If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then two remarkably reminiscent photos ought to be worth at least a 250-word blog post.
![Oak Park-Chess on Cab](https://www.insideedgepr.com/wp-content/uploads/Oak-Park-Chess-on-Cab1-150x150.jpg)
Two weeks ago, as I loaded my kids into the family van outside my office near downtown Oak Park, I noticed two men playing chess on the trunk of a taxi. It was too cool of a visual to pass up, so I grabbed my camera, snapped a few photos and wrote a brief account, with three photos, of the scenario at TribLocal.
![OP chess on cab-over ev shoulder](https://www.insideedgepr.com/wp-content/uploads/OP-chess-on-cab-over-ev-shoulder-150x150.jpg)
A week later, on page 7 of TribLocal’s Aug. 25 print edition for the Oak Park area, the vignette appeared.
Lo and behold, two days ago, the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest featured a strikingly similar photograph (below) on its front page—showing the same cabbie, Bobby Johnson, and a different rival chess player.
![Front page-Wednesday Journal-cabbies playing chess](https://www.insideedgepr.com/wp-content/uploads/Front-page-Wednesday-Journal-cabbies-playing-chess-216x300.jpg)
Did my work spark the creative juices of Jason Geil, the Journal’s prolific and talented photographer? Or was it just coincidence? (Editor’s note, after this original blog post: It was indeed coincidence, according to Geil, who has since become a friend.)
In either event, when I saw Johnson (again) playing chess outside my office on Wednesday afternoon, I had the pleasure of giving him the TribLocal edition in which he appeared as well as tipping him off to the WJ coverage.
Now, it’s a matter of waiting to see if the national media starts swooping in on Johnson’s cab-trunk gamesmanship.
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