Just a Bit More History

The last twenty years of my working life were spent traveling, much of it internationally. Working that way required close attention to communications; prompt replies to messages were a high priority, regular almost compulsive checking of emails and ‘phone messages became a habit I and my colleagues all shared. When retirement crept up on me, partial in ’02 and complete ’05, the first real life style change I experienced was the realization that checking my emails and messages hourly was not necessary. In the years since the absence of compulsive communicating and not having to schlep through airports have been the two real blessings of retirement.

Unfortunately, we humans often over-use our blessings. In my case not having to check emails hourly went from ten or twelve times daily to twice per day to once per day and to now if I get to my inbox once a week it is a lot. That bad habit leads to embarrassment sometimes. A case in point; my last blog about Dean Howard’s interesting game with Mr. Menendez from the 1973 Chess League season.

Dean had sent me a very nice email about the subject that sets out details my faulty memory had incorrect or had missed entirely. Here is the text of Dean’s note:

“Hi, Bill

Thanks for all of your posts about the local activity, and now the historical notes.

I remember the 1973 season of the Eastern Mohawk Valley Chess League. [You can add "as I recall" to the end of every sentence in this story.] This was the height of the "Fischer boom", and teams had 8 boards, which added to the excitement.

I played for the Schenectady Chess Club. There were teams from the NY State Labor and Education departments, Albany YMCA or JCC (maybe both), and possibly 1 or 2 others, but our main competition was the team from RPI.

Interest in the RPI match grew as it became apparent that it would decide the league championship. We had drawn one match, and won all of the others.

Both teams brought their top players. There was even a rumor that our lineup would be enhanced by John Dragonetti. He directed most of the local events then, and hadn't played any rated games for some time. I was rated around 1600 at the time, and typically played on one of the middle boards, but for this match I was board 6 or lower.

It was a close match. After 3 hours most games were finished or not in doubt. My game with Joe Schimminger was unclear until he dropped a pawn on the last move of the time control, and Schenectady went on to win 4.5 to 3.5.

Schenectady won the league championship, but we got a scare in our last match against the Labor Department. I don't remember the score, but I know there were anxious moments while the games were in progress. I lost to someone named Menendez.”

While I remembered the chess league being called the Hudson Valley League, I think after some reflection, Dean is correct, there was a period of time when Eastern Mohawk Valley was the name used. My thanks to Dean for the additional information, and my apologies for not checking my messages.

Don’t forget, tomorrow is the Albany - Schenectady match. With some luck there will be plenty of games from it to keep this blog going until the State Championship and our new season begins.