chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

🏆 3rd American Chess Congress (1874)

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
The 3rd American Chess Congress was held in Chicago, Illinois from July 7th to the 16th, 1874. Eight US players participated in the double rounds event by paying an entry fee of $20. The participants were previous congress winner George Henry Mackenzie, previous congress participants Frederic Elder, Henry Hosmer, Max Judd, Hiram Kennicott and Frederick Perrin, and newcomers Frederick Bock and James Adams Congdon. The time control was 15 moves every hour. For the first time in an organized US tournament draw ... [more]

Player: Hiram Kennicott

 page 1 of 1; 4 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. H Kennicott vs H Hosmer  0-13218743rd American Chess CongressB20 Sicilian
2. H Hosmer vs H Kennicott 1-02918743rd American Chess CongressC61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense
3. H Kennicott vs Mackenzie  0-14518743rd American Chess CongressC53 Giuoco Piano
4. Mackenzie vs H Kennicott  1-05018743rd American Chess CongressC28 Vienna Game
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Kennicott wins | Kennicott loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-22-13
Premium Chessgames Member		  FSR: One rarely sees such a high proportion of Fredericks in a tournament.
Mar-07-16  zanzibar: <FSR> or in the comments.

(It was 100%, afraid I've just cut it in half!)

* * * * *

The missing games aren't missing at all, they're forfeits, as explained on the bottom of page 98 of the 5th American Chess Congress tournament book (which does a retrospective review of previous Chess Congresses, and so is the defacto tournament book for both the 3rd and 4th Congresses).

<Mr. Bock, who had been playing under the disadvantages attending ill-health, resigned his two games to Mr. Hosmer, and on the last day of the tournament General Congdon resigned his games to Captain Mackenzie. By cancelling the games played by Messrs. Kennicott and Elder, and computing the drawn games as half a won game to each contestant producing a drawn battle, the final score appears as follows:

Geo. H. Mackenzie, won 8.5 games.
Henry Hosmer, " 8 "
Max Judd, " 7 "
Frederick Bock, " 4 "
J. A. Congdon, " 1.5 "
Frederick Perrin, " 1 "

(p99/122)
>

The rules stated that any player who dropped out before completing 2/3 of their schedule would have their results nullified.

Thus, the 3rd Congress only had six players, officially.

One more aside. The tournament book reports that the <London (1862)> rules were used. This isn't true in one important respect - the players alternated colors in the RR even if a game were drawn in a pairing match.

Mar-07-16  zanzibar: Here's the complete list of prizes awarded for the main tournament:

<

George H. Mackenzie ... First Prize ... $225.00
Henry Hosmer ... ... ... Second Prize ... 150.00
Max Judd ... ... ... ... Third Prize ... 75.00

>

Wish <CG> preserved the formatting.

Mar-07-16  zanzibar: The full rules were spelled out in Brownson's <Chess Journal v59-69 (1875)> in the beginning of the journal.

The distinction begin a draw and a nullified game is mentioned as concerns colors.

(I'm wondering what the primary source of the games is, as the 5th Congress Book has none of the actual games).

Mar-07-16  zanzibar: So there was a tournament book specific to the Congress issued:

http://www.crumiller.com/chess/ches...

but it's unavailable on google books. Lyons lists it as the "scarcest of the American Chess Congress Books".

Mar-07-16  zanzibar: Again, we have a tournament where journal/newspaper coverage of the games was deliberately limited by the organizers - in an attempt to focus interest on the tournament book.

The Westminster Papers (v7 1875) went so far as to comment on this (I guess partly from the experience with London (1860) and Birmingham (1858)):

<The Chicago Committee have resolved to publish the games after the tourney in Book form. We can assure them that, in our judgment, this is not wise policy. The games should be published at once, and whilst the players are interested in the subject. We believe that those games of the Baden Tourney and the Vienna Tourney that were published by us as quickly as we could get them were more played over than all the games that have been published since. The games of the last tourney are still being published in the Continental Chess papers, but we never see any one playing over the games, nor do we see them quoted in this Country, Australia or America. (p62)

...

We can only repeat that when the book is published no one will read it, except those who have to do so as a matter of business; whereas, if the games had been sent to the journals at once, the whole of them would have been played over by the end of next month. (p82)>

Apr-20-16  Erkostic: I just posted on my blog, how two Chicago Newspapers covered the congress, part one can be found here.

http://chessreader.blogspot.com/201...

Part two to follow.

Apr-30-16  Erkostic: Part two of my blog post on the congress

http://chessreader.blogspot.com/201...

Apr-30-16
Premium Chessgames Member		  Calli: I have the OLMS reprint of the tournament book and can lookup any details if you wish.
NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, is totally anonymous, and 100% free—plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!
If you already have an account, you should login now. 		Please observe our posting guidelines:
  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, profane, raunchy, or disgusting language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate or nonsense posts.
  3. No malicious personal attacks, including cyber stalking, systematic antagonism, or gratuitous name-calling of any member Iincludinfgall Admin and Owners or any of their family, friends, associates, or business interests. If you think someone is an idiot, then provide evidence that their reasoning is invalid and/or idiotic, instead of just calling them an idiot. It's a subtle but important distinction, even in political discussions.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No malicious posting of or linking to personal, private, and/or negative information (aka "doxing" or "doxxing") about any member, (including all Admin and Owners) or any of their family, friends, associates, or business interests. This includes all media: text, images, video, audio, or otherwise. Such actions will result in severe sanctions for any violators.
  6. NO TROLLING. Admin and Owners know it when they see it, and sanctions for any trolls will be significant.
  7. Any off-topic posts which distract from the primary topic of discussion are subject to removal.
  8. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by Moderators is expressly prohibited.
  9. The use of "sock puppet" accounts in an attempt to undermine any side of a debate—or to create a false impression of consensus or support—is prohibited.
  10. All decisions with respect to deleting posts, and any subsequent discipline, are final, and occur at the sole discretion of the Moderators, Admin, and Owners.
  11. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.
Blow the Whistle See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a Moderator.

NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific tournament and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, visit the Kibitzer's Café.
Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All Moderator actions taken are at the sole discretion of the Admin and Owners—who will strive to act fairly and consistently at all times.
Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!

home | about | login | logout | F.A.Q. | your profile | preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | new kibitzing | chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | privacy notice | contact us
Copyright 2001-2019, Chessgames Services LLC