Collective Nouns - Fischer v Spassky

[Peter McKillop]

I met Herman Posma at the German - Canadian club in London (Cove Road) in 1975. Herman would tell me stories of his days in The Dutch East Indies where his family had a plantation (Sumatra I think) and the invasion and occupation of the Japanese and later the revolution and losing his home and coming to Canada. He was a landlord for many Western students in the 50's, 60's, and 70"s and was Sreve Bartletts landlord in the late 60's. Herman was bitten by the chess bug at age 70! After about 10 more years he separated from his wife (who told him he should settle down, enjoy home life, and give up that silly game - the last was enough for him) and moved to Toronto (and got an apartment) to play tournament chess! The last talk I had with him was at the Estonian Club with their famous Paul Keres Actives in 97 or 98. Herman told me he was still improving, had gained at least 300 rating points since he had started and planned to gain a 100 more. This was at age 92!! Anyone else remember Herman Posma?

Yes, I remember Herman from the mid to late 70s in London; a soft-spoken kindly gentleman. I remember in particular a tournament game against him in the summer of 1979. I had really worked hard trying to build on a small advantage in space. He moved a rook to a centre file attacking my queen. I had a square in mind for my queen. His reply would be forced, I thought, so I started anaylzing what I would do after his forced reply. I found a rook move I liked and without any further thought, made it. Looked back at the board and froze in horror as it dawned on me that I'd hung my queen. Herman was solicitous and very apologetic about taking the gift.

[John Brown]

I used to play matches at Herman's apartment when it became too long for him to come out to my place in Brampton. We played $5 a game to the winner.
I sold him my first French lardy set. He would go to tournaments in Holland every winter. He sadly died of prostate cancer (I believe) he was in his 93rd year when that happened. He had lost one lung during the time he was in a Japanese prisoner of war war camp and was smuggled out with dead prisoners by a Priest or he would have been executed shortly within the week. We would have missed many great chess battles had that happened. He played to the bitter end as he said in our matches " If you don't play until the game is over. How can you say you really won or lost"

[Hans Jung]

Thanks John. Im glad you mentioned the incident of being smuggled out. Herman had so many great stories he should have written a book. Ive forgotten so much (sigh).

[Hans Jung]

This memory is for you Peter. I have mentioned the other clubs in London but the one I started with and was very fond of was the downtown Y. In fact going to the Y involved two or more chess sessions in a day. The youth chess club run by Ted Durrant met at the main library downstairs on Queens Ave in the late afternoons (after school) and we helped Ted when he missed a session (usually Ray Ebisuzaki, but also Arthur Wong, or Jay Zendrowski or even Dave Kashikjian. Of course it was always more interesting and entertaining when Ted was there. He always got us going with entertaining analysis or bughouse chess or discussing some current event of interest. Then they would adjourn to play pingpong at the Y until the evening club started. I wasnt one for ping pong although I enjoyed their spectacular leaps and spin shots. Imagine Ted four feet in the air doing a twist behind the back spin shot or Ray with his insane laugh as he would determinedly do a barrage of return shots and often won the set. I usually (during the time that they played ping pong) would play a match game with Dave Kashijkian or Jay Zendrowski (most often) or Kelly Riley or Arthur Wong. The bonus was that we would get to analyse the game with Ted and Ray the next week (usually with a crowd of kibitzers).

[Hans Jung]

One evening I was at the club playing a tournament game and Bill Szabo came in. He would usually go to Jack Ronean or Bob Kazmarek to bum a cigarette. I guess I must have said something jokingly about Bill because the next thing you know Bill was squeezing my shoulder and leaning over in an intimidating fashion. Who knows what would have happened (and it would have been bad for me) but Bob Kazmarek leapt over and grabbed Bills arm, pushed him away and told him to leave now or you can have a piece of me. Richard May immediately came over and said Now, now gentlemen - no fighting here - we are here to play chess. Bobs reply - dont worry Richard he is leaving now and Bill Szabo did back off very quickly and left quietly. Im telling you three bigger men I never did see in a chess club and the tension for a while was high. It was after that that Bob became very friendly with me and shared many stories from the past - leaving Poland at the beginning of WW 2 and joining the French Foreign Legion. His years in the stock market and making money off options. I particularly remember visiting him years later (early 90's) at his country estate in Komoka and when I came in this luxurious home there was a very old woman lying on a mattress in the dining room close to the kitchen entrance. It was Bob's 90+ yr old mother. Bob quietly made tea and served it and we looked at some games from my latest tournaments. In the background his mother was groaning but occasionally she would look over and smile and Bob told me she had Alzheimers and all she wanted was to be close to Bob and have the human touch.

[Peter McKillop]

This memory is for you Peter. I have mentioned the other clubs in London but the one I started with and was very fond of was the downtown Y. .......

One evening I was at the club playing a tournament game and Bill Szabo came in. .......

Hans, these are incredible memories!!! I don't think I've ever enjoyed a chesstalk thread as much as this one. Can't get this image out of my head of Ted Durrant, four feet in the air, hitting a 360° backhand. :)
Bill Szabo, this name doesn't ring a bell but from the 1970s I do remember a tall, rangy, wild-looking guy, 40 something (?), with a thick Euro accent of some type, who would drop into the club five or six times a year, make a lot of noise for a few minutes and then leave. I assume this was Szabo. His only mode of transportation was a bike. I recall one night he came into the club in rough shape. He was very upset because a bunch of teenagers had beaten the crap out of him and stolen his bike. I felt kind of sorry for him but Bob K. told Szabo that he had created his own problem because that was the kind of trouble he was going to attract by pretending to be crazy.

[Hans Jung]

Yes exactly Peter - that was Bill Szabo and thats the type of guy he was. I have so much more to share - but in what order? The hardest is dredging them out of my mind and choosing which ones to share. - and finding the time to post. Glad you are enjoying the memories.

[Hans Jung]

Bob Kaczmarek sure had some great stories. The best part of his years in the French Foreign Legion was not in Africa but in French Indo-China when he was fighting the Japanese. They used to use elephants as a main part of fighting. - not directly as the Japanese would just shoot the elephants but as decoys and causing disturbances in the jungle and the troops would attack from the other side. After one skirmish Bob helped with the wounded elephants - plugging bullet holes with riverside mud and washing the elephants. One particular elephant was really taken with Bob and was very grateful for what he was doing and when he had recovered would follow Bob around when he could and was always looking for him and calling for him. Bob used to feed it jackfruit which it couldnt get enough of and having such a relationship - imagine having an elephant as a pet! - was the highlight of his time there.

[Peter McKillop]

Bob Kaczmarek sure had some great stories. The best part of his years in the French Foreign Legion was not in Africa but in French Indo-China when he was fighting the Japanese. They used to use elephants as a main part of fighting. - not directly as the Japanese would just shoot the elephants but as decoys and causing disturbances in the jungle and the troops would attack from the other side. After one skirmish Bob helped with the wounded elephants - plugging bullet holes with riverside mud and washing the elephants. One particular elephant was really taken with Bob and was very grateful for what he was doing and when he had recovered would follow Bob around when he could and was always looking for him and calling for him. Bob used to feed it jackfruit which it couldnt get enough of and having such a relationship - imagine having an elephant as a pet! - was the highlight of his time there.

Great recall on that one and an interesting story!! For some reason I thought Bob was in the residential construction/renovation business but I must be confusing him with someone else from the London chess scene.
Hans, in another post (somewhere) you mentioned taking German lessons at the German Club when you were a child/teen. Just curious, was Herr Toews one of your instructors? He was my German professor at Western in 1969/70. He was a kindly older man and it would fit with my recollection of him if he had donated some of his time to teach German to kids.

[Hans Jung]

He may have been but unfortunately I dont recall. My grade 4 teacher was Herr Leffelman. (Mr. Spoonman). He had a Hitlerian moustache but the rest of him was like a big Bavarian farmer. He was older, probably about 60. He had us all stand at attention, he was first and foremost, back rigid, and slam our right feet down in rhythm to the song. I will never forget. Heute am bord, morgen gehts fort, Schiff am hoher See, Links um uns her nur Wellen und Meer ist alles was ich seh. Hell die Glaser klingen Ein frohes Lied wir singen. Maedel schenke ein, wir lieben Lieb und Wein, Leb wohl, auf wiedersehen. - and other songs, some of them illegal like Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles, ueber alles in der Welt (the German national anthem during the war) I understood Herr Lefelmann, he was probably raised that way and was enjoying himself but I knew something was wrong so I told my father. My father told me to stay in the car and went to talk with Herr Leffelman. I knew my father knew what to say when he needed to. Needless ro say for the rest of the year Herr Leffelmann was serious, sober, and stuck to the lessons, (excerpt from my memories called "My Fathers Family" that Im writing for my family)

[Hans Jung]

I have a ton of personal stories but I had better stick to the overall subject matter - chess. When I first went to the German Canadian chess club I had to smile. It was held in a side room in the old concrete shell bunker of a building (definitely reminded one of World War 2) I think it is still there - still in use. The whole complex is on Cove Road. (which comes directly off Wharncliffe). Its a huge property basically like an inner valley with two large ponds that used to connect directly with the Thames River (about a half mile north). Springbank Ave is a major thoroughfare running east- west and at one point all the property south of Springbank was part of the cove. So we are talking about a half mile of property north south and about the same east west. All of it undeveloped (by normal subdivisions) and owned by German board members. There are large fields behind the club where alot of soccer gets played and there is also a fruit farm. At one point there was a working farm and there were horses until the end of the 60's. (all in the middle of the city of London!) We as school kids used to go out on break down to the pond and one day tremendous excitement! The kids had been throwing stones at a rattlesnake! Two of the older kids were trying to catch it but it got away.
I dont know if you remember the Kosza family? Anton Kosza was the father and he brought all his four sons to play at the club. He was a former olympic star in soccer for Hungary and a 1400 CFC player. His sons Moses, Nandor, Tony and I forget the name of the fourth now were all tournament players. I think Moses was the best and got to 1700. Years later Moses runs a business supplying oxygen for medical needs and his wife was a custodian with me at city hall in Kitchener until she retired. I occasionally bump into them.
Anyways getting back to the side room of the club that made me smile - it had all these children size tables and chairs and small wooden chess pieces and boards. The pieces were hand turned and could unscrew into three pieces. It was my former classroom! - the exact one! The problem was sitting in those chairs would make my back ache (I'm tall) and so I didnt go back too often in the early years (1975 until about 1981)
However just a block away (behind the horse field) lived Endel Tooming (on the first street of an older subdivision) Endel was a big booming man (also with a Hitlerian moustache, apparently they were very popular in the war generation.) - but there the German similarity ended. Endel was Estonian and he spoke Canadian with all the interesting colloquialisms and sayings that we have and he was sharp as a tack and would call you on anything if he didnt believe you were accurate on your facts. My father was curious about him and went to meet him once and forever after when I saw Endel he would ask after my father. Endel was a 1900 player CFC but he mostly had to remain home to look after his ailing wife and disabled son so he didnt play much but he was a brilliant organizer and loved CFC politics and knew everything about the major players of those times.

[Hans Jung]

Bernhard Schmitt was the real force behind the the German Canadian chess club, it was "his" club. When I first met him (in 1975) he was quite old (he had strong lenses in his glasses and it made his eyes appear as though through a mist and he always wore a suit with a vest and always greeted you with a handshake) He had been running the club continuously (week to week - setting up and closing) since about 1950. The board pretty much let him do what he wanted. They had meetings the old fashioned way. You stepped up to the bar, ordered a drink, and met with one or two representatives of the board at a table face to face. The deal was sealed with a handshake. In the beginning there were six German clubs in southwestern Ontario that had a chess presence. Hamilton (on Main Street but I forget the name) Kitchener Concordia, Kitchener Transylvania, Kitchener Schwaben, St. Catherines, and London. On Sunday afternoons you took a car load and visited one of the clubs and there were drinks and dinner, sometimes dancing and definitely live music - after the chess of course. That continued for years until the early 60's when it became competitive and the clubs started "drafting" stronger players and eventually masters. The high point of the competitive leagues was in the years of 1964 to 1978 with the best years from 1970 - 1975. (according to Manfred Schmitt - Bernhard Schmitt's son)

[Hugh Brodie]

Montreal also had a German-Canadian chess club (aka the "Kraut Haus"). Its large hall was used for e few tournaments - including the 104-player Montreal Open in 1972. The competing Alekhine Open - a few blocks away - had over 150 players, but some dispute caused Kevin Spraggett to leave it and join the Montreal Open. I believe this was the tournament interrupted by a power failure - actually the games continued, since there was sufficient light. As evening approached, large candles were placed on every table - again, providing sufficient light.

One of the German-Canadian (actually Austrian) was Fritz Niederegger. He worked in clock and watch repairs at Eaton's downtown store in Montreal. He had close contact with German chess clock suppliers, and was able to order a dozen or so Jerger clocks at a time (which I would sell at a small profit).

[Hans Jung]

Thats an interesting topic that Hugh raised. That was a vital field at the time. Clock sellers, clock exchange, clock repair, clock tinkerers. In Toronto we had the legendary Zoltan Sarosy. Seems like everyone knew of him. The ones mosr valued (in my estimation) were the clock tinkerers. Why? because they would do it for the love of it and because it needed to be done - and they were cheap. In Kitchener we had Albert Den Otter and we didnt value him until he was gone. I remember Gordon Taylor tinkering with clocks. In London Bob Edwards used to sell them but I cant remember who tinkered with them (and its going to drive me crazy until I remember). Do you remember Peter? Now it doesnt matter anymore. We have electronic clocks. The art of clock tinkering. Does it still go on?

[Peter McKillop]

Thats an interesting topic that Hugh raised. That was a vital field at the time. Clock sellers, clock exchange, clock repair, clock tinkerers. In Toronto we had the legendary Zoltan Sarosy. Seems like everyone knew of him. The ones mosr valued (in my estimation) were the clock tinkerers. Why? because they would do it for the love of it and because it needed to be done - and they were cheap. In Kitchener we had Albert Den Otter and we didnt value him until he was gone. I remember Gordon Taylor tinkering with clocks. In London Bob Edwards used to sell them but I cant remember who tinkered with them (and its going to drive me crazy until I remember). Do you remember Peter? Now it doesnt matter anymore. We have electronic clocks. The art of clock tinkering. Does it still go on?

First, I remember Mr. Schmitt. At one time I must have played a tournament or team game against him because I remember having a score sheet with his signature on it - a tiny, neat, European-looking hand.

Don't remember who tinkered with clocks back in the day in London. I was one of the lucky ones who never had a problem with his analog chess clock. At some point in the early 70s I purchased a clock from the USCF. On each clock face was printed "USCF" and "Made in West Germany." The body of the clock was light brown plastic. These clocks were ubiquitous back in the 70s and 80s. I used it for decades for tournament and speed chess. Never had a problem with it and that was despite encountering several morons at tournaments who insisted on trying to wind the clocks after being told that they were properly wound. One idiot must have thought his arm was a 75 pound torque wrench. I had to tell him to put the clock down or I'd put him down (seriously!). And of course all the idiots had the same jackass smarmy reply: "Teehee. Sorry man. I was just making sure man. Teehee. I wouldn't have broke your clock man because I know what I'm doing man. Teehee." Anyway, I still have that clock and it's still working!!