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

🏆 1st American Chess Congress, New York (1857)

PARTICIPANTS (sorted by highest achieved rating; click on name to see player's games) Louis Paulsen, Paul Morphy, Alexander Meek, Theodore Lichtenhein, Charles Henry Stanley, William Fuller, Hiram Kennicott, Benjamin Raphael, William Allison, Hardman Montgomery, Samuel Calthrop, Frederick Perrin, Napoleon Marache, Daniel Fiske, Hubert Knott, James Thompson

1st American Chess Congress, New York (1857) New York, NY, United States (6 October-10 November 1857) ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Round 1 ————————————┐ Morphy │ +3=0-0 ├——┐ Round 2 Thompson │ │ ————————————┐ ————————————┘ │ Morphy │ ├── +3=0-0 ├──┐ ————————————┐ │ Meek │ │ Meek │ │ ————————————┘ │ +3=0-2 ├——┘ │ Round 3 Fuller │ │ ————————————┐ ————————————┘ │ Morphy │ ├── +3=1-0 ├──┐ ————————————┐ │ Lichtenhein │ │ Lichtenhein │ │ ————————————┘ │ +3=0-2 ├——┐ │ │ Stanley │ │ ————————————┐ │ │ ————————————┘ │ Lichtenhein │ │ │ ├── +3=0-0 ├──┘ │ ————————————┐ │ Perrin │ │ Perrin │ │ ————————————┘ │ +3=2-2 ├——┘ │ Round 4 Place/Prizes Knott │ │ ——————————————————————————————————————— ————————————┘ │ Morphy 1st Silver service set* ├── +5=2-1 ————————————┐ │ Paulsen 2nd $100.00 Paulsen │ │ ——————————————————————————————————————— +3=0-0 ├——┐ │ Lichtenhein 3rd $66.67 Calthrop │ │ ————————————┐ │ +3=0-0 ————————————┘ │ Paulsen │ │ Raphael 4th $33.33 ├── +2=0-0 ├──┐ │ ——————————————————————————————————————— ————————————┐ │ Montgomery │ │ │ Montgomery │ │ ————————————┘ │ │ +3=0-1 ├——┘ │ │ Allison │ │ ————————————┐ │ ————————————┘ │ Paulsen │ │ ├── +2=1-0 ├——┘ ————————————┐ │ Raphael │ Raphael │ │ ————————————┘ +3=1-2 ├——┐ │ Kennicott │ │ ————————————┐ │ ————————————┘ │ Raphael │ │ ├── +3=1-2 ├──┘ ————————————┐ │ Marache │ Marache │ │ ————————————┘ +3=0-2 ├——┘ Fiske │ ————————————┘ ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Format: First to three wins, draws not counting, is the winner of each match. The championship match was for the first to five wins, draws not counting. * The $300 first prize was used to purchase a silver pitcher, four goblets, and a salver. The first American Chess Congress (1) was held in New York City from October 6th to November 10th, 1857. Daniel Fiske and Thomas Frere were the organizers, and the tournament was designed with similarities to the London (1851) format, with the provision that draws did not count and had to be replayed. The first prize was $300. The 16 best American masters were invited to participate in the event, including Paul Morphy and Louis Paulsen. Morphy dominated the event, sweeping each of his opponents until Paulsen in the final. Dropping one game in the final match, Morphy finished the tournament with an astounding 14 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss. Morphy's victory cemented him as one of the best players in the world (if not the best), and prompted his tour across the Atlantic where he faced the best Europe had to offer in a series of matches, winning each and every one of them. Not long after his return to America, Morphy would retire from chess. Individual Matches Round 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wins ————————————————————————————————— Morphy 1 1 1 3 Thompson 0 0 0 0 Meek 1 1 0 0 1 3 Fuller 0 0 1 1 0 2 Lichtenhein 1 0 0 1 1 3 Stanley 0 1 1 0 0 2 Perrin 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 3 Knott 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 2 Paulsen 1 1 1 3 Calthrop 0 0 0 0 Montgomery 1 0 1 1 3 Allison 0 1 0 0 1 Raphael 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 3 Kennicott 1 0 ½ 1 0 0 2 Marache 0 0 1 1 1 3 Fiske 1 1 0 0 0 2 ————————————————————————————————— Round 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wins ————————————————————————————————— Morphy 1 1 1 3 Meek 0 0 0 0 Lichtenhein 1 1 1 3 Perrin 0 0 0 0 Raphael 1 ½ 1 0 0 1 3 Marache 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 2 Paulsen 1 1 2 Montgomery 0 0 0* ————————————————————————————————— * Montgomery was unexpectedly called home and resigned the match.(2) Round 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wins ————————————————————————————————— Morphy 1 1 ½ 1 3 Lichtenhein 0 0 ½ 0 0 Paulsen 1 ½ 1 2 Raphael 0 ½ 0 0* ————————————————————————————————— * Raphael resigned the match.(3) Round 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wins ——————————————————————————————————— Morphy 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 5 Paulsen 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 1 Lichtenhein 1 1 1 3 Raphael 0 0 0 0 ——————————————————————————————————— Note In regard to the games of the Meek vs Fuller match, Fiske wrote "We do not understand how one of the players retains the first move through the whole of these games (XIV. to XVII), but we follow the record."(4) Missing Information First eight games in list do not have full dates. Addendum Photo: http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/... Fourteen years later, the 2nd American Chess Congress, Cleveland (1871) was held. Sources (1) Wikipedia article: American Chess Congress (2) The Book of the First American Chess Congress, Fiske, New York 1857, p82 (3) The Book of the First American Chess Congress, Fiske, New York 1857, p235 (4) The Book of the First American Chess Congress, Fiske, New York 1857, p169 Credit Original collection: Game Collection: New York 1857, by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 68  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. B Raphael vs T Lichtenhein 0-1 32 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C33 King's Gambit Accepted 2. T Lichtenhein vs B Raphael 1-0 25 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York A43 Old Benoni 3. T Lichtenhein vs B Raphael 1-0 29 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 4. T Lichtenhein vs F Perrin 1-0 30 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York B00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening 5. D Fiske vs N Marache 0-1 35 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York A84 Dutch 6. F Perrin vs T Lichtenhein   0-1 29 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York B44 Sicilian 7. S Calthrop vs Paulsen 0-1 30 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 8. N Marache vs D Fiske 0-1 48 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York B44 Sicilian 9. W Allison vs H Montgomery 0-1 20 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C53 Giuoco Piano 10. A Meek vs W Fuller 1-0 26 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C20 King's Pawn Game 11. H Montgomery vs W Allison 0-1 59 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C44 King's Pawn Game 12. Morphy vs J Thompson 1-0 48 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York B44 Sicilian 13. F Perrin vs H Knott 0-1 39 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C01 French, Exchange 14. B Raphael vs H Kennicott 0-1 36 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C45 Scotch Game 15. J Thompson vs Morphy 0-1 21 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C50 Giuoco Piano 16. H Knott vs F Perrin 0-1 39 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 17. W Allison vs H Montgomery 0-1 23 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C50 Giuoco Piano 18. H Montgomery vs W Allison 1-0 30 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C51 Evans Gambit 19. H Kennicott vs B Raphael 0-1 34 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C42 Petrov Defense 20. S Calthrop vs Paulsen 0-1 22 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C40 King's Knight Opening 21. Paulsen vs S Calthrop 1-0 42 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C54 Giuoco Piano 22. B Raphael vs H Kennicott ½-½ 61 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 23. J Thompson vs Morphy 0-1 46 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C53 Giuoco Piano 24. F Perrin vs H Knott ½-½ 32 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York C01 French, Exchange 25. D Fiske vs N Marache 1-0 42 1857 1st American Chess Congress, New York D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch  page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 68    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jul-10-15    zanzibar: (Even if the actual page I just gave was written by batgirl and not Rod Edwards) Jul-10-15    Calli: The blindfold game was one of three given ib the NY Trib on Nov 9 http://www.chessarch.com/excavation... I don't know the date of the simul though. Jul-10-15    zanzibar: Right. I covered the earlier simul/blindfolds starting with this post: 1st American Chess Congress (1857) (kibitz #12) Paulsen gave a 4-board blindfold on Oct 10 (one against Morphy, himself blindfolded). Then a record-breaking 5-board blindfold simul on Oct 21). 1st American Chess Congress (1857) (kibitz #13) Both of these two sessions featured adjournments, when Paulsen was reported to accurately record the positions of all the pieces on each board at the adjournment. * * * * * But are we agreed that there is a missing game from the third section match between Paulsen--Raphael? I have to check back in with <crawfb5> over on the Bistro to make sure I didn't miss a mention later in the tournament book. Jul-10-15    Calli: I think there is no missing game. They played three and Raphael resigned the match being down 2-0-1. Jul-10-15    zanzibar: Yes, but I'm looking for an explicit ref... which I found as I wrote on the Bistro: <OK, I found the ref and notice in a footnote at the bottom of page 235 of the tournament book at the end of the third game which came at the end of the Third Section(*) <(*) Time, seven hours and a half. The second player, although his opponent had only scored two games, resigned the match at this stage.>> This kind of info explicitly belongs in the intro, imo. Sep-10-15    The Kings Domain: One of the most notable and memorable tournaments. Jan-13-16    zanzibar: Batgirl's write-up on the various players: http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/cong... (The link on the wiki page is stale) Jan-23-16    zanzibar: RE: <Color trivia> The lots were drawn with this: <The Lottery - Eight white and eight yellow stubs were numbered 1 through 8 and placed in a box. The white ticket had "Choice of Chessmen and first move" written on it. Whoever chose #1 white would play whoever chose #1 yellow. Whoever picked a white stub had the choice of color and the first move.> http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/morp... Since the winners of the lottery were published (p74/tb), and we have R1.1 from <CG> we can determine which players choose Black(*) to start their first round matches: < Kennicott, Hiram Fiske, Daniel > (*) Two notes: (a) Black has contemporary meaning, i.e. gave the move to their opponent. The actual color of the pieces chosen is never recorded afaik. (b) Julien was originally paired against Paulsen, as recorded in tb. Calthrop substituted for him. Jan-23-16    zanzibar: Actually, Calthrop was a late arrival on the first day. Julien apparently was the substitute, he withdrew from play when Calthrop arrived (p74/tb). Jan-25-16    zanzibar: Louisville KY Evening Bulletin 1857-10-09 p2(?) <[From the New York Express (1857-10-04)] NATIONAL CHESS CONGRESS — <Extraordinary Chess Playing> — The New York Chess Club hold regular tri-weekly gatherings at the house of E. Perrin, its Secretary. On Saturday evening a sociable party, composed of distinguished chess players from all parts of the Union, was present, the occasion being a remarkable match to be played between a German and three of the best players in these parts. Mr. Louis Paulsen, a German, living at Dubuque, Iowa, who comes as a contestant in the great Chess Congress, which commences its session to-morrow, at Descombe's rooms, No. 765 Broadway, performed the wonderful feat of playing, while blindfolded, three games at once, without having any board before him, or seeing the boards of his three opponents or keeping any memorandum except in his mind. His opponents were W. J. A. Fuller, of this city, an honorary member of the N. Y. Chess Club; T. Frere, secretary of the Brooklyn Chess Club, and Dr. Raphael, who obtained a national celebrity as a chess player in Kentucky.> At least one of the games (<Paulsen--Ralphael>) is known to exist. Jan-27-16    zanzibar: < So the year 1857 found us. It was some relief, looking at tbe daily papers, to tarn from the failure of A, B, k Co., for $150,000, and from the suspension of specie payments by the banks, except the glorious old Chemical, to the unruffled proceedings of the first American Chess Congress, then in session, admission for the week, to lookers-on, one dollar. But that dollar? Was it prudent, with bank account at low water, and slim prospect of a flow, and on the edge of a long winter, with others dependent, was it prudent so to bestow—to throw away—a dollar? After hearing counsel before ourself three whole days, we held a family council with "die frau" who at once decided that we mast go. And "went" we did. And the officers of the Chess Congress, with nobler instincts of gentlemen than the New York Academy of Medicine[ff unreadable] did not hesitate or refuse to admit a negro, even with the high-bloods from the South in their midst, and the danger of the dissolution of tbe Union before their eyes. Having seen their portraits in Frank Leslie, we instantly singled out Paulsen and his great antagonist, and a little skillful elbowing found us seated beside their board. There was Louis Paulsen, with his vast head, sanguine temperament, but coarse fibre, indicating his rough, almost pure-Bersekir blood; and as we gazed at Morphy, with his fine, open countenance, brunette hue, marvellous delicacy of fibre, bright, clear eyes, and elongated submaxillary bone, a keen suspicion entered our ethnological department that we were not the only Cartha- ginian in the room. It might only be one drop, perhaps two—God only knows how they got there—but surely, beside the Tria--mulattin who at present writes, there was also a Hekata-mu- lattin in that room! > -- Jame M'Cune (?) Smith Washington DC National Era Sept 29, 1959 p1, quoting from the "Anglo-African Magazine for September". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James... http://www.encyclopedia.com/article... Unbelievable that wiki has no page for this publication. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/... http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Recor... Jan-27-16    zanzibar: <HARD ON THE EDITOR,—Herr Lowenthal in answering a correspondent, has dictated the following very pithy and very suggestive paragraph:—"It was, no doubt, a source of great regret to many American amateurs that the article on the 'Pawn and move opening,' contributed by Herr L. to the American Chess Congress should have been published in foreign notation. It was, certainly, strange that the Editor of the book of the American Congress should have taken so much trouble in translating it from the English. To Herr L, <this was a great disappointment>, he having bestowed much time in its preparation. <"The article, in its present form, is utterly useless to American Chess Amateurs."> The italicising is our own. Many reminiscences of that singular discussion over the "German Notation" in this country are awakened, and comments suggested by the above.<<>>> NY Clipper, Sat. May 30, 1863 Probably the most worthless section of Fiske's tournament book was the section on new notation. The actual games were given in the then traditional Descriptive notation. NY Clipper May 30, 1863 p2(?) http://www.chessarch.com/excavation... May-02-16    Chesstorian72: <zanzibar> Kill yourself May-02-16    zanzibar: <chesstorian72> what's that supposed to mean? May-29-16    Adriano Saldanha: I was intrigued for a long time why it was considered a "best of 7 games" the Morphy Paulsen final, in which there were actually 8 games. As a result of a quick ressearch in the internet, i found an excellent book on the tournament which explains the rules. The winner of the intermediary rounds is determined by the "3 wins" rule, not by the "best of 3" rule. In the same way, in the final round the winner is determined by the "5 wins" rule, not by the "best of 7". Here is the source: "The contestants shall meet on Monday, the fifth of October, at three p.m. Should the number of entrances amount to any even and easily divisible number, say thirty-two, they shall then be paired off by lot, and commence their games simultaneously. The sixteen players winning three out of five games, are to be declared victors in this first section of the Tournament, and the sixteen losers excluded from all further share in the contest. The sixteen winners are then to be paired ofi* by lot as before, the eight couple beginning their matches simultaneously. The eight winners of the first three games are to be declared victors in this second section of the Tournament, and the eight losers excluded from all further share in the contest. The eight winners are then to be paired off by lot as before, the four couple beginning their matches simultaneously. The four winners of the first three games are to be declared victors in this third section of the Tournament, and entitled to the four prizes. To determine the order in which the prizes shall be distributed, the four prize-bearers will then be paired off against each other as before, each couple to play the best of five games. The two winners in this fourth section of the Tournament shall then play a match for the two highest prizes, and the player winning the first five games shall be entitled to the fiy^st prize—the second prize going to the loser." (in "The Book of the American Chess Congress", New York, Rudd & Carleton (Ed), 1859, p60) Apr-02-17    MissScarlett: The tournament schedule above lists 70 games of which 68 are in this collection. Missing are Game 2 of the Meek-Fuller match, and Game 5 of Perrin-Knott (which is accounted for in the tournament book, p.197, with "The fifth game between these players was recorded in such a way as to be wholly unintelligible. It was drawn."). But two other games are apparently missing, meaning that 72 games were played in total. The Raphael-Marache match was of 7 games, not the 6 given in the games' section. It was won +3 -2 =2 by Raphael, as confirmed by both the tournament account on p.87, and the results' table on p.259. So far, I haven't been able to determine where in the schedule the extra draw occurred, so the current numbering of games is in doubt. The second omission is a fourth game in the semi-final match, Paulsen-Raphael. The results' table gives the victory +2 =1 to Paulsen, and the games' section lists only three games, but that's flatly contradicted by the account on p.88, and there's no evident reason why the first-to-three rule wouldn't have applied. Again, there's an issue in determining the correct sequence of games. May-22-17    offramp: <Better than ever By ANDY SOLTIS Several years ago, an Australian researcher, Robert W. Howard, studied how the chess ratings of top players escalated over decades — and he concluded that the entire world is just getting smarter. Ratings growth is preliminary evidence that “average human intelligence really is rising,” he wrote. Ken Regan, an international master and associate professor of computer science at the University of Buffalo, has a more modest goal. He devised a new metric, Intrinsic Performance Rating (IPR), to measure the move quality of great players of the past using the Rybka program. And, yes, we are getting better at this game. <He found, for example, that one of Paul Morphy’s opponents in the first American championship played at a pitiful 1194 level — that is well below today’s average tournament player.> Other findings: When Howard Staunton won the 1843 match that made him unofficial world champion, he played at an 1899 level.> Right. Who was the 1194 player? 1st American Chess Congress (1857)/James Thompson ? May-23-17    keypusher: <offramp> Thompson was a decent player -- not his fault he got Morphy in the first round. Morphy's weakest opponent in the tournament was surely Meek, but he doesn't look like an 1194 to me. WS Allison was pretty bad -- see for yourself. I know he didn't play Morphy, but maybe Soltis got sloppy. Does anyone have a link to Regan's study? Feb-16-18    zanzibar: A <first-look look>™: https://zanchess.wordpress.com/2018... Feb-17-18    Dionysius1: There's something weird about the biography when it says: "Despite dropping one game in the final match, Morphy finished the tournament with an astounding 14 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss." How can "Despite dropping one game...Morphy finished...with one loss" make sense? I think the "Despite" is just a rhetorical flourish which unwittingly makes nonsense of the sentence. If the author is concerned about it he/she might just drop "Despite" to give the sentence back its sense. I know this is all volunteer work... Dec-26-19    HarryP: A good chess trivia question would be "Who finished third in the 1st American Chess Congress?" Dec-27-19    spingo: <HarryP: A good chess trivia question would be "Who finished third in the 1st American Chess Congress?"> Perhaps one day on <Jeopardy> we'll hear this: ALEX TREBECK: "Russian chess-player Theodore Lichtenhein." CONTESTANT: "Who finished third in the 1st American Chess Congress (1857)?" Jan-08-25    The Rocket: Any live stream? Jan-09-25    Cassandro: <The Rocket: Any live stream?> No, but I just finished watching the tournament through Remote Viewing on <Tachyon TV>. The reception was a bit spotty at times, but Quantum Metrology is still in its infancy after all, so that is to be expected. Paul Morphy was a lot taller than I thought. And Napoleon Marache told me to compliment <FSR> for the excellent Wikipedia article he wrote on him. He was a bit annoyed, though, that he got his birth year wrong. "It was 1815, not 1818!" he passinately gesticulated (he was French born after all). "Naturally my parents named me after our great emperor on the eve of the great Battle of Waterloo, not three years after, when all was lost!". If I obtain more information through my time travels I will happily provide it (to <Miss Scarlett>, for a fee, of course). Jan-09-25    stone free or die: What is going on here?!?! search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, 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 ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration. Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes! Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | 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 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC