Bill Murphy

Student

“It’s been said that you can’t be a dummy and play good chess. Well, Bobby Fischer proved that wrong.”

Living in Los Angeles, you might almost get the impression that chess was invented just to serve as the basis for countless mysteries on television. But to a real devotee of the game like Bill Murphy, it’s a continuing revelation. “I didn’t do much in high school, and chess was the only thing I seriously studied,” says Bill, who is president of the Chess Club. “The first books I bought were about the game, and I decided that if I ever studied something as passionately as I studied chess, I’d have no problems.” Bill plans to graduate from Cal State Northridge as a dietitian. And though nutrition isn’t quite the same to him as the game he loves, he says that, “it’s work I enjoy, and I think it’ll be a good career.”

Bill was installing air conditioning throughout New York City several years ago. “But I didn’t like the job, and I thought it was time to shake up the status quo. I’d always been interested in nutrition and health,” he adds. “So coming to California seemed like the natural thing to do.” But whatever his career turns out to be, the game of chess will always be part of Bill’s game plan.

“I’m realistic about it. I know that I play in, probably, the top 20 percent. But even if I make it to the top 10 percent in the US, it still won’t be good enough to make money. So it makes no sense to pursue it too seriously.” But what Bill is serious about is staying on the educational track. “I think most people should work for a couple of years after high school,” he says. “You really do need that time to yourself to learn about who you are and what’s valuable. I see so many young kids in school just wasting time. And I feel that, if I hadn’t taken the time off to work like I did, I wouldn’t be as intense about learning as I am now.”

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