I bought myself a chess computer. This will enable me to get my butt kicked by a small plastic box. For years I had an old buddy with whom I played chess every week. He even bought my lunch because he liked playing me so much. Then he died. I haven’t been able to find another chess adversary like him since he passed away, but I’ve missed the challenging games he would play me. I know I can play online on my laptop but that doesn’t feel the same as a game with real chess pieces, and scheduling is a hassle. I spend too much time in front of computer screens already. The pieces and board are magnetic, allowing one to play on a plane or an SUV bouncing down the road.

My old chess buddy: His name was Dewey Walker. He was a titan in business and computer science. He started with IBM in the very early 50’s when things were just getting rolling. He was among the group of five who founded Humana. Dewey’s task was to design the first mainframe computer for Humana. He did the same for U.S. Steel. He went on to found a computerized medical billing company. He sold that company at the perfect time and retired a very wealthy man.

By the time I met Dewey, his health was in decline. I doubt that I could have ever beaten Dewey in his prime but by that time, his powers had declined enough that it was a fairer match. He still loved to play. I have played the game all of my life, sporadically, and I’m a decent player as well. We had some great games and it would drive him crazy when I won. I’m told he would recreate the games on the computer and practice until he felt he could win against me. I never cut him any slack or babied him. I knew he didn’t want that. He wanted me to play him hard and that’s what I did. There were some days that when I left his house, my shirt would be wet with sweat. I had worked that hard in the game.

Dewey died of congestive heart failure some years ago. I was there. At the end, he could barely talk. He took a long time to die. It broke my heart. So, you see that it would be next to impossible to replace Dewey with another human player. The chances of meeting such a person are small. I think he would appreciate the irony of him being replaced by a computer.