Chess uncle: Meet Abdul Samad, the man who spends his days playing chess

It is a warm afternoon at Central Park in Connaught Place, New Delhi. A group of people is gathered around a man with salt-and-pepper hair and eyes that crinkle every time he smiles. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about him, except that he is accompanied by a small chess board made of paper that he places his chess pieces on — something he hasn’t left home without in over 40 years.

 Abdul Samad, or “Chess uncle” as he is fondly called, left his native town in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and came to Delhi over three years ago. He picked up chess