of the guys to show me how to move the pieces.

Q: What do you like about it?

A: It's not about luck; it's about knowledge. It's not like cards or dominoes. You play cards, you have four aces, you win. This game, if you use skill, you can win. You can sacrifice pieces. You can risk everything for some kind of beautiful combination. Even if nothing works, you still feel happy inside because you did what you wanted to do.

Q: People say you're one of the best players in the library. You must be smart.

A: I don't agree you have to be smart to play chess. If you do any kind of work for about 10 years, sooner or later, you're going to do that work in a good way. If you work in mechanics, you're going to be able to fix a car. I never went to school.

Q: How did you learn English?

A: My friends, years ago (in Mexico), they teach me to read (Spanish). Then I came here. In the old library on the fourth floor they had videotapes in Spanish and English.

Q: What do you do for work?

A: Sometimes construction, landscaping, whatever I can do. In Wenatchee, I work the apple season, pear season, cherry season. When I'm picking in the orchard, I don't have time for chess. Right now, I'm out of work. . . .

Actually, chess is my real work. There are two kinds of chess players. Some come in tired from work, or for fun, because they want to kill time. They are not interested in the game, just trying to relax. The other chess players love the game, read, think about it. To play good, you have to think about it. Even when I sleep, I dream of chess. You know, sometimes when I play a real strong chess player, even if I lose or even if I win, there's a certain time and position when it was tense. I remember it for a whole night. If I miss something — in my dreams, I can fix it.

Q: Where do you live?

A: Actually, I sleep in my car by Safeco Field.