The Bankers Athletic League dates back to 1917!
The chess league was described in an April 1964 New York Times article by American Grandmaster Al Horowitz as “catering to the more or less sophisticated player”. The names of banks, and therefore the names of bank teams, have changed over the years. The 1965 BAL Chess League consisted of eight banks playing a five-board double round-robin. The first place team was Chemical Bank, followed by First National City Bank, Bank of America, Bankers Trust, Irving Trust, Morgan Guaranty, Chase Manhattan and The Bank of New York. As highlighted in a June 1967 New York Times article (in the sports section) by Al Horowitz, Bankers Trust won the tournament with a quintet of Ted Lorie, Frank Phillips, Pat DeSimini, Eric Liepa, Elwood Ganser, and Gus Carow. This bank team went on to win eight BAL titles in a row, and twelve over the next twenty years.
By the 2004-05 season, the league had grown to 26 teams playing in 4 divisions, and none of the winning teams was a bank! Although the names of the players and the teams have changed, as well as the format of the league, one thing hasn’t changed – the players’ love of chess!