Bill Townsend, the chess columnist for the Schenectady Gazette, passed some information on to me about the history of the Capital District Chess League. As the CDCL, various club teams have been competing since 1991. Prior to that date, chess clubs in the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas were part of the Hudson Valley Chess League. I can’t be completely certain of all the member clubs of the HVCL, but from my games record Poughkeepsie, IBM, Vassar College, Newburgh and Woodstock played in the League along with Albany and Schenectady.
Just why and how the HVCL disappeared and the Capital District Chess League came to be I do not know. At the time the transition took place my job began to require overseas travel on a weekly basis, and I was no longer able to attend club meetings regularly. Without regular attendance the organizational memory slips. Bill Townsend likely knows the details. Maybe he will use his column to fill in the gap. I suspect some of the “down-river” clubs may have lost interest in making the trips to Albany, Schenectady and Saratoga.
Now to Bill’s information. He kindly provided a list of all the winners in both the HVCL and the CDCL from 1984 to this year. It is herein reproduced:
Hudson Valley Chess League
1984 Schenectady
1985 Schenectady
1986 Albany
1987 Poughkeepsie
1988 Saratoga
1989 Poughkeepsie
Capital District Chess League
1991 Albany A on tie-breaks over Schenectady A
1992 Albany A
1993 Albany
1994 Albany
1995 Albany A
1996 Albany A
1997 Albany A
1998 Saratoga
1999 Schenectady A
2000 Albany B
2001 Albany B
2002 Saratoga A on tie-breaks over Albany B
2003 Albany B (8-0, unbeaten and untied)
2004 Schenectady A on tie-breaks over Albany B
2005 Schenectady A on tie-breaks over Saratoga A
2006 Saratoga A on tie-breaks over Schenectady A
2007 Saratoga A on tie-breaks over Schenectady A
2008 Albany B after a playoff match tied 2-2. The tie was broken w/S-B tie-breaks.
2009 Albany on tie-breaks over Schenectady A
2010 Schenectady A
Careful readers will note the changing name of the strongest Albany team. Sometimes it is called Albany, other times Albany A, and then for awhile Albany B. This year, their first team was known as just Albany, and the second team fielded by the Albany Area Chess Club - that’s been the official name of the Albany club for a number of years - was called the Guilderland team. Go figure! In any event, the Albany team had a great run through the 1990’s. The turn of the century saw fortune turn for Albany when Saratoga was able to get Steve Taylor more regularly on board 1, and Saratoga A won in 1998 and Schenectady in 1999. Since 2000 the competition has been more balanced. Albany winning five times, Saratoga and Schenectady three times each.
Although Bill's information goes back only to 1984, the Hudson Valley League was working much longer. According to my record of games, I won the first game I played in the League from George Steeves, in March of 1969 playing third board against Newburgh. It was not a new League at that time. From what I recall it had been in action for a number of years before.
For the sake of old times, here is a game from the 1985/1986 season when Schenectady won the Hudson Valley Chess League title.
HVCL - Newburgh v Schenectady, Board 2
Newburgh, NY
3-02-1986
Lawrence, A - Little, B
Al Lawrence was a sometime Executive Director of the USCF. When this game was played he had just broken through to the Expert ranks as a chess player. In later years Al participated in the design and writing of Pirc Alert!, Chess Information and Research Center, NYC, 2001, Alburt, Chernin and Lawrence, one of my favorite books. He has played infrequently in recent years with his rating staying just about on the line between Expert and high “A” class.
1. d4 Nf6
2. Nf3 e6
3. Bg5 Be7
4. e3 c5
5. Bd3 Nc6?!
Up to this move we were in a well known line of the Torre Attack. The game move has been tried a few times international circuit but without much happiness for Black.
6. c3 h6
We are now out of the “Book”, although the position looks reasonably normal.
7. Bh4 d5
8. Nbd2 O-O
9. O-O …..
By various paths we have reached a position known as long ago Kemeri 1937 where Keres as Black used this set up to draw with Tartakower in 31 moves.
9.…. e5?!
The great Paul played more sensibility with 9..., b6; and took up a position that he’d used very successfully against the best in the world for many years. My computer suggests 9..., c4; but that move looks to be too committal. The text move is risky. I came up with it at the board. It has the advantage of putting White on his own skill without anything from theory to help him. That is a small recommendation for the move.
10. Nxe5 Nxe5
11. dxe5 Ng4
12. Bg3 Bh4
This violent thrashing should not work so well as it does.
13. Qf3!? …..
The natural 13 Nf3, organizes the White pieces better than the text. Also good is 13 Bxh4, Qxh4; 14 Nf3, Qe7; 15 e4!, and while Black can recover the pawn, after the near forced 15..., dxe4; 16 Bxe4, and later Qd1-b3, b7 is under pressure from White. Completing development will not be easy for Black. The maneuver Black has pursued for the last three moves is similar to the Tartakower - Keres game with difference that the Bc8 hasn’t shifted to the long diagonal, and we can now see why Paul Keres took time to play …, b6; and …, Bb7.
13.…. Re8
14. Bb5?! ….
White decides he can begin active operations since his development is pretty much completed and Black has still to get his last minor piece out and to work. With 14 Rad1, White could have hung on to some slight edge. After the game move Black is entirely even.
14.…. Nxe5
15. Qh5? …..
If Black wants take risks, White thinks two can play at that game. A decision that is quite wrong.
15.… Bxg3
16. Bxe8 …..
Marginally better is 16 hxg3.
16... Bg4
17. Bxf7+ Kh8
18. Qxg4?? ….
White mistakenly believes his cause is lost. Best here is 18 hxg3, Bxh4; 19 Bxh4, and with a Bishop, Rook and a extra pawn White certainly has chances to hold the game and maybe even win it. After the game move, Black not only picks up material; he also has a strong attack.
18.… Bxh2+
19. Kxh2 Nxg4+
20. Kg1 Qc7!
This was the move that Al did not take in to account when he decided on this line. The threat of mate at h2 wins the Bf7. Rather than fight out what looks to be a lost cause, Lawrence decided to get a bite of lunch and to try again in the second game of the match and so;
21 Resigns.
The satisfaction of winning so quickly brought with it a certain reckless abandon. In the second game of the day Mr. Lawrence tried the Scandinavian and I demonstrated my lack of understanding of the opening. Al did not calculate to well in the morning game and I therefore thought throwing in some small tricks would get the same result. He saw through my traps and rather quickly obtained the upper hand and the game was lost..
This particular year the format for HVCL matches called for two games on each of the five boards. The idea was for “home and home” contests. My recollection is most of the time we played both games on the same day if the trip to the site was a long drive. That was the case here. The only good thing for me about the second game is it was about as short as my win in the first round, and I got to head for home before the sun went down.
There have been conversations with the Presidents of the Albany and Schenectady clubs about reviving the big matches between the two clubs. The Executives are in agreement and a tentative date discussed. The thought is mid-August, twenty boards on each side, maybe more if we can find the players.
This kind of once a year big match was a fixture in the 1950's right up and through the 1990's. When the Albany Club had problems with their meeting rooms, about 1997 the series fell out of the plans and never was brought up. As the plans develop we will post news here, and I'll ask Bill Townsend to make mention of it in his column.
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