My nephew is going to be visiting NY soon. He’d like to go to Central Park and play chess. Is that for real? Could a kid really wonder into some part of Central Park and find people just waiting to play chess with him? If so, where? When? He’s looking to me to find him places to play.
I guess he’s pretty good. He’s won some division High School championships, and he plays online all the time; has a high standing on some online ladder.
Washington Sq. Park, near NYU in Greenwich Village is the classic chess-in-the-park pick-up spot, not Central Park. (Or, if there is a chess scene in CP, I’m not aware of it.)
I don’t know how the games work myself, but the NYTimes did a piece about chess-in-the-park within the past year or so. I’d check that out.
I’d search “Washington” and “chess.”
“Searching for Bobby Fisher”…great movie.
Sorry, just thought it would work.
Tell your nephew to bring his queen out early in the park, late in tournaments and he’ll be fine 
There is no chess in Central Park. The spot for chess is Washington Square Park, as Stuyguy said. However, your nephew should know that he will most certainly be hustled. If he has a ranking, tell him to lower it a little when he’s asked about it over there. Good luck!