No Pawn in Game of Life, Blue Keeps Blues in Check

Herferth Blue Jr. is one of the multitude of homeless people who daily roam the streets of midtown Manhattan. But Blue, the entrepreneur, is different. He deals with kings and queens and bishops every day of his life--all in the name of making a living from the game of chess. Blue, 51, sets up his chessboard wherever the crowds gather, playing all comers for 50 cents for a five-minute game, or $1 for a more leisurely encounter. “It’s a living,” says Blue, who until a few years ago was a manager in the record industry. “I have to do what I have to do to be productive in a capitalistic system. I’d rather work for myself than take welfare.” On a good day, Blue, a Louisiana native, earns between $30 and $40, and beds down in a cheap hotel in Times Square. On a slow day, his bed is in a doorway. “This is no scam; this is a family, wholesome, community game the upper crust plays. I never knew it (chess) was a financial opportunity,” says Blue, who packs a rolling office table, a bedroll and a stack of chess books.

--Joseph Mauri, another of the less fortunates in New York, thought he was checkmated when he was being evicted from his $98-a-month, one-room apartment last November because his landlady wanted the space for a sewing room. But today, he’s a celebrity--in the Soviet Union. Mauri, 57, who has since moved into a $112-a-month, 9-by-8-foot room, was the star of a recent Soviet documentary that contrasted New York’s homeless people with fancy shops and elegant high-rises. “There were hundreds of letters from Russian people who said, ‘Where can we send money for Joe so he can come and work and have a place to live?’ ” Mauri says. “I thought it was very nice of the people because I didn’t get that kind of response here.” Mauri, a New Yorker for 30 years, was scheduled to leave today for a 30-day tour as a guest of that country. But Mauri, a California native who works part time at odd jobs, says that he is not considering moving there. “I love my country,” he says. “This is where I was born, and I have to make this country better.”

--He hit the biggest underwater jackpot in history, but Florida treasure hunter Mel Fisher is breaking up his salvage company. “I’m going completely out of business. I achieved my goals,” says Fisher, who spent 16 years searching for the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, and found $130 million in glittering gold, silver and emeralds in the Spanish galleon in July, 1985. Fisher, who is reported to be in ill health, says that he will continue hunting for treasure as a hobby. His company, Treasure Salvors Inc., will be liquidated, and its assets will be distributed to more than 300 stockholders.