Not Forgotten

     From September 2-21, 1957  the first International Women's Team Tournament (i.e. the first Women's Chess Olympiad) took place in Emmen, Holland.  The U. S. team, comprised of Gisela Gresser and Jacqueline Piatigorsky, came in 10th out of the 21 countries participating.  Even so, both ladies won the third place medals, Gresser on bd. 1 and Piatigorsky on bd. 2., both with  scores on +6=4-2.   The USSR won the tournament.  The American team failed to make it to the finals,  but came in first in the Group A consolation tourney.

     Playing the tournament was difficult  but only part of the story.

     Setting up the tournament involved logistics and coordination among the nations.  In the U.S., the negotiations for the American team were all in the hands of Max Pavey.  

     By day Max Pavey was a chemist and plant manager at the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp. Laboratory in Mt Kisco, N.Y.  but in his spare time, a chess master (USCF Senior Chess Master) and chairman of the USCF International Affairs Committee.

1956

     Two days after the Women's Team Tournament started, Pavey died.  Pavey had been sick for quite some time with both leukemia and heart problems. 

     Nine days later, on Nov. 13, 1957, it was reported:
Mt. Kisco Radium Plant Will Close
A controversial radium processing plant here has decided to close down by next Feb. 15 it was disclosed yesterday. The Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp.. in a letter released by the Westchester county department of health, announced plans to stop importing material and to end operations once all material on hand has been processed,  The state labor department recently charged the company violated safety rules and the New York city examiner's office has said that a plant manager, Max Pavey, 39, died of leukemia linked to excessive exposure to radium. Later the department reported steps had been taken to comply with safety regulations. The plant, which uses no fissionable materials, has been reclaiming radium from various materials and reprocessing it for medical purposes. The company letter, signed by Dr. Boris Preget, president of the firm, denied that the plant was a danger to the community, saying: "This refinery always operated absolutely on the level with absolutely no danger whatsoever... " He said the reason for the decision to close the plant was "purely economic." He added that the decision was made about a year ago, because the plant had been "a losing operation for the last seven years."

One month later:

          Pavey had been confined to Mt. Sinai for some time and conducted his negotiations, the last of which he would ever perform, for the Women's Team Tournament from his hospital bed.

1949

    Max Pavey was from N.Y. where he played collegiate chess for the City College team.  He moved to Scotland in 1938 to study medicine at Anderson College in Glasgow where he was at the top of his class.  The following year he  won the Scottish national chess championship in Aberdeen i(April 1939). Two months later he went home for the summer but the war intervened making any thought of returning to Scotland implausible.
     After the war and back in the U.S., his chess career accelerated.  He won U.S. Lightning Championship in 1947 and the New York State Championship in 1949 , both the Manhattan C.C. Championship and the U.S. Speed Championship in 1953.

     He had some other, more minor, successes in chess and a few in Bridge (he was on the Board of Directors of the Greater New York Bridge Association).  He also served as vice-president of the USCF.
     Only 39 when he died, his accomplishments were enough for several long lifespans. 

Max and Violet Pavey
New York State Championship, 1949

History gives context to the present. Many people are interested in the content posted by Batgirl and appreciate the effort and time she puts in to provide it.

The pleasure was all mine.

 I really enjoy the historical articles you post here, batgirl. Far from boring. 

Well, everyone has their own thoughts on things, their own tastes, their own attention spans.

Keep going, Batgirl.  ValleyofElah knows not what he writing about.  History is absolutely fascinating.

Your articles are one of the best features of this site, Batgirl.  Keep them coming.   

yeah, great article batgirl, almost made me cry, and I'm a grown man!

Yes, keep them coming please. I wish we had some wiki support on the site so these pieces could be more accessible and not lost in the forum noise.  

I find the article very interesting BG.  In the town I live in (Ottawa, IL.) there was a plant many years ago where they hired women to paint watch and clock dials with radium.  They used to also paint their lips and faces for fun so they would glow in the dark.  Most of them later died from radium poisening.  There was a movie made about it; I think called Radium City.  They later tore the plant down and moved the debris and dirt all around town.  Many years later, houses were found to be contaminated that had been built on the sites of contaminated dirt.  Then they had to be destroyed and the dirt removed to another site.  

M-me Curie discovered radium to her demise.

Yeah, such things as radium poisoning or radium-related sicknesses are extra sad because they were completely avoidable except for general ignorance.  I was actually surprised they were able to associate Pavey's leukemia with radium exposure, and do it so quickly and definitively.  I guess the association between radium and health was suspected but not sufficiently proven to have had regulations already set in place.

We live and learn. Asbestos is a similar example of something useful but terribly harmful, the consequences only seen when too late for an unfortunate few.

Batgir are you working with paper copies of old chess magazines or the collection on disk that was once available?

radiating article

Radium is a chemical element with symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals (αλκαλικη γαια).

There is also the noble gas(ευγενες αεριο)  Radon  which  is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is radioactive, colorless, odorless and tasteless

http://www.nhsid.org/blogs/news-and-events/2014/6/26/the-invisible-threat-to-your-health-home

http://madison365.com/radon-invisible-threat-familys-health/

when I reach a 1700 rating I'll reserve the right to criticize your rating, until then-----------------------------you go, girl!  Absolutely fascinating stuff   thanks

He came to Scotland to study and actually wanted to come back, wow. 

I've never been to Scotland, but from the photos I've seen I can understand it's allure and irresistibility.

I recommend you Galicia instead, for your stomach's sake.