The BIG Match!

The big Albany - Schenectady match took place last night. Turnout was not quite as large as hoped for, twenty players from Schenectady but only twelve from Albany. Still, having thirty-two chess players show up for a match in the heart of the vacation season is remarkable. This is particularly true because the idea of reviving the Albany - Schenectady match only came up around the end of June and was not solidified until the middle of July. That was short notice, too short perhaps.

The disparity in turnout led to juggling of line ups with some of us holding memberships in both clubs changing sides to level up the teams. There was a bit of banter regards “turncoats” and such, but it did lead to a close contest. The match was a draw that only became clear when Philip Sells defeated Dean Howard on board two at the end of the evening.

Press coverage, one of the purposes of reviving the match was publicity, has to be called very good to excellent. Through the efforts of Bill Townsend, the Schenectady Gazette sent a photographer and there is a page one story in the Local Section in this morning’s paper. Also, a reporter was present from the Enterprise, a local weekly newspaper. She took some pictures and spoke with some of the players. I was busy preparing for my game with John Barnes of the Schenectady team, and unfortunately, did not have time to find out much about when we might expect to see something in the Enterprise. In the matter of publicity it can be said the match was a success.

On the matter of results: My game, playing for Albany(!), kept me from nailing down the details of the lineups and individual results beyond a few games close around me. Barnes and I drew in 50+ moves in a Pirc Defense. After getting a big advantage in the middle game with a large expenditure of clock time, John let me escape to a draw in a Rook and pawn ending. He didn’t have enough time to see all my tricks. Sometimes it is better to lucky than good, and I was dead lucky in this game. I have the score from the Howard - Sells game and will publish it soon. Richard Chu gave me a copy of his game score with Jonathan Lack, a draw in 50 moves. Lack played for Albany. This was quite an upset. Lack is about 1900 and Richard nearly 250 rating points below him. Overall, The Schenectady team did well on the top boards; Deepak Aaron defeated Gordon Magat (Albany) and as mentioned above, Sells won from Howard (Albany). The Albany team did better further down. Bill Townsend said he collected copies of most of the game scores and offered to send them to me once he has them entered in his database, at least those that are readable. I am looking forward to Bill’s future column in the Gazette with all the details of who played for which team and results.

The future and the past: Townsend had at the site a folder with yellowing clippings from long ago about Albany - Schenectady chess matches from the 1920s onwards. Mentioned in this morning’s Gazette article is that these matches have gone on for about 100 years. Although there has been a break of 14 years between the last match and this one, the press coverage we had this year suggests it is time to consider making this event an annual thing. To avoid the problem of turnout, September is likely a better time for the match than August. Maybe it can be scheduled between the NYS Championship on Labor Day weekend and the beginning of the various club championship tourneys around the beginning of October? That is the time when chess players' minds turn to the game so it makes sense to play it then. If press coverage is good, the big match is not a bad recruiting tool for the clubs.

A personal note; in Townsend folder of newspaper clippings I found one from sometime in the 1930s, a photo of the players in that year’s Albany - Schenectady match. In photograph were Earle Hummel and Ray Miles. Sadly both have passed on. I remember them as frequent opponents from my youth. In the 1970s Earle, a talented musician and teacher had a stroke and could no longer attend the club. We played at his home a few times. Not being able to get around physically did not dim his appetite for a good fight on the chessboard. Ray played on into his 90s attending club meetings and playing well even in speed chess games until the end of his life. Both men illustrate how chess can be a life long avocation and bring joy at all ages. The clippings and other material in the Schenectady Chess Club archives Bill Townsend is ably safeguarding are beginning to show signs of their age. Maybe it is time the club acts to preserve these documents. I plan to raise the matter at this year’s organizational meeting on September 30, 2010 at the Niskayuna Community Center (Basement), 2628 Aqueduct Road, Schenectady.

Don’t forget, Blitz Chess at Proctor’s, Schenectady, August 23 - always a fun time. It starts at 11:00 am if I remember correctly.

Next post will have games from the big match! Back to actual chess.