Max Pavey (March 5, 1918 – September 4, 1957) was an American

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

master.

Biography

After graduating from City College of New York in 1937, he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

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, and while a student won the

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1939, with 7.5/9. Pavey would leave Scotland soon after this tournament, in June 1939, just before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was U.S. Lightning Champion in 1947. In 1948, he placed tied 5-8th place in the

U.S. Open Chess Championship The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since . History The tournament was originally the championship of the Western Chess Association, and was called the Western Open. ...

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with 8.5/12. He was

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Champion in 1949. During this time he also earned a master's degree in chemistry at Brooklyn College. In 1951, he took third in New York (

United States Chess Championship The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the United States chess champion. Begun as a challenge match in 1845, the U.S. Championship has been decided by tournament play for most of its long history. Since 1936, i ...

with 7/11; Larry Evans won).http://www.chessmetrics.com , the Max Pavey player file Also in that year, Pavey gave a simultaneous exhibition in Brooklyn, and faced a seven-year-old

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...

in the future World Chess Champion's first attempt at serious chess; Pavey won in about a quarter of an hour. In 1954, he took third in the New York

Manhattan Chess Club The Manhattan Chess Club in Manhattan was the second-oldest chess club in the United States (next to the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco) before it closed. The club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen men, eventually ...

Championship (

Arnold Denker Arnold Sheldon Denker (February 21, 1914 – January 2, 2005) was an American chess player and author. He was U.S. champion in 1944 and 1946. In later years he served in various chess organizations, receiving recognition from the United States ...

won). In 1953, he finished second behind

Donald Byrne Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930 – April 8, 1976) was an American university professor and chess player. He held the title International Master, and competed for his country in the Chess Olympiad on several occasions. Biography Born in New York Ci ...

at the

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

. In 1954, he represented USA on third board in a match against the USSR in New York, and lost to

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

(+1–2=0). Following this event,

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's win percen ...

estimates a peak rating of 2549 for Pavey in July 1954, ranking him No. 88 in the world. In 1955, he played on sixth board and lost to

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style ...

(+0 –2 =0) in another USA vs USSR match in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. In 1955/56, he won in New York (Manhattan CC-ch), with 12/15. In 1956, he tied for 10-11th in New York (3rd Rosenwald Memorial;

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

won). In 1956/57, he beat young

in New York (Manhattan CC-ch, semi-final), and won group 2 of that event with 4/5. Pavey died in the Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC, after a long battle with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

in 1957. The radium processing plant in Mt. Kisco where he worked as a plant supervisor immediately announced that it was shutting down, but the plant's owners, the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp., initially denied there was a connection between Pavey's death and the plant's closure. A month after Pavey's death, the company pleaded guilty to "injuring" three workers, including Pavey.

Notable chess games

Anthony Santasiere vs Max Pavey, New York, US-ch 1951, English, A16, 0-1Max Pavey vs Paul Keres, New York 1954, match US vs SU, King's Indian Defense, E60, 1-0Robert James Fischer vs Max Pavey, New York Manhattan 1956, King's Indian Attack, Symmetrical Defense, A05, 0-1

Trivia

A chess club in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

, New York is named after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavey, Max 1918 births 1957 deaths Deaths from leukemia People from Boston American chess players Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Brooklyn College alumni 20th-century chess players