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Michaelis - Smith Match (1869) 16 March 1869—24 April 1869 The terms of the proposed chess match between Harsen D. Smith, of this city, and Capt. Michaelis, of Dearborn, have at length been arranged, and the match will come off, commencing in Jackson on Tuesday afternoon, March 16th. The party first winning seven games is to be the victor. One half of the games are to be played in Jackson next week, and the remainder in Detroit about the first of April. Mr. Grelling, of Detroit, acts as umpire, and E. C. Nichols, of Battle Creek, and H. A. Bury, of Detroit, act as "seconds" to the parties.(1)(2)(3) The following rules have been agreed upon by the respective seconds, to govern during the match: 1. The games shall be played in a room as free from noise as possible, and no smoking to be allowed in the room during play. 2. The match shall be governed by the strict rules of chess as commonly recognized among chess players, and as are usual in such matches. 3. The first move to alternate each game. 4. The hours of play shall be from 9 to 12 a.m. and from 2 to 5 p.m., and at least 2½ hours in the evening. 5. A "time limit" shall be enforced, consisting of an average of seven minutes to each move, said average to be made at the end of each game. the penalty for infringing this rule shall be that if the party winning a game after having exceeded this average shall be considered to have drawn it, and if a game be drawn after an infringement of the rule, such game shall be deemed lost to the party exceeding the limit or average. 6. During play, in any game being left unfinished, no one shall offer any suggestions, advice, make remarks or look through the game with either player. 7. Play to commence on Tuesday afternoon, March 16th, at 2 o'clock.(1) <The twelfth game, which was left unfinished at adjournment, must eventually result in favor of Mr. Smith, who is a clean piece ahead with the game reduced to a king, rook, knight and four pawns, against king, rook and four pawns. This makes the match a tie—the score standing, counting the twelfth game for Mr. Smith:>(4) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 Wins Michaelis 1 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 0 5 Smith 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 0 1 5* * All indications point to Smith winning the twelfth game with the two players suspending play, preferring to settle the question of superiority at a later date. Although the twelfth game was predicted to fall for Mr. Smith a confirming report is lacking. Sources: (1) Jackson Daily Citizen, 1869.03.08, p4 (2) Jackson Daily Citizen, 1869.03.17, p4 (3) Detroit Free Press, 1869.03.17, p1 (4) Jackson Daily Citizen, 1869.04.26, p4  page 1 of 1; 11 games    Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. H D Smith vs O Michaelis   0-1 31 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 2. O Michaelis vs H D Smith   1-0 40 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C55 Two Knights Defense 3. H D Smith vs O Michaelis   0-1 44 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 4. O Michaelis vs H D Smith ½-½ 46 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C44 King's Pawn Game 5. H D Smith vs O Michaelis   1-0 24 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C54 Giuoco Piano 6. O Michaelis vs H D Smith   ½-½ 66 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C25 Vienna 7. H D Smith vs O Michaelis 1-0 47 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C02 French, Advance 8. O Michaelis vs H D Smith   0-1 32 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C33 King's Gambit Accepted 9. H D Smith vs O Michaelis 1-0 47 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match B40 Sicilian 10. O Michaelis vs H D Smith   1-0 13 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C56 Two Knights 11. H D Smith vs O Michaelis 0-1 38 1869 Michaelis - Smith Match C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense   REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)     There is no kibitzing for this page, yet.   NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. 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