Asa Hoffmann is an FIDE Master in chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 from the United States of America. He is known as "the sparring partner of champions". His peak FIDE rating is 2313. He was portrayed in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Searching for Bobby Fischer is a 1993 film based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Max Pomeranc. Adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father Fred, the film was written and directed by Steven Zaillian...

by actor Austin Pendleton

Austin Pendleton

Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...

, though Hoffmann does not like the eccentric way his character was played.

He was a New York City junior champion and was vice president of the Manhattan Chess Club

Manhattan Chess Club

The Manhattan Chess Club in Manhattan was the second-oldest chess club in the United States . The club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen players; membership later reached into the hundreds before the club ended its existence in 2002...

.

Specialising in blitz chess

Blitz chess

Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...

, he has been described by Yasser Seirawan as "a near legendary figure in the New York City chess world" and a collection of his games entitled The Chess Gladiator (Intl Chess Enterprizes, 1996) includes a blitz win against Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

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He is interviewed in the documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World

Bobby Fischer Against the World

Bobby Fischer Against the World is the first documentary feature to explore the life of the late chess Grandmaster and 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer from USA. It incorporates interviews with chess players Anthony Saidy, Larry Evans, Sam Sloan, Susan Polgar, Garry Kasparov, Asa Hoffmann,...

along with Anthony Saidy

Anthony Saidy

Anthony Saidy is an International Master of chess. He has played many times in the U.S. Chess Championship. He won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship. He is the author of several chess books, including The Battle of Chess Ideas, and The World of Chess...

, Larry Evans

Larry Evans

For the football player of the same name, see Larry Evans .Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times...

, Sam Sloan and Susan Polgar

Susan Polgar

Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-American chess Grandmaster...

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