At the time anyone possessing a short wave receiver could hear the satellite as it hurtled through space and hearing the steady beep, beep, beep was intriguing. That’s it; it just a beep, but it was coming from outer space! Some sources say that though Sputnik 1 was small, it was visible from Earth through a pair of binoculars (and perhaps even with the naked eye, if you had good vision). Others say what people saw was actually the much larger rocket booster.
There was also the Asian Flu Pandemic of 1957 and 1958. It was first identified in East Asia and subsequently spread to countries worldwide. It followed the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 (also known as the Spanish flu) and preceded the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968.
The Asian flu outbreak of ‘57-58 caused an estimated one million to two million deaths worldwide and is generally considered to have been the least severe of the three. By midsummer it had reached the United States, where it initially infected relatively few people, but several months later numerous cases were reported, especially in young children, the elderly, and pregnant women.
By March 1958 an estimated 69,800 deaths had occurred in the United States. The rapid development of a vaccine against the virus and the availability of antibiotics to treat secondary infections limited the spread and mortality.
Popular TV programs were Gunsmoke which is still showing reruns today. The Danny Thomas Show. It was a sitcom that regularly featured music by Danny Thomas, guest stars and occasionally other cast members as part of the plot.
Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was a nightclub comedian, singer, actor, producer, and philanthropist whose career spanned five decades.
Today Thomas’ is most remembered for making a vow that if he found success, he would open a shrine dedicated to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes.
In the early 1950s, he began traveling the United States to help raise funds to build St. Jude Children's Research Hospital because he fervently believed "no child should die in the dawn of life." With help from Dr. Lemuel Diggs and close friend Anthony Abraham, an auto magnate in Miami, Florida, Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee in 1962.
Since its inception, St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and around the world, continuing the mission of finding cures and saving children.
Westerns were poplar and besides Gunsmoke people were entertained by Tales of Wells Fargo, Have Gun – Will Travel, the non-Western I've Got a Secret and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
I don’t think I ever knew of this, but from August 20th to September 4th, 1957, Samuel Reshevsky and Donald Byrne, then living in Ann Arbor, Michigan and recent winner of the Western Championship, played a match in New York.
Details are very sketchy and there was no mention at all of the match in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. I found a couple of snippets from the New York Times, but not being a paid member I can’t read the articles. Another unanswered question is, why was the match played?
The match got off to a rocky start and Bill Wall’s site offers what scant information I could find. In the first game Byrne's flag fell, but Reshevsky didn’t notice it and offered a draw in a position where he had a perpetual check. Of course, Byrne accepted.
Then in the second game, Bryne again overstepped the time limit and again, Reshevsky, who had an easily winning position, didn’t notice that Byrne’s flag had fallen. Then, of all things, Reshevsky's flag fell, but neither player noticed that both flags were down.
At that point Reshevsky’s wife, Norma who was sitting in the audience, claimed the win for her husband! Byrne pointed out that the rules stated that only the player on the move could claim a time forfeit and since it was his move, he was claiming the win. However, the game was ruled a draw. It’s not clear exactly who made that ruling, but I assume it was the referee.
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| Mr. & Mrs. Reshevsky |
I am not sure Byrne’s claim is correct. From my OTB days, when a player’s flag fell (obviously that player was on the move) his opponent immediately called it. I never heard of a rule that said you had to wait until it was your turn to move to claim the win.
Mrs. Reshevsky’s actions caused a dispute and I would loved to have been there! An appeals committee was organized to settle the dispute, but Byrne objected because to him there was nothing to settle. Wall states that Byrne walked out (exactly when is not clear), but later returned, but he offered no further explanation.
In any case, the third game was played and it was a lengthy B+P ending that was drawn.
A snippet of information from the New York Times stated that Byrne failed to appear at the Manhattan Chess Club for the fourth game. Normally one would expect that this would have resulted in a forfeit, but the fourth game was actually played. It was short (Reshevsky’s draw offer was accepted on move 26), but sharp.
I was unable to unearth what happened here, but am going to venture a guess that after the disputed second game, the third game was played while awaiting a ruling from the committee. And, when the ruling upholding the draw in the second game was announced prior to the fourth game, that’s when Byrne failed to show up.
Since Byrne was living in Ann Arbor one would have expected him to return home, but apparently he was convinced to continue the match starting with the fourth game. Whatever happened, it sounds like a comedy of errors.
Game 5 was a hard fought draw and game 6 was a lengthy (70 moves) affair where Reshevsky had a R+P vs R ending that was drawn.
Finally, in game 7 there was a decisive result when Byrne miscalculated, lost a piece and eventually the game.
In game 8 Reshevsky, in an 88 move marathon where he had 2Rs and 2Ps vs Byrne’s Q and P, managed to finagle Byrne (playing white) into a position where his K was on the 8th rank and mate was unavoidable.
Game 9 was the most interesting. A powerful attack left Byrne facing a mate in 3 and so he resigned.
Game 10 saw Byrne playing to adjournment, but he was two Ps dawn so he resigned. Thus, one rather strange and forgettable match ended.
Why is it that whenever I read a chess story involving time disputes, arguments about the rules, and bizarre rulings, I expect to find Sammy Reshevsky's name?
ReplyDeleteCouple of reasons, I think. First, he was frequently in time trouble. Second, as a Chess Life article once said of him, he played with “sharp elbows” disregarding etiquette and sometimes even the rules. Sharp elbows refers to people who don't mind pushing others out of the way or stepping on them to get what they want.
ReplyDeleteYears ago at a tournament in North Carolina, Norman T. Whitaker was adjudicating a game and offering advice to some of us young players and when one of them politely thanked him for helping and commented, “Reshevsky wouldn’t do it.” Whitaker snorted, “Reshevsky wouldn’t help anybody.”
At the 1973 US Championship I saw Reshevsky holding his finger on the clock button so Benko, who was in time pressure, couldn’t punch his clock. Benko never said anything, just glared and hammered the clock with his fist. In the same tournament I was at the coffee machine when Milan Vukcevich came out laughing and said, “I don’t believe it! Reshevsky just coughed when it was his turn to move!” Reshevsky had been coughing, clearing his throat and noisily unwrapping gum when it was Vukcevich’s move. BTW, Dr. Vukcevich was one stand up guy. Also, away from the board Reshevsky was rather taciturn, but not too bad of a guy and I actually like him.