PBS Chess 1972

Update: 2007.09.22 -

In 1972 I was one of the production staff for the PBS television network presentation of the Fischer – Spassky World Chess Championship. (See Below)

I have played in many tournaments through the years with mixed results my rating at one time after suffering a string of losses was as low as 1600’s but I feel that I probably play about 1800 now. I have no humans to play with where I live. I play “C# chess” program mostly because I have the source code for it. I’m more interested in the code than the game at this point in my life.

and then there was "Bobby".

Fischer – Spassky World Chess Championship.

Recent post about PBS Fischer-Spassky

An open letter about 1972 Fisher - Spassky chess match

PBS NET Presentation

This letter is an attempt to document an insiders view of a historic event.

To: Ken Dean

From: George Steeves

I’ll never forget the first day I went to the twelfth floor of the Alfred E. Smith building, Albany NY, to find out if the moves from the tournament would be available there. People were scurrying around moving props and no one seemed to know anything about the moves. I finally cornered someone who said the moves were coming over the Teletype in Russian. They showed me a test transmittal and yes the piece names were in the Russian alphabet but it was simply algebraic notation. I told them that this was standard algebraic notation and they said in surprise “ you can read this”. I said yes. I was immediately escorted in to meet Mike Chase for the first time. We talked briefly and he offered me a job working on the broadcast for which I would be compensated $50 a week in “expenses”.

I had not met Shelby yet and didn't meet him until the first day of the show. He and I in the beginning were the only ones capable of reading both Algebraic and English moves. I was seated in the control room next to Mike Chase with a telephone link to Edmar Mendis at the Manhattan Chess Club. The moves came to there, I know not how, and were transferred to me by telephone. A system fraught with the possibility of error.

At this point Bobby was still hanging out at Kennedy airport refusing to go to Iceland. I went to the AESOB (Alfred E. Smith Office Building) each day hoping the tournament would start. It had become front-page news even on the New York Times. Finally at the request of Henry Kissinger Bobby relented and went.

Even when Bobby got to Iceland we were not sure if we had a TV program as he was wrangling over the lights, cameras, lack of bowling alleys and so on. This period turned out to be a real bonus for the production staff as we had time to get to know each other and work out a myriad of details. During that time I was disabled and had taken up residence at Hamilton Street just a few blocks from the AESOB. It was a pleasure to have some new friends like Mike, Sam, and Shelby and to be at the center of such a historic event was a real honor. I was relieved when the games actually started, as we wouldn’t have to figure out how to fill a lot of dead air time.

I sat next to Mike Chase during all the games that he was present (Mike missed a couple of the games and his engineer Norm sat in his place) it was interesting to read other peoples views of the events. Mike was not a very good chess player and it was the incorporation of people from the outside, that he realized were more talented than himself, that was his great contribution. You being one of them.

He had asked me who might be available and in the beginning we drew from my friends in the Albany, Schenectady and Woodstock Chess Clubs. I recollect John Dragonetti, Joe Weinenger, Mathew Katrein, John and Gene Meyer, and you as being the first guest kibitzers. As the show gained momentum we received and accepted many offers from the NY chess community. Bruce Pandelfini, the Byrne brothers, Pal Benko, Dr Anthony Saidy, made the trek from NYC to Albany to be on the show and Bruce stayed at my house on one occasions for two days. I am amused when I see the portrayal of Bruce in the movie “In Search Of Bobby Fisher” as an up tight disciplinarian while the Bruce I knew was a longhaired, good-humored hippie. In the end even Micheal Najdorf flew in, from Argentina, to be on the show. You even had the nerve to play 5 minute chess with him and defend with the Najdorf Variation.

The show had a totally different format in the end than was intended in the beginning. For one thing the moves were supposed to come in from Iceland by telegraph. This later changed so that the moves were transmitted to NYC at the Manhattan Chess Club. Edmar Mednis would transmit the moves to me, by telephone, in algebraic and I would translate to English notation and give the move to Mike. He in turn would ring the Teletype bell and give the move to Shelby in his earphone. Shelby would walk over to the Teletype tear off a blank sheet of paper with bravado and feign reading the move. Mistakes were frequent many of them I am sure were mine. Whenever a mistake was made in transmission, analysis would be side tracked into some non-existent fantasy. It just seemed to add to the show.

Also in the beginning it was to be Shelby Lyman that would do all the analysis. I remember Sam Hallman one of the shows hosts, the other being Chris Chase, saying no man alive could do four to six hours of stand up live TV. This turned out to be prophetic as Shelby would really begin to show signs of wear after a couple of hours and he would come off at the end of the day drenched and light burned. I had to admire Shelby’s tenacity as the tournament progressed because the amount of effort and work he expended was monumental and I often thought he was coming undone and would not last to the end.

In order to alleviate this problem I suggested the introduction of Kibitzers and an on set analysis board. If you have never seen a practiced player move the pieces at speed chess rate... it is something to behold. Watching you and Micheal Najdorf play speed chess was so fast captures would have the captured piece removed and replaced with the new piece with a distinctive "Click" instantaneously.

I had been crafting Chess Boards for several months. I had a really nice Rosewood 8pc match veneer board which was defective which I repaired that I loaned to the production to be used as a set prop. I still have that board today. To think all these players have played or analyzed on this board.

Shelby Lyman, Bruce Pandelfini, Micheal Nojdorf, The Byrn Brothers, The Meyer Brothers, Mathew Katrein, John Dragonetti, Joe Weinenger, Anthony Saidy, Pal Benko ......

The introduction of the kibitzers was largely a mechanism to aid Shelby in his task allowing him to not have to talk all the time as sometimes he would lose his voice. Fortuitously this mechanism added measurable to the popularity of the show. People loved to watch the kibitzers get into heated arguments over what might be possible.

I remember a Benoni defense where Bobby was playing black. You had suggested that Bobby would play Nh5. Gene Meyer protested vociferously “What are you crazy. That would break up his king side pawn structure etc.” it really took the wind out of his adolescent sails when the move came in Nh5. Not only had you predicted the move but the ensuing sequence that led to Bobby gaining the winning advantage. I thanked Gene for his wonderful performance on the show, which was greeted by him with disdain. I think he thought I was gloating over his error. In fact it was this sort of conflict that made the show great and I really didn’t care who was right.

We video taped the show each day. NET had just purchased two state of the art Ampex video recorders. Each one was the size of a Volkswagen and recording the tape at the speed of a tape rewinding today. The tape reels were over 3’ in diameter and the tape was 3-4” wide. Norm had told me that this was only the second time these units had been used. The first time was to record the Chuck Mangione “Friends and Love Concert”. Unfortunately the audio feed to the recorder had not been connected properly. The crew at NET had spent weeks using these two recorders to re-synchronize the music to the video. I often wonder if any of this footage is in storage at NET. It was this experience that opened my eyes to the possibilities of this new media revolution that we now take for granted.

For me the high light of the tournament was towards the end when the game had started but PBS had made plans to preempt the game with the opening of the Republican National Convention. I felt fortunate that I would be able to ignore the convention and continue with the game. Only about a half-hour after PBS switched to the convention the phone lines at NET were jammed with protest calls. The same had happened at PBS and every PBS affiliate in the country. Yes Chess was more important than politics and convention was removed and Chess won. This is the only time that I know of that live programming in progress was changed by popular request.

It was an amateur production with whole sequences improvised out of necessity. Many of the crew and participants were volunteers with no TV experience. There were daily errors and foul-ups. Often Shelby would request help on his earpiece. Something no polished TV personality would do. All this lent an air of reality to the production that more professional shows would have tried to hide. We knew no better and got nominated for an Emmy in the process.

Remembrances By

George Steeves

July 16. This game proved to be the turning point of the match. After 11.Qc2, Fischer demonstrated his understanding of the position with 11...Nh5!?—a seemingly antipositional move allowing White to shatter Black's kingside pawn structure, but Fischer's assessment that his kingside attack created significant counterplay proved correct.[77] Surprised by Fischer's novelty, Spassky did not react in the best way. Instead of 15.Bd2, 15.Ne2!? was possible (Zaitsev),[78] or 15.f3 to prevent ...Ng4.[79] In particular, Spassky's 18th move, weakening the light squares, was a mistake.[80] The game was adjourned, and Spassky resigned the next day upon seeing that Fischer had sealed the best move, 41...Bd3+! It was Fischer's first ever win against Spassky.[81]

Modern Benoni, Classical Main Line (ECO A77)

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Michael Valvo (April 19, 1942 in New York – September 18, 2004 in Chanhassen, Minnesota) was an International Master of chess.

By 1962, he was one of the top blitz players in the United States. He won the 1963 U.S. Intercollegiate Championship.

A native of Albany, N.Y. and a graduate of Columbia University, Valvo was a member of the U.S. team that competed in the 11th Student Olympiad in Cracow, Poland, in 1964. His teammates included William Lombardy, Raymond Weinstein, Charles Kalme, and Bernard Zuckerman. The Americans finished fourth, behind the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

By 1976, Valvo had essentially dropped out of tournament chess and his rating was no longer published in the USCF rating lists, until Bill Goichberg and Jose Cuchi invited him to a futurity tournaments. Valvo did well, earning a rating of 2440. However, Professor Arpad Elo refused to award Valvo the rating he had earned, because Elo had never heard of Valvo and suspected that the tournament had been rigged. This matter was debated at the 1978 FIDE Congress in Buenos Aires and FIDE voted to give Valvo his 2440 rating. Valvo quickly proved that he really was a 2440 strength player and earned the International Master title.

Valvo never played in the U.S. Chess Championship, but he was to make his mark in computer chess, which became his primary focus. At every World Computer Chess Championship from the early 1980s until his death, Valvo was the organizer, moderator, commentator or acted in some official capacity. He also played a two game play by email match against Deep Thought, winning both games.

Mike Valvo died of a heart attack. He was eulogized by long time friend, colleague and computer scientist Ken Thompson in the December 2004 issue of the International Computer Games Association Journal.