The Octopus
Each Sunday, Greg Nowak will walk from his small apartment off of Broadway St, down the Hip Strip to Clyde Coffee. He carries a blue worn-out bag that faintly reads the words, “A bag of Books, B & Noble.” Inside the contents float loosely— a half-eaten Ziploc bag of Triscuits, his “old fashioned laptop” (the folding chessboard), several chess books, including Svetozar Gligorić’s “I play against pieces,” and miscellaneous handwritten chess game records from an old tournament. He’ll order a regular sized drip coffee that he’ll pour three packets of sugar in. It will turn cold before he drains it. From here, Nowak might try to take the number six bus to Rosauers Supermarket off of Reserve to eat a dinner from the hot bar, or go to Mustard Seed to get a box of fried rice. Some nights he’ll meet an acquaintance to play a game of chess. Other nights, he’ll return to his two-windowed apartment to retire for the day.
Nowak is a familiar face in Missoula. He is semi-balding and wears square, tortoiseshell glasses, above an array of decaying teeth. In his left dress pocket, lives a multitude of pens and an ancient handkerchief, thats covered by a knock-off Burburry woolen plaid scarf, ridden with holes. He is usually found playing a game of chess or studying a game in solitude at various cafes and restaurants around town.
For seven decades, Nowak has studied what feels like an infinite range of possibilities across a 64-square board. Through this time spent learning about calculated decisions, one may grow to deny the idealism of luck and fate, believing instead that personal decisive moves determine the future. However, Nowak has carried the belief that fate has carefully governed each move for him.
What began as an escape for him when his home life wasn’t very good, became a game that allowed him to secure a sense of control. “God’s hand was at play,” says Nowak. “The help from God, religion, and chess— fate helped me.”
Today, Nowak is a local legend in Montana. To most, he is known as the Octopus, Montana’s only chess master.
Greg Nowak, 78, is Montana's only Chess Master. A self-described "sociable Christian loner," Nowak spends most days playing chess alone at different coffee shops, teaching students, and studying previous games of Grandmasters. Although Nowak has no family left, chess itself feels like company and has given his life purpose and control.
Greg Nowak points across his small apartment, littered with various papers and magazines in Missoula Mt, on Oct. 1.
Greg Nowak sits beside his undressed bed in his apartment in Missoula, Mt, on Oct. 1. Chess has been the only thing Nowak feels in control of in his life. He's had many experiences traveling to different states for various tournaments, although he often loves to read through old travel books since he doesn't travel anymore.
Greg Nowak unwraps a tuna sandwich for dinner in his bedroom in Missoula Mt, on Oct. 1. The walls in Nowak's small apartment are plastered with posters of beautiful actresses, which he refers to as "eye candy".
Greg Nowak has spent the last seven decades studying the game of chess. He puts on two different tournaments in Missoula each year in order to get players around town competing at a cheaper cost.
Greg Nowak gets ready to leave his apartment to meet a friend for a chess match on Oct. 1.
Greg Nowak, also referred to as "The Octopus", is known around town as a local chess legend. Nowak recieved the nickname after proving he could beat many opponents at once, in varying simul matches. Since he moved to Missoula in 91', he has visited different cafes and restaurants nearly every day to study chess, or play different community members in chess.
Nowak would eventually become Montana’s only Chess Master in the year of 2005, and would earn the nickname, “The Octopus,” after proving capable of playing a multitude of chess opponents at once.
Greg Nowak walks along the Hip Strip to go home after studying chess at Clyde Coffee for the better part of his afternoon in Missoula Mt, on Oct. 1. Nowak gets everywhere around town on foot after he was in an automobile accident in 89'. After walking the same strip nearly every day for the past three decades, Nowak has noticed the drastic change in the town. "Everything along here has changed, I miss it a little bit. There’s not a lot of coffee houses as there used to be."
Greg Nowak studies chess at Clyde Coffee in Missoula Mt, on Oct. 1. Nowak spends each Sunday afternoon at Clyde, and will usually catch the #6 bus in order to go to the nearest Roseauars to get the hot bar for dinner. Having retired nearly 30 years ago, Nowak has been living off of social security and SNAP benefits, barely getting by.
Greg Nowak leaves to meet a fellow chess partner at Basal Salad in Missoula, Mt, on Oct. 1.