[blind-chess] Re: History of the U.S. Braille Chess Association
- From: Jim Slagle <jamesrslagle@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2013 17:00:45 -0800 (PST)
Hi Lovell and other historians,
Thank you very much for the historical info you give below.
You wondered about the correct spelling of Ted's last name.
It is Bullockus, not Bolokas.
Best wishes,
Jim Slagle
--- On Fri, 1/4/13, lovell <lovell32@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: lovell <lovell32@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-chess] Re: History of the U.S. Braille Chess Association
To: blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Friday, January 4, 2013, 3:55 AM
Hi Jim and all!
I was one of the organisers of the 1982 IBCA World championship which took
place at St. Leonard's on sea near Hastings UK. Al sandrin was the player from
the US and he was accompanied by Ted Bolokas but I am not sure if that is the
correct spelling!
I do not have the final scores but I know the fine Russian player; Krylov was
the winner.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Slagle" <jamesrslagle@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "ftp-chess yahoogroups" <ftp-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "peeps-talk
yahoogroups" <peeps-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <Us_bca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<braillechess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 3:28 AM
Subject: [blind-chess] History of the U.S. Braille Chess Association
$
Hi Rod and others,
It was great to hear from you again!
It is amazing to me how hard it is to remember what happened years ago and how
easy for errors to slip in.
Rod, I endorse most of your memories given below except for two names:
1. It was Tom Jones, not Tom Brown.
2. It was John Manetta, not Johan Manetta.
After reading your information about the 1976 Braille Chess Olympiad, I am now
certain that I was on the three U.S. Braille Chess teams that went to three
Olympiads in 1968, 1972, and 1976.
The 1976 Olympiad was held in Finland.
Anyone who has corrections or additional facts, please e-mail them to our
groups.
Every day, it gets harder to get a good history!
Best wishes,
Jim Slagle
--- On Wed, 1/2/13, Roderick Macdonald <rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Roderick Macdonald <rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-chess] Re: History of the USBCA Re: Dear Jim, A question
Please: Blind Chess Olympiad Weymouth 1968
To: blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, January 2, 2013, 3:29 PM
A wee correction: The person accompanying our 1968 Olympiad team was T.T.
Perry, not T.T. Murphy.
Rod
----- Original Message ----- From: "Roderick Macdonald"
<rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 7:45 PM
Subject: [blind-chess] Re: History of the USBCA Re: Dear Jim, A question
Please: Blind Chess Olympiad Weymouth 1968
> Hi Jim,
>
> Memory Lane, huh? OK, here are some random memories from my end:
>
> I do not remember exactly how I was recruited for the 1968 Olympiad team. I
> do recall receiving a letter where Grant Metcalf asked me to join the team, I
> believe in late 1967. I had been playing tournament chess for less than three
> years at the time, but I had placed sixth (of 41 players) in the 1967 New
> England Collegiate Championship, and had shared a newspaper clipping with
> Grant. I presume that had something to do with it. I think I had a USCF
> rating of abotu 1700 at the time.
>
> That 1968 team consisted of Albert Sandrin on board 1, myself on board 2, Jim
> Slagle on board 3, and Grant Metcalf on board 4. We were also accompanied by
> George Koltanowsky and T.T. Murphy (not entirely sure of his last name; he
> was involved in recording chess materials on tape.)
>
> We did not do particularly well. I believe we ended up 16th or 17th. Albert
> Sandrin did get recognition for his "best played game" against Sean Loftus of
> Ireland.
>
> I don't think I was the first Secretary - I think Grant was. After the
> Olympiad Grant asked me to be the USBCA's Tournament Director. Late in 1968
> or perhaps early in 1969, Grant resigned as Secretary and asked me to take
> over that position. Once I
> became Secretary I never heard from Grant again. I think the first USBCA
> Treasurer may have been Alan Schlank, who still holds that position today. He
> was elected to that position about 1973 and may have held it prior to that.
>
> The Piatigorsky Foundation also sponsored our participation in the 1972
> Olympiad in Pula, Yugoslavia. Albert Sandrin was again on board 1; E.
> Schuyler Jackson on board 2; Jim Slagle on board 3; and I was on board 4. The
> team was accompanied by Denis Barry, Tom Brown (I think) and Donald Stone,
> who accompanied us as an observer at his own expense. Mrs. Barry also
> accompanied the group at her own expense. We tied for first (with East
> Germany) in the preliminary round, and ended up 8th overall.
>
> At that Olympiad I put in a bid for the USBCA to sponsor the 1976 Olympiad.
> We tought we had a sponsor but that fell through and we had to withdraw the
> bid.
>
> The 1976 team consisted of Albert Sandrin, John Manetta, Jim Slagle and - I
> think - Mack Garner. I was in grad school at the time and could not
> participate, and a year or two later stepped down as Secretary and was
> inactive for some 25 years.
>
> I think Albert Sandrin represented the USBCA in the 1970 World Championship
> for the blind, though I am not certain. I believe Johan Manetta represented
> the USBCA in the 1974 World Championship for the blind.
>
> Happy New Year!
>
> Rod
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Slagle" <jamesrslagle@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <braillechess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "ftp-chess yahoogroups"
> <ftp-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "peeps-talk yahoogroups"
> <peeps-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <_bca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 3:43 PM
> Subject: [blind-chess] Re: History of the USBCA Re: Dear Jim, A question
> Please: Blind Chess Olympiad Weymouth 1968
>
>
>
> Dear Hans and others,
>
> It was great to hear from you again!
>
> I well remember how helpful and useful you were at the Blind Chess Olympiad
> in Weymouth, England, in 1968.
>
> Jacqueline and Gregor Piatigorsky paid for the air fares of the team and
> guides from the U.S.A. to England.
> They did not pay for room and board, which were paid by the host country in
> those days.
>
> In the article by John Graham below, note the paragraph beginning,
> "I need not have worried.
> Hans, the Secretary of the British Blind Chess Association, was a whiz at
> collecting Funds. As teams ... "
>
> In this paragraph, John Graham clearly states that he did not raise a penny
> and correctly praises your work.
>
> Good luck on and off the chess board!
>
> Jim Slagle
>
> --- On Mon, 12/31/12, H <h.cohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> From: H <h.cohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE: B.C.A. History of the USBCA Re: Dear Jim, A question Please:
> Blind Chess Olympiad Weymouth 1968
> To: braillechess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Monday, December 31, 2012, 3:13 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear Jim,
> Time for some trumpet blowing. John Graham was certainly instrumental in
> making such a success of the Weymouth Olympiad, but he didn't raise a penny
> towards the costs, and at that time the organiser paid for board and lodging
> of all the teams, guides and officials. I had under a year to do it:
> Yugoslavia were supposed to, but pulled out in 1967. What helped was that I
> was both secretary of the BCA and IBCA. We had twenty teams instead of nine
> in 1964. Need I say more? I leave it to you to tell your correspondent what
> happened to the V. Olympiad sheduled for 1976.
> With all good wishes for 2013, on the board and offit, Hans.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: braillechess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:braillechess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Jim Slagle
> Sent: 26 December 2012 15:41
> To: Us_Bca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Alan Dicey; James Slagle
> Cc: ftp-chess yahoogroups; peeps-talk yahoogroups;
> skype-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; braillechess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
> blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: B.C.A. History of the USBCA Re: Dear Jim, A question Please:
> Blind Chess Olympiad Weymouth 1968
>
> Hi,
>
> Here are some of my recollections.
> In 1967, Mr. Grant Metcalf organized a San Francisco chess tournament for
> blind players.
> He was working on this with George Koltonowski, who was a chess columnist
> and memory expert.
> There were about ten players.
> Grant Metcqalf and I drew our individual game and tied for first in the
> tournament.
> I won on tie breaks.
> George Koltonowski donated a trophy to me.
> It read "First Place, Northern California Braille Chess Tournament, 1967."
> At the tournament, Grant talked to me about the forthcoming International
> Braille Chess Olympiad, to be held in Weymouth, England, in 1968.
>
> The team would be sponsored by Mrs. Jacqueline Piatigorsky.
> She was married to Gregor Piatigorsky, so he was a sponsor too.
> They are an amazing couple, and I urge you to read about them in
> Wikipedia.
> Gregor was a world-class cellist, who lived most of his life in Los
> Angeles.
> He was not a San Diego violinist, as has been incorrectly reported.
>
> Gregor and Jacqueline both played chess and organized and sponsored some
> important international tournaments.
> Jacqueline represented the United States in the first Women's Chess
> Olympiad in 1957.
> She scored 7.5 points out of a possible 11 on second board and won a
> bronze medal!
> In the 1960's, she was rated second among American women chess players.
>
> As for forming the rest of the American braille chess team, Albert Sandrin
> was well known by George Koltonowsky and others.
> Let's ask Rob MacDonald how he was recruited to complete our four man
> team.
>
> In April, 1968, the Braille Chess Olympiad was held in Weymouth, England.
> It was wonderfully organized by John Graham.
> George Koltonowsky accompanied our team.
> Before the first game, I remember appearing in a heavy coat, and everyone
> laughed.
> I had the last laugh, because everybody else was cold while playing the
> game.
> It was about 15 Celsius, which is 59 F.
>
> Later in 1968, Grant organized the USBCA.
> Rod was the first Secretary.
> He had most of the authority and responsibility.
> I was the first President.
> Albert Sandrin was the first Vice President.
> I forget who was the first Treasurer.
>
> If anyone has any questions, just ask.
>
> Best wishes,
> Jim Slagle
> Skype ID jamesrslagle.
> USA Phone 609 945 5415
>
> From: Alan Dicey <adicey@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Dear Jim, A question Please: Blind Chess Olympiad Weymouth 1968
> To: "Jim Slagle" <jamesrslagle@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Monday, September 3, 2012, 10:23 PM
>
> Dear Jim,
> I have a question, if you would kindly help me with it.
> In the article below, John Graham writes:
> "Meanwhile, I had formed a group of U.S. blind players into a national
> team and persuaded George Koltonowski, the San Francisco chess columnist, to
> accompany them. A San Diego violinist's foundation provided the funds once
> they knew that Koltonowski was coming. "
> Jim, The question, How did he find you 4 gentlemen, and Does this mean the
> USBCA was formed after this 1968 Blind Chess Olympiad in Weymouth?
> I know you went, along with Rod Macdonald , and Al Sandrin , I do not
> know Metcalf's first name.
> I have all you 4 gentlemen's games from this event.
> I am going to place them with this article in the "History".
> Attached is most all the games from this event if you want to see it. It
> is of course very long.
> With Best Regards,
> Alan
> Miami, Florida
>
> * * *
> / Written by John Graham /
> "It had seemed such a good idea the year before," said the Weymouth
> organizer, "now, at one o'clock in the morning, standing on a bare railway
> platform in Weymouth and listening to the broken English of a helper
> explaining that the interpreter had died on the way from Poland, the idea
> was wearing thin."
>
> A year before, a blind friend had asked if I would organize the third
> world championship for blind chess teams. It was not an unreasonable
> request - I was already editing and producing an international tape-recorded
> chess magazine for the blind - I had the contacts - I was a contributor to
> the 'Dorset Evening Echo'. I had a seaside resort for the venue. I was
> sighted. I said "O.K. - as long as I don't have to collect the funds."
>
> I need not have worried. Hans, the Secretary of the British Blind Chess
> Association, was a whiz at collecting funds. As teams began to respond to
> our invitation, he first persuaded Mr. Marks of 'Marks and Spencers' to
> sponsor the Israeli team because the Russians were sponsoring a team. Then
> he told the Soviet Embassy that the Israelis were fully funded but the
> Soviet team couldn't afford to come. We only told one lie. Meanwhile, I had
> formed a group of U.S. blind players into a national team and persuaded
> George Koltonowski, the San Francisco chess columnist, to accompany them. A
> San Diego violinist's foundation provided the funds once they knew that
> Koltonowski was coming. Funds grew on other funds, with a little persuasion,
> and soon the event was ON. Now it was up to me and Weymouth.
>
> The Fairhaven hotel was being reconstructed and I was able to persuade the
> owner of the rambling building on the sea front to add elevators. Since the
> building had been assembled from three older hotels, its corridors and
> innumerable staircases invited accidents if you were sighted or not. In the
> final event, the elevators were unnecessary and the blind visitors rejected
> warning tapes that I had planned for each staircase. They would take their
> chances, they said. In the two weeks of the tournament, three players fell
> down flights of stairs but no one was injured - if you're blind you relax in
> falling, you don't grasp for a hold that you cannot see.
>
> We invited every blind chess team we knew - those from 20 nations.
> Eventually, they all managed support and all turned up. Each brought a team
> of four players with two sighted helpers.
> In 1968, Britain did not recognize East Germany and I was warned by the
> U.K. Foreign Office that East German nationals would only be allowed to
> enter the country as individuals rather than as a team. I had to promise
> that they would neither be allowed to wave their flag nor sing their anthem.
> That was annoying because I had arranged for each table to show the flag of
> its competing nation (and the media would be watching) and we might even
> sing to each other in the evenings. So, when the East Germans came and
> learnt of the restrictions, they naturally objected - they announced that
> they would go home and take the other Soviet block countries with them. How
> strange that now sounds since the Soviet Union is no more but it was a
> serious threat in 1968. I found a solution. Since I, the organizer, was the
> only one who had actually made the promise to the British Government, I
> offered to leave and they could organize everything between them.
> "Well, let's not be hasty." was the unanimous reply.
> We worked it out: inside the hotel the East Germans would be allowed to
> wave whatever flag they chose (even the Welsh one that I offered), and sing
> whatever anthem they chose. Outside the hotel we asked for more decorum.
> However, since play would take place only in hotel rooms they were the only
> places where flags were needed. All was well. My threat, together with a
> little diplomacy, worked.
>
> Apart from arranging for two weeks of team play I was also charged with
> providing entertainment each evening for 80 blind players, and their 40
> sighted helpers. So, the months before the event had been a fury of looking
> for opportunities which entranced senses other than sight - a visit to the
> Devenish brewery (which we had to repeat several times), a visit to the
> seaside, a concert, a musical get-together, and an international evening
> with the local blind of Weymouth.
>
> Apart from a chess magazine for the blind, Weymouth volunteers ran 'The
> Sound of Weymouth', a recorded entertainment for the blind, a sort of local
> radio program of recorded interviews and music before local radio came into
> being. I planned to make a similar tape of entertainment for the
> international evening.
> Thus, I contacted each of the twenty embassies for a sample of their
> nation's music together with, perhaps, a recorded message of welcome to
> their national blind team. All save one immediately sent music and recorded
> contributions. 'The U.S. was too busy.' I wrote saying that I
> understood their dilemma and that I was simply looking for advice. Should I
> play "Yankee Doodle-Dandy", since it was the only piece of American music
> that I had at hand?
>
> A reply telegram appeared by return - 'Do not play the suggested music,
> recorded contribution on way.' They eventually did us proud - the ambassador
> had recorded a resounding cheer for the team with an exhortation to do well.
> He had also included a musical contribution that would not offend any Civil
> War sensibilities. After all the arrangements, the joint meeting was a great
> success and the local blind felt they were part of the Olympiad, which, of
> course they were. But I get ahead of myself again.
>
> In those days I did not delegate well. I did most things myself. Amongst
> other things, I wrote letters, negotiated with the hotel hosts and selected
> the meals. I purchased the medals and flags, arranged for sets and boards,
> and wrote to firms, like Wedgwood, for gifts for participants and organized
> volunteer helpers. In addition, I wrote the newspaper columns for the Dorset
> Evening Echo (weekly before the event but daily during it) for delivery at
> 1:00 a.m., I laid out the tables for play before 7:00 a.m., calculated
> scores, and drove the rented van to meet incoming teams at the railway
> station. Now here I was, at one o'clock in the morning, meeting the Polish
> team, which had just announced that one of their sighted guides had died on
> the way and they had brought the body with them.
>
> That next morning, amongst all other tasks, I had to move the body to a
> mortuary and find a Polish speaker in an English seaside resort - one who
> could devote the better part of two weeks to helping four young blind men to
> play chess. Astoundingly, I found one.
> Besides the grim reality of a Polish death, each team had its own
> problems.
>
> The event was held in April to avoid the summer resort prices. So, the
> U.S. team was always cold at night and needed extra blankets. George
> Koltonowski, a man who was famous for his photographic memory and
> intelligence, rose one morning, too cold to sleep, and in the bathroom,
> still dazed from sleep, cleaned his teeth with my hair cream.
>
> The Israeli team had arrived with full security. They had a sighted chess
> organizer and a security man from the Hagganah. But the young men of the
> team, all North-African Arabs who had suffered more war wounds than simple
> blindness, were always eluding their "helpers" and going out on the town
> alone. They would walk, single file, each with a hand on the next man's
> shoulders, and blunder through the streets, each taking the lead after the
> prior lead had been battered enough in knocking into walls and railings. I
> rescued them one evening after they blundered into a Chinese restaurant to
> find beer and failed to understand Britain's quaint restaurant licensing
> laws: 'no food, no drink'. Even today, the picture of a Chinese restaurant
> proprietor explaining English law to four blind French-speaking Arab Jews is
> unique. These lively young men did not play strong chess but they were
> intent on having a good time. They elected at the end of the tournament to
> return to Israel via Paris in order to 'see' the Moulin Rouge nudist
> display.
> Tournament play was arranged with a preliminary session to grade the
> teams, and then a longer final session as the real competition. Each game
> had a primary chess set on which the moves were made by helpers and each
> player had a smaller set (about 7" square) over which he, or she, could feel
> the entire span of pieces with their hands. A player would make his move on
> his small board, announce his move aloud in German, and record it in
> Braille. The opponent would then make the move on his board and a helper
> would make it on the large set for the sake of onlookers. It was a little
> more complicated than in a sighted tournament, but it went well. The hall
> buzzed with announced moves and the chattering of Braille recorders.
>
> The whole competition went well - there were enough boards and sets, hall
> facilities were good, there were plenty of guides and helpers, refreshments
> and meals were on time and well received, and the day's reports were being
> printed each day in the local newspaper. I couldn't believe that there could
> be no problems when I had spent the past year running from one crisis to
> another.
>
> Evening entertainment - another earlier concern was much less trouble than
> I had expected. The visit to the old brewery was the greatest success. Its
> creaky wooden stairs and floors, the smell of fermenting grain, malt, and
> brew, coupled with a taste of various samples, was such a sensory feast that
> the visitors were not content with a single visit - they insisted that they
> return the next day and the next. The coach visit to the beach culminated in
> paddling on the shingle shore was another sensual experience that the
> visitors enjoyed. Most had never paddled before. Then the international
> evening proved so musically inspiring that the visitors decided to put on
> their own musical evening. Overnight, I was asked to find several guitars
> and an accordion. A notice in the paper the following morning provided
> instruments within hours and we had a real German 'biergarten fest' ready
> made.
>
> At the end of two weeks, there was a grand awards evening. After all the
> good fellowship of chess and music, the opportunity provided by speeches
> brought the old political ambitions to the surface. After all, each team had
> two sighted helpers - a chess expert and an official. The official was
> generally political. Certainly, they were for the Soviet Union and Israel.
> This was their turn in the sun. Immediately, a dispute broke out - the
> Israelis had brought a gift for Weymouth's Mayor so they demanded that they
> speak first to present the gift. However, the Soviet team had won the
> tournament so they demanded first spot on the program. Impasse! Everyone
> shouted and argued. A decision had to be made. Thank the lord for
> international chivalry: I remembered that the Rumanian team alone was lead
> by a woman so I announced that she would speak first. The protests ceased
> and we had smiles for the remainder of the ceremony.
>
> In my home, there are reminders of that hectic fortnight: a pair of
> magnificent black Wedgewood chess pieces and a small white bear. The little
> bear is in recognition of the difficulties that the East German team brought
> me. I have a memory of the team waving its flag in public at the closing
> ceremony in the Town Hall along with everyone else. And so it should be.
>
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