The Open File - Busy, Busy, Busy

The Open File

by Life Master Mike Petersen (Zug)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I was just browsing over my collection of old Chess Life magazines.  I have them going back to the 1970's.  Anyway, the issue that caught my attention this time was the 50th anniversary yearbook issue (1989), so in it were all the "top 50" lists, the full rating list and so on.  But what really struck me was the list on page 29.  The first column on the page was entitled "Overachievers" and listed the most active players during the year.  If you have the April, 1989 issue of Chess Life, grab it and check it out.  I was flabbergasted.  There is a guy named Jesse Tuggle who played 771 rated games during the year 1988!

Folks, you have to think about the size of this number to appreciate it.  If you figure that the guy plays in a Swiss every weekend, that's only a total of 260 games.  Where did he find the time to play the other 511?  My God, that's almost two rated games per day for the remaining days of the year.  Even assuming that Jesse was willing to play two rated games a day, where in the world did he find opponents?  I mean, there must have been some rainy Monday or Tuesday when he could find no one who wanted to play.  The only thing we can conclude is that there were some days that Jesse didn't play chess at all. It therefore follows that there must have been some days that Jesse played at least half a dozen to a dozen rated games.  This leads to another conclusion: some of these games must have been Action chess games (games at a time control of 30-game or faster.)  What else could explain this quantity of rated games?  If all of these games had been at, say, 40 moves in two hours and averaged three hours each, it follows that old Jesse played would have played chess for just about 2,313 hours during the year.  That's equivalent to playing for almost 100 straight days, 24 hours a day.  Wow!  Hmm...I wonder if Jesse was married?  Nah...

Then I noticed something else.  Eight of the top 20 most active players lived in Texas, including old Jesse Tuggle.  I guess that the boys from Texas do everything in a big way, including chess.

And speaking of married chess players, I decided to check something else out. I looked at both the men's and ladies' most active lists and tried to match up last names.  I managed to find one pair.  Number five on the ladies' list was Betty L. West.  Number 13 on the men's list was Hugh West.  Coincidence, you might suggest.  Nope.  I checked the state they both lived in...the same.  Oh, and you don't have to ask.  Yep, it's Texas.  Hugh and Betty played a total of 396 games between the two of them in 1988.  I would venture to say that they were (still are?) the most active husband and wife chess players in the country.  I wonder if they had any children?  Nah...

Do you think they might have known Jesse?

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