| 2nd American Chess Congress (1871) |
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The 2nd American Chess Congress was held at the Kennard House (1) in Cleveland, 5-15 December 1871. Two decisive games (+2, -2, or +1 -1) were required against each opponent. There were 73 total games. No dates or round numbers are given in the tournament book. Players were responsible for playing from 9-12 am, 2-5 pm, and 7-10 pm each day, but may have been able to arrange their own time of play, and sequence of opponents. The Ohio newspapers have more details, including dates for most of the games. The players
George Henry Mackenzie led an interesting life away from the chessboard. (2) After he resigned his commission in the British Army but before moving to the United States, he lost a match to George Alcock MacDonnell (+4 -7 =2) and won a second (+6 -3 =2). He moved to the United States in 1863 and joined the Union Army twice. His Civil War service as captain was with the 10th Regiment of the US Colored Troops (Infantry), Company I. I think his earlier service as a private was with the 162nd New York Infantry, Company G, but I am not certain of that. Mackenzie's most impressive results still awaited him, but Cleveland 1871 was the start of a string of domestic successes. Frederick H Elder. We only know of two important tournaments in which Elder played: Cleveland 1871 and Chicago 1874. The Edo historical rating estimates Elder as in the 2300s based on these games. (3) Henry Hosmer. We only know of two important tournaments in which Hosmer played: Cleveland 1871 and Chicago 1874. Nevertheless, Hosmer was considered one of the (if not the) strongest player in the western US (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinr...). The year before Cleveland he won a casual 3-game match against Max Judd. The Edo historical rating estimates Hosmer as approximately 2500 based on these games. (4) Max Judd. Born Maximilian Judkiewicz near Cracow, Judd moved to the US at the age of 11 and lived in various areas of the midwest before settling in St. Louis. Judd finished tied for 3rd in the Michigan state championship the year before the congress at Cleveland. Later in life he became a successful businessman, and served for a time as Consul General to Austria. He was also a chess patron, contributing to and helping organize various events. He later won matches against Albert Hodges (1887, +5 -2 =2) and Jackson Whipps Showalter (1890, +7 -3 =0), while losing matches to Mackenzie (1881, +5 -7 =3), Showalter (1892, +4 -7 =3) and Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1899, +1 -4 =0). Preston Ware was perhaps best known for advocating and playing unusual openings. He achieved some infamy when he came forward at the end of the 5th American Chess Congress (1880) to claim that James Glover Grundy had reneged on an agreement to play for a draw in the last round (P Ware vs J Grundy, 1880). The basic details are laid out in the official tournament book and as the charges could not be proven to the committee's satisfaction, no action was taken at the time. Jeremy Spinrad wrote an article on the scandal at ChessCafe.com. Harsen Darwin Smith was from New York and settled as an attorney in Michigan in the 1860's. (5) He played two matches against Judd in 1870 while Judd lived in Michigan, drawing one (+3 -3 =2) and losing the other (2-6). (6) Henry Harding. Cleveland 1871 is the only known important tournament for Harding. He was another Michigan player. A Johnston. Cleveland 1871 is the only known important tournament for Johnston, who was listed as from across the state in Cincinnati. William B Haughton. We know very little about our tailender other than he was from Chicago. There is even some discrepancy over the spelling of his name, with Houghton used in the crosstable and in the list of competitors while Haughton was used in all the game scores in the tournament book. Contemporary report About nine o'clock Tuesday morning, the necessary preliminary arrangements having been made, the regular work of the American chess congress began. Room No. 1 of the Kennard house, a spacious apartment on the first floor and just in the rear of the office, was set apart for the sessions. The players of the first class already here drew lots Monday evening for their first opponents and with the following result: Captain McKenzie, of New York, was matched against Henry Harding of Michigan. Mr. Fred H. Elder, of Detroit, against Mr. H. Hosmer, of Chicago. Mr. Max Judd, of Cleveland, against Mr. P. Ware, of Boston. Mr. H. D. Smith, of Cassopolis, Michigan, against Mr. A. Johnson, of Cincinnati. Mr. W. P. Houghton, of Chicago, will meet the first player who arrives to-day. The entries for the second class are Messrs. J. T. Wilson, E. D. Stark, E. W. Goddard and I. Judd, all of Cleveland. None of these were on hand at the opening of the congress, Tuesday morning. There being but four entries in the second class, there has been a change in prizes, some being taken from the second class and added to the first class, as follows: First class - First prize, $100; second, $50; third, $40; fourth, $30; fifth, $25; sixth, $15; seventh, $10. Second class - First prize, $30; second, $20. Mr. W. G. Yates was chosen referee and Messrs. E. B. Cook of New Jersey, F. H. Mason and J. G. White of Cleveland as committee of examination in the problem tourney. (7) The playroom on Tuesday morning presented a singular spectacle. Eight men, in pairs, were seated at little black stands with chess boards painted in large red and white squares on the top. Some sat bent over the stands, silently staring at the wooden men, others leaned back in their chairs but as earnestly gazing at the fascinating little images. Two or three were smoking pipes, one puffed at a cigar, several empty pipes and a bag of tobacco were scattered convenient to the players. At the stands allotted to Messrs. Elder and Hosmer and Smith and Johnson were four hour glasses filled with red sand. These are to make sure that twelve moves are made by each player within sixty minutes; when one player has moved he turns the glass on the side so that the sand ceases to run while the other player stands his glass upright. At the stand where Messrs. Judd and Ware were vis-a-vis a watch was used as a reminder. Messrs. Judd and Smith and partners have at the right hand of each a sheet of paper, properly headed and marked off, on which they note each move as soon as made, each player keeping track of the whole game. Captain McKenzie and Mr. Harding have neither hour glass or watch to guide them nor paper for record. Mr. Elder and partner also rely on memory to sketch the game when finished. (7) Cleveland, Ohio, 5-15 December 1871 Mack Hosm Elde Judd Ware Smit Hard John Haug
1 Mackenzie **** 1=0- =10- 11-- 11-- 11-- 1=1- 11-- 11-- 15.5/19
2 Hosmer 0=1- **** 11-- 1=1- 00-- 01-- 11-- 11-- 11-- 13 /18
3 Elder =01- 00-- **** 01-- ==01 11-- 11-- 11-- 11-- 12.5/19
4 Judd 00-- 0=0- 10-- **** 11-- 10-- =11- =11- 11-- 11.5/19
5 Ware 00-- 11-- ==10 00-- **** 01-- 01-- 11-- 11-- 10 /18
6 Smith 00-- 10-- 00-- 01-- 10-- **** 11-- 11-- 11-- 9 /16
7 Harding 0=0- 00-- 00-- =00- 10-- 00-- **** 01-- 11-- 5 /18
8 Johnston 00-- 00-- 00-- =00- 00-- 00-- 10-- **** 11-- 3.5/17
9 Haughton 00-- 00-- 00-- 00-- ---- ---- ---- 00-- **** 0 /10
Haughton left the tournament 7-8 December after 10 straight losses, (8) and two points must have been awarded to each of his three unplayed opponents. There are six missing games (per 3 Jan 2016): Johnston 1 Haughton (Dec 5), Haughton 0 Johnston (Dec 5), Haughton 0 Judd (Dec 6), Judd 1 Haughton (Dec 6), Johnston 1 Harding (Dec 11), and Harding 1 Johnston (Dec 12). One game Hosmer 1 Harding (Dec 13) was forfeited due to Harding's illness. (9)The race
There is one report by the Westminster Papers (10) that Hosmer won his two games against Judd on the last day of the tournament to secure 2nd place. The newspaper Cleveland Leader has some more details. Mackenzie had a fairly easy time of it, winning both games against everyone but Hosmer and Elder, and he had an even score against both of them. Hosmer lost three additional games, one to Smith and both games against Ware. Elder lost four additional games, one to Ware, one to Judd, and both games to Hosmer. Judd lost both games to Mackenzie and Hosmer, and one each to Elder and Smith. The Second Class was won by 1) E. W. Goddard, followed by 2) E. D. Stark, 3) I. I. Judd and 4) J. T. Wilson. (11) An American Chess Association, with Preston Ware as President, was formed (with little success, as it turned out) on 14 December. (12) The 1st American Chess Congress (1857) was held 14 years earlier and the 3rd American Chess Congress (1874) less than three years later. Notes
1) http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/...
2) http://www.chess.com/article/view/g....
3) http://www.edochess.ca/players/p317...
4) http://www.edochess.ca/players/p316...
5) http://www.migenweb.org/cass/biogra...
6) http://www.edochess.ca/matches/m659...
7) Plain Dealer, 5 December 1871, p. 3.
8) Plain Dealer, 9 December 1871, p. 3.
9) Cleveland Leader, 14 December 1871, p. 4.
10) The Westminster Papers, 1 February 1872 (https://books.google.no/books?id=Jj...).
11) Plain Dealer, 16 December 1871, p. 3.
12) Cleveland Leader, 15 December 1871, p. 4. Original collection: Game Collection: Cleveland 1871, by User: crawfb5, with thanks to User: Phony Benoni for link to The Westminster Papers. Based on Ohio newspapers, User: Tabanus made changes to the introduction on January 3, 2016. About 50 games can be accurately dated (if necessary).
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| page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 67 |
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| page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 67 |
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Jan-02-16
 | | Tabanus: Cleveland Leader, 7 December 1871, p. 1:
<After a second night's sleep the chess champions were promptly at their posts by nine o'clock yesterday, and the day was one of active and interesting work. Captain Mackenzie won four games, two of Mr. Johnson and two of Mr. Smith. Mr. Hosmer won his second victory over Mr. Elder and scored two games against Mr. Haughton.> ... <Mr. Elder won two games from Mr. Haughton and drew one with Mr. Ware. Mr. Max Judd won his second game with Mr. Harding, won two of Mr. Haughton and drew one with Mr. Johnson. Mr. Ware won a game from Mr. Smith and drew one with Mr. Elder.> Cleveland Leader, 9 December 1871, p. 1:
<The event of the day yesterday was a remarkable long and close contest between Mr. Hosmer and Captain Mackenzie, which, after five hours' play, was won by Mr. Hosmer. This gives each of those players one lost game and renders their chances for the first prize about equal. Besides this Mr. Judd won a game from Mr. Smith and has another in progress with the same player. Mr. Judd is the only contestant who has now an unbroken score of victories. Mr. Elder won two games from Mr. Johnson and lost one to Mr. Ware. Mr. Ware won a game from Mr. Elder and lost one to Mr. Harding, who thereby scored his first victory. Mr. Haughton having lost eight games and won none, gave up the fight last evening and returned home to Chicago. The score of the first class stands as follows: Mackenzie 9 1 2, Max Judd 9 0 2, Johnson 2 8 1, Smith 5 3 0, Elder 2 5 2, Ware 4 4 2, Harding 1 6 2, Hosmer 5 1 1, Haughton 0 10 1 (won lost drawn - ed.) In the evening the players of the congress and a number of gentlemen of the Cleveland club, were handsomely entertained by R. F. Wade, Esq., at his residence on Euclid avenue. The entire party enjoyed a delightful evening. Play will begin at nine o'clock this evening.> Cincinnati Daily Gazette, 12 December 1871:
<Cleveland, O., Dec 11. Mackenzie beat Ware two games; Elder beat Judd and Harding, each one game; Harmer lost one game to Smith; Johnson beat Harding one game. The congress will finish on Wednesday.> Cincinnati Daily Gazette, 13 December 1871:
<Cleveland, O., Dec. 12. Elder played three games with Mackenzie, winning one, losing one, and drawing one. Ware beat Hosmer two. Hosmer beat Smith and Harding each one. Harding beat Johnson one. Mackenzie takes the first prize, Harding the seventh, Ware probably the sixth, and the other uncertain. A National Association is to be formed at the close of the congress. The next tournament will doubtless be at New York.> |
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Jan-02-16
| | Tabanus: Cleveland Leader, 15 December 1871, p. 4:
<National Chess Association. - After the conclusion of the regular play at the Chess Congress last evening a regular national organization was effected, and a constitution adopted. This reads as follows:
Article 1. This association shall be known as the "American Chess Association."
Art. 2. Its objects are the general promotion of the game of chess, and the holding of annual tournaments for play.
Art. 3. The officers of this association shall be a President, Vice Presidents selected from each State, a Treasurer, General Secretary, and an executive committee of five persons, of whicq committe the President shall be chairman.
Art. 4. The duties of these officers shall be the usual ones appertaining to such positions, but the Executive Committee shall have the general control of affairs of the association.
Art. 5. Any person may become a member of this Association on his application being approved by the Executive Committee, or a majority thereof, and on paying an initiation fee of $1.
Art. 6. The annual membership dues shall be $1, but no membership dues shall be required to be paid during the first year after joining the Association.
Art. 7. A playing and problem tournament shall be held each year, the place and time to be selected by the Executive Committee, who shall make all necessary arrangements therefor.The officers were chosen, and consist of the following gentlemen: President - P. Ware, Jr., of Boston.
Vice Presidents - Major Bartlett of Massachusetts, George H. Mackenzie of New York, Iliram Kennicott of Illinois, G. Grelling of Michigan, J. A. Galbraith of Mississippi, C. A. Maurian of Louisinana, O. A. Brownson, Jr., of Iowa, W. G. Yates of Ohio, Jacob Elson of Pennsylvania, Stanley Jones of the District of Columbia. Treasurer - J. S. Turner of New York city.
Secretaty - J. G. White of Cleveland.
Associate Secretary - D. Eugene Delmar of New York.
Executive Committee - P. Ware, Jr., of Massachusetts, J. T. Irving of New York, Augustus Zarega of New York, H. Hosmer of Illinois, G. Grelling of Michigan.> Cleveland Leader, 16 December 1871, p. 4:
<The Final Games - Award and Distribution of Prizes - Grand Wind Up at Lyman's Hall. The final set to in the regular series of games at the Chess congress closed yesterday, Mr. Hosmer of Chicago winning both his games of Mr. Max Judd, and thereby carrying off the second prize. This closed the work of the Congress, and at five o'clock the Committee and the players met in a pleasant reunion for the distribution of prizes. They were awarded as follows: First price, $100 - G. H. Mackenzie, New York. Second price, $50 - H. Hosmer, Chicago. Third price, $40 - F. H. Elder, Detroit. Fourth prize, $35 - Max Judd, Cleveland. Fifth prize, $30 - P. Ware, Jr., Boston. Sixth prize, $20 - H. D. Smith, Michigan. Seventh prize, $15 - H. Harding, Michigan. Second class. First prize, $30 - E. L. Goddard. Second price, $20 - E. D. Stark. The prizes having been presented, the meeting passed a heartfelt resolution thanking Mr. McClasky, the genial host of the Kennard, for his many courtesies during the meeting, and then formally adjourned. The Exhibition at Lyman's Hall. In the evening the players and some two hundred invited guests assembled at Lyman's Hall, which had been neatly fitted up in handsome style, and presented a pretty appearance. The main feature of the entertainment was the playing of ten simultaneous games by Captain Mackenzie against Mr. Harding, of Michigan, and nine members of the Cleveland club. The ten chess tables were ranged in a semicircle, and the Captain holding the interior line passed from board to board, making one move on every game at every visit. The players opposed to the King of the Congress were as follows: 1st table - Mr. W. G. Yates. 2d table - J. G. White. 3d table Bushnell White. 4th table - I. I. Judd. 4th table - H. Harding. 6th table - E. D. Stark. 7th table - O. B. Perdue. 8th table - C. Bauder. 9th table E. L. Goddard. 10th table - Messrs. Russell and Adams. To more than half of these players Capt. Mackenzie gave the odds of a knight, but so masterly was his play that he won eight of the games, losing one with Mr. Judd, and drawing one with Mr. Stark. The spectators, including a number of ladies, were highly entertained, and the meeting was voted a most happy termination of the Congress. Besides the ten games above noted, Messrs. Judd and Elder played a consultation game against Messrs. Ware and Smith, which, after two hours' play, was drawn. Thus ends the Second National Congress of American Chess Players. The association being now permanently organized, will hold its next Congress a year hence, probably in New York. Until then Captain Mackenzie will remain, in name, as he is in fact, the king of chess in America.> |
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Jan-02-16
| | Tabanus: The crosstable should probably be fixed, because there is no doubt (from Cleveland Leader and Plain Dealer) that Hosmer was 2nd and Elder 3rd. Does "the tournament book" disagree with this? |
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Jan-02-16
| | Tabanus: Plain Dealer, 5 Dec 1871 p. 3:
<At noon play was stopped till after dinner. Two games were then finished, Mr. McKenzie having defeated Mr. Harding and Mr. Judd having beaten Mr. Ware.> Plain Dealer, 6 Dec 1871 p. 3:
<Fourteen games were finished Tuesday in the Chess Congress - a very good day's work. Two of these games resulted in a draw ... Mr. McKenzie won two of Mr. Harding, and one drawn. Mr. Max Judd won two of Mr. Ware and one of Mr. Harding, one drawn with the latter. Mr. Smith won two of Mr. Johnson and one of Mr. Ware. Mr. Hosmer won one of Mr Elder. Mr. Johnson won two of Mr. Haughton. Mr. Elder won two of Mr. Haughton. Game in progress between Mr. McKenzie and Mr. Johnson.> I've also found several other reports now, and it should be possible to date most of the games, if not all. Here's my suggestion for new crosstable: Game Collection: AMC 1871 crosstable. It seems that 72 games were played, and that 5 are missing from the collection. These are: Hosmer 1 Harding, Judd 1 Haughton, Haughton 0 Judd, Johnson 1 Harding, and Harding 1 Johnson. I'll paste the new table into the intro later if no protests. |
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Jan-02-16
| | Tabanus: What a headache. But correct now?
Game Collection: AMC 1871 crosstable is the latest version. The newspapers report only 1 game Harding 1 Johnston (Dec 12, missing). And Johnston won twice vs Haughton (Dec 5, both missing). One game Hosmer 1 Harding was forfeited by Harding due to Harding's illness. And two Judd vs Haughton games missing. 67 games (here) + 5 missing played games + 1 missing forfeited game = 73 games (73 points distributed). Check it out. |
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Jan-03-16
| | Tabanus: <The newspapers report only 1 game Harding 1 Johnston (Dec 12, missing)> No they played two games after all (Dec 11 & 12), sigh, both missing, so 6 missing games. I added a "contemporary report" to the intro. Enough from me on this, but I'll make corrections if necessary. |
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| Feb-22-16 | | zanzibar: I've looked into this tournament as well, and thanks to the intro (ff-9) and <Tab>'s post (just above) supplementing my research, I think I can completely reconstruct the tournament. The tournament book, written by Elder, certainly could have been more explicit concerning forfeits, etc. Indeed, it is concise to a fault - although the actual games it contains seem fine. It will take a detailed blog post to cover all the material... but it might be helpful to elaborate a little here. First, the tournament results:
1) The tournament book does give the standings on p6/13. (See the little hand footnote at the bottom of the page). The standings agree with the table in the intro:
<Mackenzie (14), Hosmer (12), Elder (11), Judd (10), Ware (9), Smith (9), Harding (4), Johnston (3), Haughton(0)> I think the games can be numbered according to the tb's Game Numbers. I used "0.nn". The advantage is that one can order the games as played within a match. The tournament has 67 games, 59 of which are decisive, and 8 non-scoring draws. <The tournament scoring was just wins/losses, draws didn't count> The standing is accounting to the number of wins, although I don't know exactly how the Ware/Smith tiebreak was done. I could date many of the games, but nowhere near the 50 that <Tab> claims he could do. I haven't bothered so far though. * * * * *
There's only two missing games, the 2-game split between <Johnston--Harding> match. All the other games, besides the tb's 67, were forfeits. Haughton left after losing six games to three opponents. <All of Haughton's other games were forfeits to the other 5 players, 10 forfeits in all.> From the intro here I learned that Harding forfeited his other Hosmer game, giving 11 forfeits in total. The number of games are 67 full games + 11 forfeits + 2 missing games = 80 games. In the contemporaneous coverage on O'Keefe there are tables of W-L-D, and evan a RR xtab, all of which agree with the stubified tournament xtabs. * * * * *
There is another confusing point about this tournament. It was a RR-w2, i.e. a double-decisive round robin, where draws didn't count. But as the tournament progressed it seems that not all pairings were played out in full. No match-ups went beyond 4-games, so there might have been a stop point there. But some match-ups only have two-game splits. These must have been played at such a time that it was known continuing to a decision wouldn't affect the standings. None of this is discussed in the tournament book.
And I haven't seen any such discussion in the newspaper coverage at the time either. |
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| Feb-22-16 | | zanzibar: The best description of the tournament is probably found in the <The Fifth American Chess Congress - New York (1880)> tournament book, although it incorrectly gives the forfeit due to illness as Smith to Ware. At least this write-up correctly gives the prizes. |
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| Feb-23-16 | | zanzibar: OK, I see that the two <Judd--Haughton> games could be considered missing. Of course, one could argue they were forfeits too, as the pair could have been scheduled and Haughton dropped out after losing two in the morning to Hosmer. The wording "won two" doesn't necessarily mean played two. Similarly, "lost eight" doesn't have to mean played eight. Since those games will never turn up even if played, I'd suggest going with the tournament book record for what was played and what wasn't as concerns Haughton. |
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| Feb-24-16 | | zanzibar: OK, maybe Haughton's story is more complicated than I thought. There is information in the record to suggest he could have played ten games before returning to Chicago on Friday night. That would leave just Harding, Smith, and Ware as forfeits. One curiosity is that I've yet to find an explicit newspaper account mentioning the Houghton--Mackenzie pairing, even though we actually have scores for those games. |
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Jul-27-18
 | | TheFocus: From the bio: <About 50 games can be accurately dated (if necessary).> Okay, then why not date them? |
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| Jul-27-18 | | zanzibar: And who will help me bake the bread?
How bout those ACB pages?! |
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Jul-27-18
| | TheFocus: <zanzibar: And who will help me bake the bread?> I'm not an editor. That's an editor's job. Without the known dates, the collection is incomplete. <How bout those ACB pages?!> I sold that volume to buy bread. |
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| Jul-28-18 | | zanzibar: Well, <Focus>, there's certainly already been a tremendous amount of work done on this tournament. Perhaps it kneads a little bit more work, but it's fairly well baked now, even crusty, so I'm leavening the topic alone. |
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