Chess Tournament Trivia

Chess Tournament Trivia
by Bill Wall
In September 1467, the first

known chess tournament of
Middle Europe was held in
Heidelberg, Germany.
In 1575, the first major chess

tournament was held in Madrid
at the Court of Philip II. The
players were Ruy Lopez and
Alfonso Ceron of Spain, and
Giovanni Leonardo (also
known as Il Puttino) and Paolo Bill Wall
Boi of Italy. Leonardo was the
winner of the first prize. The
event took place at the Royal
Court of Spain in El Escorial,
near Madrid, in presence of
King Philip II (1527-1598) of Your only task in the opening is
Spain, the most powerful ruler to reach a playable middlegame.
in Europe. First place went to —Portisch
Giovanni Leonardo Di bona
(1542-1597), followed by
Paolo Boi (1528-1598), then
Ruy Lopez de Segura (1530-
1580), and Alfonso Ceron
(1535-1590?) of Grenada.
King Philip presented Ruy
Lopez with a golden chain for
his neck, from which was
suspended a rook, and obtained
preferment to a rich benefice.
Ruy Lopez was given some
property and was declared a
noble. King Philip II granted
Boi certain official
appointments in Sicily.
Leonardo received a thousand
crowns, jewels, and furs.
In 1825, the first ever Swiss
Federal Chess Tournament was
held in Baden, organized by
the Schachgesellschaft (Zurich
Chess Club — SG Zurich).
The tournament was suggested
by Heinrich Meister, a
language teacher at the
Lindenhof in Zurich.
In January 1841, "tournament"

was first used as a chess term
by a group of Yorkshire
players in Leeds.
In 1843, Ludwig Bledow

(1795-1846) was the first
person to suggest an
international tournament. He
intended the winner of the
proposed tournament, to be
held in Trier, Germany (the
oldest city in Germany,
founded before 16 BC), should
be recognized as the world
champion.
In 1843, the first documented

American chess tournament
was held, a local event in New
York.
In 1848, the first open chess

tournament was held at
Simpson's. (source: Chess
History and Reminiscences by
Henry Bird, 1893)
In January 1849, there was a

12-player knockout elimination
chess tournament held at
Samuel Ries' Chess Divan in
the Strand in London. The
tournament was won by Henry
Thomas Buckle (1821-1862),
followed by George Medley
(1826-1898) and John R.
Medley. The 12 competitors
were paired by lot. The 6
players winning two out of
three (not including draws)
were declared the victors of the
First Section of the
tournament. The 6 winners
were then paired off by lot to
form three matches. The three
winners then played a match
between themselves to
determine the winner.
On May 27, 1851, the first

international tournament (the
Grand Chess Tournament),
London began. It was held at
St. George's Chess Club,
RoyaL Polytechnic Institute
Building, 5 Cavendish Square
during the Great Industrial
Exhibition (World's Fair).
There was no entry fee.
Admission to the tournament
was three guineas. There were
16 participants in this
knockout event. Henry Bird
got knocked out in the first
round. Carl Mayet got knocked
out in the first round by Hugh
Alexander Kennedy. The
tournament was conceived and
organized by Howard
Staunton. It was won by Adolf
Anderssen. Marmaduke Wyvill
took 2nd place, winning 55
British pounds. The winner
was supposed to have received
500 British pounds, but the
organizing committee did not
raise enough money.
Anderssen only got 183
pounds (and a silver cup) and
gave 1/3 of his money to Szen
on an agreement before the
tournament started. In January
1851, the Calcutta Chess Club
and Cochrane personally both
made significant financial
contributions to the first
international chess tournament
(Cochrane contributing 20
British pounds and the
Calcutta CC contributing 100
pounds), which Howard
Staunton organized. Johann
Loewenthal's chess customers
in Cincinnati paid his fare to
the London International
Tournament in 1851, but he
got knocked out in the first
round. Because of his early
loss, he felt too embarrassed to
return to the United States.
This was called a tournament
because it was analogous to the
medieval institution in which
armored knights clashed in
combat. The tournament was
supposed to be a meeting of
gentlemen amateurs.
In June 1851, there was a one

day knockout chess
tournament held in Amsterdam
with 38 players. The winner
was Maartin Van't Kruijs
(1813-1885).
From June 6, 1851 to July 15,

1851, a "London Provincial
Tournament" was organized
for British players not strong
enough for the International
Tournament. The winner was
Samuel Boden (1826-1882),
followed by Charles Ranken
(1828-1905).
From July 28, 1851 to August

8, 1851, a club tournament was
held in London. The winner
was Adolf Anderssen.
In January 1853, the first

unofficial Berlin Chess
Championship was won by
Jean Dufresne (1829-1893)
followed by Max Lange (1832-
1899) and Karl Mayet (1810-
1868). There were 12 players
in the event.
From February through April

1853, an 8-player knockout
tournament was held at the
New York Chess Club. The
winner was James Thompson.
In 1854, the first problem-

solving chess contest, the Era
Problem Tournament, held in
London, was won by Walter
Grimshaw (1832-1890).
In 1855, a chess tournament

was held at Kling's Coffee
House in London. The winner
was Adolf Zytogorski (1807-
1882) in this 8-player event.
In 1855, the first world

problem tournament was
organized by Charles Stanley.
In January-February 1856, a
McDonnell Chess Club in
London. The event was won
by Ernst Falkbeer (1819-1885)
in this 12-player event.
In 1856, Napoleon Marache

(1818-1875) won the
championship of the New
York Chess Club.
In 1856, a knockout
tournament was held in Berlin.
The winner was Hermann
Balduin Wolff (1819-1907) in
this 8-player event.
In August 1857, the first

British Chess Association
(BCA) Congress was held in
Manchester. The tournament
was part of a major cultural
occasion in the city: the Art
Treasures Exhibition. The
winner was Johann Jacob
Loewenthal (1810-1876) in the
8-person major section.
Loewenthal was supposed to
play Boden in the final round,
but after the first game was
drawn, Boden was unable to
remain in Manchester, and
conceded the prize to
Loewenthal. First prize was a
set of Chinese carved ivory
chessmen. John Owen (1827-
1901) won the 16-player minor
section. The first place prize
was a set of Staunton
chessmen made of wood.
On October 6, 1857, the first

American Chess Congress
started. It was the first true
tournament in the New World.
Entry fee was $10. Admission
fee for spectators was $5. The
event was held at Descombes'
rooms, No. 764 Broadway.
The winner was considered the
United States Chess Champion
(source: Louisville Daily
Courier, Aug 19, 1857 and
New York Times, Sep 19,
1857 and Oct 7, 1857). On
November 10, 1857, the first
American Chess congress
ended. It was won by Paul
Morphy. William Homer of
Brooklyn won the Minor
Tourney. Morphy won a
service of plate consisting of a
silver pitcher, 4 goblets, and
salver. The plate was inscribed,
"This service of plate was
presented to Paul Morphy as
the Victor in the Grand
Tournament at the first
Congress of the American
National Chess association,
New York, 1857." It was
valued at $300. Paulsen
received a gold shield and
eagle. (source: New York
Tribune, Nov 12, 1857, New
York Times, Nov 13, 1857,
The Chess Monthly, vol 1,
1857, p. 348)
In March 1858, there was a

California Chess Congress
(also called the Pacific Chess
Tournament or Grand Chess
Tournament). It was the first
major chess tournament in
California. Three San
Francisco chess clubs joined
together to host the Congress:
the Mechanics' Institute, the
German Chess Club of San
Francisco, and the Pioneer
Chess Club. The entrance fee
was $5. The spectator fee was
$2.50. Ladies accompanied by
subscribers were admitted free.
On fair days, there were nearly
400 spectators for this
tournament. Selim Franklin
won 1st prize, a gold watch.
Edward Jones took 2nd prize,
an inlaid rosewood chess table.
John S. Ellis won 1st prize in
the First Division of the
Second Class, a chess set. R.
H. Bacon won 2nd prize, a
gold specimen watch seal. J.H.
Gardiner won 1st prize in the
Second Division of the Second
Class, a quartz specimen seal.
George F. Sharpe won 2nd
prize, also a quartz specimen
seal. The problem-solving
tournament was won by
William Wheaton, a Staunton
chess set.
In August 1858, Howard

Staunton played in the
Birmingham Chess Congress,
defeating H. Hughes in the 1st
round (2 wins) but losing to
Johann Lowenthal (1810-
1876) in the 2nd round (2
losses). This was to be
Staunton's last public chess
competition. Paul Morphy was
scheduled to play, but he
decided to withdraw just
before the start of the congress.
Loewenthal won the event,
followed by Falkbeer. 16
players participated. The
winner received 60 British
pounds. The tournament was a
knock-out event.
In 1859, Carl Hamppe won the
Vienna, Austria championship.
Jenay took 2nd place, followed
by Wilhelm Steinitz.
In August-September 1860,
Ignatz Kolisch won the 3rd
Congress (actually named the
2nd Chess Association
Tournament), held in
Cambridge, England. He
knocked out Charles Stanley in
the final round. There were 8
players in the event (it was
originally intended for 16
participants). The tournament
was played at the Red Lion
Hotel in Cambridge, England,
and the private home of Mr.
Henry C. Foster (the final
game). Kolisch received 8
British pounds and Stanley
received 4 British pounds.
In September 1861, Louis

Paulsen (1933-1891) won the
1st British Chess Association
Congress (renamed from the
Chess Association
Tournament), held in Bristol,
England. It was a knockout
event. In the final round,
Paulsen knocked out Samuel
Boden.
On September 22, 1861, the

first West German Chess
Congress, Dusseldorf, was
won by Conrad Waldemar
Vitzthum von Eckstaedt (1802-
1875).
In 1861, Wilhelm Steinitz won
the Vienna championship. He
scored 30 wins, 3 draws, and
one loss (to Bachmann). As the
result of his Vienna 1861
victory, Steinitz was asked to
represent Austria in the
London 1862 tournament.
In June 1862, the second

international tournament ever
held was played in London. It
was organized by Johann
Loewenthal (1810-1876) and
called the London Chess
Congress. It was held during
the second British world
exhibition. They played at the
St. George's Club, St. James's
Club and Divan. This was the
first time, hourglasses were
used as clocks in this event.
Twenty-four moves had to be
played in two hours. It was the
first international Round Robin
event (every competitor plays
against every other
competitor). Wilhelm Steinitz,
age 26, was invited to play. He
traveled to London and played
in his first international
tournament. He was the
Austrian delegate to the
tournament and was sponsored
by the Vienna Chess Society.
He took 6th place (out of 14)
behind Adolf Anderssen (11
out of 14), Louis Paulsen, John
Owen, George MacDonnell,
and Serafino Dubois. His score
was 8 wins, 5 losses (draws did
not count). His prize money for
6th place was 5 pounds
sterling. He was awarded the
brilliancy prize of the
tournament from his win over
Augustus Mongredien, a
Center Counter game. He
sacrificed his rook and later
forced mate. His games earned
him the name of "Austrian
Morphy." The first study-
composing chess tournament
was organized by the
Committee of the London
Chess Congress. It was won by
Bernhard Horwitz (1807-
1885), then a resident of
Manchester.
In 1864, the Adelaide Chess

Club organized the first
handicap chess tournament in
Australia. Henry Charlick
(1845-1916) won the 1st
place.
In 1865, an international
tournament was held in Berlin.
Gustav Neumann (1838-1881)
won the event. He had a
perfect score and won 34 out
of 34 games.
In September 1865, Wilhelm

Steinitz won a 5-player round
robin tournament at the Dublin
Chess Congress. At the same
time, the Irish Chess
Championship was held, won
by Porterfield Rynd (1846-
1917), scoring 16 out of 17.
In 1865, Captain George

Mackenzie won first prize at
the New York Chess Club. He
also won first prize at the New
York Chess Club in 1866,
1867, and 1868.
In November 1866, the first

official British Championship
(Grand Challenge Cup) was
held in London and won by
Cecil Valentine de Vere (1846-
1875). He won 28 guineas.
Wilhelm Steinitz won the
Handicap Tournament. It was
sponsored by the British Chess
Association.
In January-February, 1867,
George Mackenzie (1837-
1891) won a tournament at the
New York Chess Club.
On June 4, 1867, the Paris

Chess Congress opened during
the International Exposition of
1867 (Exposition Universelle
d'art et d'industrie), held at the
Champ de Mars in Paris. The
tournament took place in the
Grand Cercle, 10 boulevard
Montmarte in Paris from June
4, 1867 (only 2 games played
that day) to July 11, 1867
(prizes were not awarded until
July 21). The tournament was
scheduled to start on May 15,
1867, but was delayed.
Thirteen participants played in
a double round-robin. Draws
counted for zero points and
were not replayed. It would
have to wait until Dundee
(September 1867) that draws
counted for 1/2 point. The time
control was 10 moves an hour
(6 minutes per move). This
was the first time that hour-
glasses were first used, and
exceeding the time control by
15 minutes was punished by 20
francs. It was the first
international tournament ever
held in France. There were 13
players (the 14th player,
Francois Charles Devinck, did
not play). It was a double
round robin. It was the first
in France. On July 11, 1867,
Ignatz Kolisch (1837-1889)
won the Paris tournament,
scoring 20 wins, 2 losses, and
2 draws. He was presented the
Emperor's Vase (a Sevres
vase) by Napoleon III (1808-
1873) and 5,000 francs. Szmon
(Simon)Winawer (1838-1919)
took second place, followed by
Wilhelm Steinitz.
In September 1867, the British

Chess Congress was held in
Dundee, Scotland at the board
room of the Caledonian
Railway Company. It was
presided over by Lord
Lyttleton, President of the
British Chess Association.
Draws counted as 1/2 point for
the first time and did not have
to be replayed. Players tossed
for color at the start of each
game. At the Dundee
tournament, Steinitz got in an
argument with Blackburne. He
then spat on Blackburne, who
promptly knocked Steinitz's
head through a window. On
September 14, 1867, the
Dundee Chess Congress Grand
tournament was won by
Gustav Richard Neumann
(1838-1881), who score 7.5
out of 9 points. Steinitz took
2nd place. There was also a
Scotch tournament and a
Handicap tournament. In the
Handicap tournament, the final
round was Dr G.B. Fraser v
Steinitz and Neumann v Scott.
Neumann defeated Scott to
take third prize but the other
game proved controversial.
Steinitz claimed a win, in a
hopeless position, on the
grounds that Dr Fraser had
over-stepped the time
allowance - two hours for
thirty moves. Fraser had made
only 27 moves when his one
hour sand-glass ran out for the
second time. Fraser wished the
game to be annulled, which it
duly was, as no rule or
procedure had been laid down
for deciding the penalty for
over-stepping the time limit.
No replay was possible for
Steinitz "had to leave per
steamer in the afternoon."
They mutually agreed to share
the first and second prizes. The
Scotch tourney was open to
Scottish players only. It was
won by Dr. G. B. Fraser.
In December 1868 to January

1869, the first Cafe Europa
Handicap Tournament was
held with 48 contestants. It
was played at the Europa
Chess Rooms, 16 Division
Street in New York City. Entry
fee was $1. There were prizes
for first, second and third
places. The amounts are
unknown. Participants played
against each other twice, draws
did not count. Captain George
Mackenzie won the event with
82 wins and 8 losses. Delmar
took 2nd place and Mason took
3rd place.
In 1868-69, Joseph Henry

Blackburne won the 2nd
(BCA) Challenge Cup, held in
London. He won after a
playoff with Cecil de Vere.
Both scored 9 out of 10 points.
Drawn games, which did not
count, were replayed. There
were 11 players in the event.
The BCA organization
suffered from the absence of a
strict timetable to which
players were obliged to adhere.
Games not played were
supposed to be arranged as
soon as possible, at the
convenience of the players.
In August 1869, George

Mackenzie won first prize in
the Grand Tournament at the
Europa Chess Rooms in New
York. He won $33 after
winning 44 games and losing
6. James Mason took second
prize and won $29. The
tournament lasted over 3
months. (source: New York
Times, Jul 22, 1869 and Aug 3,
1869)
On July 18, 1870, the first

mechanical chess clocks were
used in a major tournament,
Baden-Baden. 20 moves had to
be made per hour in this
double round-robin event. On
August 4, 1870, Adolf
Anderssen won at Baden-
Baden, ahead of Steintiz and
Blackburne. This was the first
strong international
tournament, which included 10
strong international players.
Anderssen won 3,000 francs.
(source: New York Times, Sep
2, 1870). In that time, France
declared war on Prussia on
July 19, 1870. The southern
German states, including the
Grand Duchy of Baden, took
the side of Prussia and its
North German allies. The
Franco-Prussian War came
close to Baden-Baden. During
the event Adolf Stern was
mobilized as a Bavarian
reservist, after four rounds (1
win, 1 draw, 2 losses). The
finish of Baden-Baden 1870
marked the end of the
beginning of hostilities. The
thunder of the artillery could
be heard at a distance of 30 km
in Baden-Baden. Adolf Stern
sent a card from the fields near
Sedan on 4 September:
"Emperor Napoleon has been
mated,"
In 1870, John Wisker (1846-

1884) won the 3rd British
Chess Association Congress,
after a play-off with Amos
Burn. The BCA Challenge Cup
was held in London.
In September 1870, the first

major chess tournament in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire was
held at Graz. It was won by
Johann Berger (1945-1933),
who scored 24.5 out of 26. It
was a double round robin with
14 players.
In 1871, Reverend Arthur

Skipworth (1830-1898) won
the 3rd British Chess
Association Challenge Cup
(7th Counties Chess
Association) in Malvern,
England.
In December 1871, the 2nd

American Chess Congress was
held in Cleveland. George
Mackenzie won the 9-player
event. Drawn games, which
did not count, were replayed. It
was the first round-robin
tournament in the United
States.
In August 1872, Wilhelm

Steinitz won the 2nd British
Chess Association Congress,
held in London. Second place
went to Joseph Henry
Blackburne. There were 8
players. Drawn games, which
did not count, were replayed.
In 1873, Albert Ensor won the

first Canadian Chess
Championship, held in
Toronto. There were 20
players. It was a single game
knockout format.
In February 1873, the first

Brooklyn Chess Club
tournament was held. Eugene
Delmar, Frederick Perrin, and
Dill all tied for 1st place.
(source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle,
Feb 4, 1873)
In June-August 1873, Steinitz

beat Blackburne at the Vienna
international tournament after
a play-off (2 wins). The chess
tournament was a side event of
the world exhibition of 1873.
There were 12 players in a
double round-robin. Each
player played a match for the
best of 3 games vs. the other
players. The event was held in
the rooms of the Wiener
Schachgesellschaft. The time
limit was twenty moves per
hour. Emperor Franz Josef I of
Austria, Baron Albert Salomon
von Rothschild and Baron
Ignaz von Kolisch contributed
large sums to the prize fund.
The prizes winners were:
Steinitz 10 points & winner of
playoff (1000 guldens (F) &
200 golden ducats),
Blackburne 10 points (600 F),
Anderssen 8 1/2 points (300
F), Rosenthal 7 1/2 points (200
F). Scores of the other players
were: Paulsen and Bird 6 1/2,
Fleissig and Meitner 3 1/2,
Heral, Schwarz and Gelbfuhs
3, Pitschel 1.
In 1873, the first Netherlands

Chess Federation tournament
was held in The Hague. The
first Dutch champion was
Henry William Birkmyre
Gifford (1847-1924), who
defeated Benjamin Willem
Blijdenstein in the playoff.
In 1874, William Henry Hicks

won the 2nd Canadian Chess
Championship, held in
Montreal. He scored 7 out of
9.
In July 1874, the 3rd American

Chicago. George Mackenzie
won this event, scoring 10.5
out of 14. There were eight
players (Mackenzie, Hosmer,
Judd, Bock, Elder, Perrin,
Congdon, and Kennicott) and
they had to pay a $20 entry fee.
First place prize was $225. The
tournament was a round robin,
but for the first time, draws
were not replayed. The time
control was 15 moves per
hour. Elder and Kennicott
withdraw before completing
half their games, but their
scores still counted.
In 1874, A. De Lelie won the

2nd Netherlands Chess
Federation tournament after a
play-off.
In 1875, Pietro Seni won the

1st Italian National tournament
in Rome.
In 1875, George Jackson won

the 3rd Canadian
championship, held in Ottawa.
He scored 8 out of 9.
In the autumn of 1876, the first

correspondence all-play-all
chess tournament was
organized by Rev. T. Hewan
Archdall. There were 17
entries. The winner was John
Crum (1842-1922) of
Glasgow.
On Aug 17, 1876, the 4th

American Chess Congress
(called the American
Centennial Championship)
began in Philadelphia. It was
the first US tournament to
attract foreign masters. It was
the first tournament to award a
brilliancy prize. James Mason
of Ireland won the event,
scoring 10.5 out of 14. There
were nine players (Mason,
Judd, Davidson, Henry Bird,
Elson, Roberts, Ware, Barbour,
and Martinez). The entry fee
was $20. First place was $300.
It was never intended to
recognize the best player in
America. This tournament was
geared towards attracting
foreign masters, and to
awarding the Governor
Garland Silver Cup, as well as
celebrating the American
Centennial.
In August 1876, George

Mackenzie won the CafÃ©
International Tournament in
New York. It was a 17-player
double round robin.
In September-October 1876,
James Mason won the Clipper
Free Centennial Tournament in
New York. Delmar took 2nd
and Bird took 3rd. There were
21 players. The time control
was 20 moves an hour. Draws
did not count and not replayed.
First prize was $100. 2nd prize
was $50. 3rd prize was $25.
The tournament was sponsored
by the New York Clipper
newspaper. The winner of the
most brillian game received a
silver cup, donated by Lieders.
In 1876, Andrei Asharin

(1843-1896) won the first
master chess tournament in
Russia, ahead of Mikhail
Chigorin and Emmanuel
Schiffers. It was played in
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
In July 1877, a group of

German chess fans organized a
chess tournament to
commemorate the 50th
anniversary of Adolf
Anderssen's learning the chess
moves. The event was held in
Leipzig. This is the only
tournament in chess history
organized to commemorate a
competitor. Louis Paulsen won
the event (6 wins, 4 losses, and
1 draw), followed by Adolf
Anderssen. There were 12
players.
In June-July 1878, the first

intercontinental chess
tournament in Europe was held
in Paris. The winner was
Johannes Zukertort after a
play-off with Szymon
Winawer. This was the first
tournament that had an
adjournment and the sealing of
a move. The tournament was
held as part of the world
exhibition in Paris. The first
place prize, given to him by
the President of France, were
two Sevres vases, worth over
5,000 francs (perhaps about
$10,000 in today's currency).
Winners of the prizes were:
Zukertort (1000 Francs + two
SÃ¨vres vases), Winawer (500
F + one vase), Joseph Henry
Blackburne (1500 F),
Mackenzie (1000 F), Bird (500
F), and the ill Adolf Anderssen
(200 F). Zukertort's vases were
priced at 5800 Francs. He
needed cash. It took three days
until he could sell them much
below the estimated value.
Zukertort took the vases to a
pawn shop and sold them for
about 2,500 francs.
In 1878, Mephisto (Isidor

Gunsberg) won the England
Counties' Chess Association
Handicap tournament.
MacDonnell withdrew from
the tournament unless the
Mephisto player was
identified.
In 1878, the first New York

State Chess Championship was
held. It was won by Judge
James R. Cox of Auburn, New
York.
In January 1880, the 5th

held in New York. George
Mackenzie won the play-off
against James Grundy in the
major section. The tournament
was a 10-player double round
robin. The minor section was
won by Nicolai Gedalia. First
place prize was $500 in the
major section. During the
tournament, Preston Ware, by
his own admittance, accepted a
$20 bribe offered by James
Grundy to draw a game.
According to Ware, "As I was
walking down the Bowery
with Mr. Grundy, on Sunday
25 January, he remarked that
he was poor and really needed
the second prize." The prize
was $1,000. But, much to
Ware's shock, Grundy didn't
follow the planned scenario
and "'Grundy was making
desperate efforts to win, and
finally did so, perpetrating an
infamous fraud on me." Rather
than winning second place, as
a draw would have
accomplished, Grundy was
now tied with George
Mackenzie for first place when
Ware blew the whistle. One
account states that the
tournament committee decided
to award Mackenzie first place
but that Mackenzie, a most
honorable and courageous
man, knowing about the
scheme, insisted that the play-
off take place and went on to
beat Ware decisively. (source:
The Fifth American Chess
Congress, by Charles Gilberg,
1881)
In July 1880, the first

international tournament in
Germany was held in
Wiesbaden. It was also the first
major tournament interrupted
by war (the Franco-Prussian
war). The tournament was the
first to introduce chess clocks.
It was a three-way tie for first
between Joseph Blackburne,
Berthold Englisch, and Adolf
Schwarz. 16 players
participated. Steinitz was there,
but as a reporter.
In 1880-1881, Samuel
Rosenthal (1837-1902) won
the first unofficial French
Chess Championship, held in
Paris. There were 7 players in
this double round robin.
Joseph Blackburne (1841-
1924) won the 2nd Deutscher
Schachkongress (German
Chess Congress) tournament,
held in Berlin. It was organized
by Hermann Zwanzig and Emil
Schallopp.
In 1881, Edward Chamier

(1840-1892) won the 2nd
French National Tournament
(unofficial French Chess
Championship), held in Paris.
In May-June 1882, an
international tournament was
held in Vienna. The event was
held on the 25th anniversary of
the founding of the Vienna
Chess Society. William
Steinitz and Winawer tied for
1st place. 9 of the top 10 chess
players in the world
participated. It was an 18-
player double round robin. he
main sponsors were IgnÃ¡c
Kolisch and the club's
president Albert Salomon von
Rothschild who together
donated 7500 francs to be split
over the top six. Franz Joseph I
of Austria was the patron of
the event, who also donated a
special prize of 2000 Austrian
Gulden (Kaiserpreis). The time
control was 15 moves per
hour, with a 2-hour break after
4 hours. Games not completed
after eight hours of play were
adjourned to be finished on the
rest day. A special prize was
awarded to Zukertort for the
best performance against the
top three players. On May 12,
Steinitz drew a game with
Mackenzie, thus ending the
longest winning streak in chess
history. Steinitz at the time had
won 25 consecutive games, the
last draw he conceded was
nine years earlier, on August 3
in the Vienna 1873
tournament. After this Steinitz
would lose three consecutive
games to Zukertort, Hruby, and
Ware.
In 1883, a 14-player
held in London. One of the
financial backers of the event
was Lord Randolph Churchill
(1849-1895). Another patron
was Prince Leopold (1853-
1884). The event was won by
Johann Zukertort. This was the
first tournament to use double-
headed chess clocks. It
consisted of two balanced
clocks on a seesaw beam so
that when one was tilted, it
stopped and the other started.
The tumbling-clock was
manufactured by Fattonini &
Sons of Bradford, England.
Time control was 15 moves in
two hours, and if you failed to
make the time limit, you
forfeited the game. The first
two draws did not count and
were replayed. The third draw
counted. It was the first time
that double-headed chess
clocks were used. At the same
time, a minor tournament,
called the Vizayanagaram
Tournament, was won by Curt
Von Bardeleben.
In 1883, the first International

Chess Problem Tournament for
Ladies was held, and won by
Frideswide Fanny Beechey
Rowland (1843-1919). (source:
British Chess Magazine, 1981,
p. 403)
In July 1884, the first Scottish

chess championship was held
in Glasgow. The winner was
John Crum, scoring 7 out of 9.
In 1884, the first international

correspondence chess
tournament was organized by
the French chess magazine, La
StratÃ©gie.
In 1884, the first women's

chess tournament was held,
sponsored by the Sussex Chess
Association in England. It was
won by Miss Parvess on
tiebreak over Mrs. Dunhill.
(source: The Chess Player's
Chronicle, 1885, p. 176)
In 1885, the second Scottish

championship was held in
Edinburgh. The winner was
Daniel Yarnton Mills (1849-
1904).
In 1885, the first Irish Chess

Association tournament was
held in Dublin. The winner
was William H. K. Pollock
(1859-1896). He scored 9 out
of 10.
In July 1885, the first British

Chess Federation
London. The winner was Isidor
Gunsberg (1854-1930).
In 1886, the second British

Chess Federation
London. The winner was
Joseph Henry Blackburne after
he defeated Amos Burn in a
play-off.
In 1886, the first British

Amateur chess championship
was held in London. The
winner was Walter Montagu
Gattie (1854-1907).
In 1886, the second Irish Chess

Association tournament was
held in Belfast. The winner
was William Pollock.
In 1886, the third Scottish

Glasgow. The winner was
Georges Emile Barbier (1844-
1895).
In 1886, the first Bavarian

Chess Federation tournament
was held in Munich. The
winner was Hermann
Neustadtl (1862-1909).
In 1886, the first New York

State Association (NYSCA)
Cooperstown, NY. The winner
was Walter Penn Shipley
(1860-1942).
In 1887, the second Australian

Adelaide. The winner was
Henry Charlick.
In 1887, the 3rd British Chess

Federation Congress was held
in London. Amos Burn and
Isidor Gunsberg tied for 1st
place.
In 1887, the 2nd British

Amateur chess championship
was held in London. The
winner was Charles Dealty
Locock (1862-1946).
In 1888, the first United States

Chess Association chess
tournament was held in
Cincinnati, Ohio. It was won
by Jackson Showalter (1859-
1935) with 8 wins, no losses,
and 2 draws. The tournament
was a 6-player double round
robin.
tournament was organized.
In May 1889, Mikhail

Chigorin and Miksa Weiss tied
for 1st at the 6th American
Chess Congress held in New
York. Chigorin won the most
games in a single tournament,
27. The top US player was S.
Lipschutz. 20 players played a
double round robin. 430 games
were played from March 25,
1889 to May 18, 1889. Drawn
games had to be replayed. In
addition, the players who
shared 1st and 2nd places
(Chigorin and Weiss, each
scoring 29-9) had to play a
match for first prize (4 more
games - all drawn). The match
lasted 9 days. Weiss played the
most games with 47 games.
There were 38 regular rounds,
8 replay rounds, and a 4-game
playoff for first, making it 50
total rounds for the top two
players. The first "best game
prize" was awarded to
Gunsberg over Mason, New
York 1889. Nicholas MacLeod
(1870-1965) lost 31 games in
this tournament. After the 6th
over, there was no money left
for the non-prize winners.
Taubenhaus of Paris was left
destitute, having spent all his
money he had to live on during
the two months of the tourney.
He received a cable dispatch
from Paris to return and help
manipulate the automaton
Mephisto for 100 francs a
week. But Taubenhaus had no
money to buy a ticket for a
ship leaving for Europe. He
asked the tournament
committee for $25 to enable
him to secure at least a
steerage passage, but the
request was refused. (source:
New York Times, May 24,
1889)
In February 1890, the 3rd

United States Chess
Association Congress
tournament was held in St.
Louis. The winner was Jackson
Whipps Showalter. He scored
11 wins, no losses, and one
draw. There were 7
participants.
Vienna. Adolf Albin (1848-
1920), a Romanian chess
master, played his first
international tournament at this
event at the age of 42.
In 1891, the 4th United States

Chess Association Congress
Lexington, Kentucky.
Showalter beat William
Pollock in a play-off to take
1st place. There were 7
players.
In 1892, Edward Roberts and

Arthur Rivett ties for 1st in the
first South African
Championship, held in Cape
Town.
In March 1893, General Hiram

Barden died while playing
chess at the Metropolitan Club
in Washington, DC. He was
the inventor of the Berdan
range finder, torpedo, and rifle.
(source: New York Times,
April 1, 1893)
On Oct 14, 1893, Emanuel

Lasker won the New York
International, held at the
Manhattan Chess Club, with
13 straight wins and no losses
and no draws. He won 4.5
points ahead of 2nd place
Albin. President Grover
Cleveland offered a gift of a
$500 gold medal as a prize.
(source: The Brooklyn Daily
Eagle, Feb 9, 1893)
In October 1894, Steinitz won

in the 1894 New York
championship, scoring 8.5 out
of 10.
In August-September 1895, the

great Hastings tournament was
held in Hastings, England. It
was the strongest chess
tournament at the time it
occurred. Beniamino Vergani
(1863-1927) was invited to
play in the Hastings
International tournament of
1895. He was a chess master
from Italy. He ended up in last
place, scoring only 3 points (2
wins and 2 draws) out of 21.
He was so disgusted with his
game that he never played in a
masters' chess tournament
again. He was given 2 British
pounds for his efforts. The
tournament had 22 world class
chess players. It was won by
Harry Nelson Pillsbury,
scoring 16.5 out of 21. 2nd
place went to Mikhail Chigorin
and 4rd place went to world
champion Emanuel Lasker.
The women's tournament was
won by Lady Thomas.
In 1895, the first tournament

that used the Swiss pairing
system (a non-eliminating
tournament format) has held in
Zurich, Switzerland.
In July-August 1896, Emanuel

Lasker won at Nuremberg with
12 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses. The
tournament was organized by
the Nuremberg Chess Club and
scheduled to coincide with a
large industrial exhibition of
the city. 39 players wanted to
participate, but 19 players were
allowed. The time limit was
thirty moves in two hours. The
main prizes went to Emanuel
Lasker (3000 marks), GÃ©za
MarÃ³czy (2000 marks),
Siegbert Tarrasch and Harry
Nelson Pillsbury (each 1250
marks), Dawid Janowski (600
marks), Wilhelm Steinitz (300
marks), Carl August Walbrodt
and Carl Schlechter (each 100
marks).
In June 1897, the 1st women's

held at the Ladies' Club at
Hotel Cecil in London. It was
won by Mary Rudge (18 wins
and one draw), followed by
Fagan, Thorold, Worrall,
Ponnefin, Thomas, and Barry.
Miss Rudge won 60 British
pounds. (source: New York
Times, July 5, 1897 and The
Westminster Budget, July 9,
1897)
In 1897, the first Nordic

Congress was held in
Stockholm. The winner was
Sven Otto Svensson.
In September-October 1897, an
held in Berlin. Berthold
Englisch (1851-1897) an
Austrian master, fell ill and
withdrew after 12 rounds. He
returned to Vienna and died of
a brain infection two weeks
after the tournament. Rudolf
Charousek won the event. The
Internationales Turnier Berlin
1897 celebrated seventy years
of the Berliner
Schachgesellschaft. Twenty
great chess masters started but
Curt von Bardeleben had to
withdraw after a short draw.
Charousek won 2000 Marks
and Carl August won 1500
Marks.
Vienna. Chigorin and Tarrasch
were playing and it came down
to an ending with a
symmetrical pawn formation
and bishops of opposite colors.
Chigorin got fed up and
offered a draw. Tarrasch
refused. Tchigorin knew
Tarrasch well, and was half
expecting that; he calmly
removed his bishop from the
board and said, in broken
German, "Go ahead. Win."
Tarrasch proceeded to
reappraise the position in the
light of this startling
development, and then tamely
agreed to a draw. Tarrasch and
Pillsbury tied for 1st.
In 1899, the second Nordic

Congress was held in
Copenhagen. The winner was
Jorgen Moeller (1873-1943).
In May-July 1899, a strong

held in London and won by
Emanuel Lasker, scoring 23.5
and 4.5 points ahead of the
group that tied for 2nd
(Maroczy, Pillsbury, and
Janowski). It was a 15-player
double round robin. Amos
Burn was scheduled to play,
but he withdrew on the
opening day. Richard
Teichmann withdrew after
round 4 due to an eye
infection.
In 1899, the first All-Russia

chess championship was held
in Moscow, won by Mikhail
Chigorin.
In 1899, the first Baltic Chess

tournament was held in Riga,
Latvia. The winner was
Roberts Betins after a play-off
with Karl Rosenkrantz.
In 1900, the first U.S. Open

(Western Chess Association)
was held in Excelsior,
Minnesota. The winner was
Louis Uedemann. There were
20 players.
In January 1901, Chigorin won

the 2nd Russian National
Tournament in Moscow.
In 1901, the second U.S. Open

(Western Chess Association)
was held in Excelsior,
Minnesota. The winner was
Nicholas MacLeod. There
were 16 players.
tournament was held at a
casino in Monte Carlo. David
Janowski (1868-1927) won the
event with a score of 10 Â¼
out of 13. Drawn games were
worth Â¼ point and were
replayed. He then all his first-
place money in the casino the
same evening the tournament
ended. The casino management
had to buy his ticket home.
tournament was held in Monte
Carlo. Geza Maroczy won the
event, ahead of Harry Pillsbury
and Dawid Janowski.
In 1902, Janowski won the

German Open Chess
Championship.
In 1903, an international chess
tournament was held in Monte
Carlo. I was sponsored by
Salome Dadian de Mingrelie
(1848-1913), prince of
Mingrelia. He invited Mikhail
Tchigorin to play but later paid
him 1,500 francs (greater than
3rd prize money) not to play
because Chigorin had
published analysis of one of
the Prince's games, pointing
out he had made gross errors.
A valuable art object was to go
to the winner of a short match
between the 1st and 2nd place
finishers (Tarrasch and
Maroczy). The players wanted
a play for money also. This
annoyed the Prince who gave
the art object to the 3rd place
finisher (Pillsbury). In the
event, Colonel Charles Moreau
(1837-19160 lost all 26 games,
winning none and drawing
none (and earning 75 francs).
He lost two games each to
Tarrasch, Maroczy, Pillsbury,
Schlechter, Teichmann, Marco,
Wolf, Mieses, Marshall,
Taubenhaus, Mason, Albin,
and Reggio.
In April-May 1904, the great

Cambridge Springs
International Chess Congress
was held in Cambridge
Springs, Pennsylvania. It was
sponsored by William Rider,
who owned the Hotel Rider in
town. Most of the support
came from Rider and the
directors of the Erie Railroad
Company. On April 16, 1904,
eight of the strongest chess
players from Europe arrived in
New York by ship (S.S.
Pretoria). This included current
world chess champion (1894-
1921) Emanuel Lasker (1868-
1941) coming from Berlin,
Russian champion and number
two player in the world
Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908)
coming from St. Petersburg,
number 6 player in the world
Carl Schlechter (1874-1918)
coming from Vienna,Berlin
champion and number 7 player
in the world Richard
Teichmann (1868-1925),
French champion and number
8 player in the world David
Janowski (1868-1927) coming
from Paris, Viennese champion
and number 11 player in the
world Georg Marco (1863-
1923) coming from Vienna,
German master and number 15
player in the world Jacques
Mieses (1865-1954) coming
from Leipzig, and 6-time
London champion Thomas
Lawrence (1871-1953) coming
from London. It was reported
that the players would attend a
reception with President
Theodore Roosevelt at the
White House, but the reception
was cancelled. At the end of
the tournament, the organizers
tried to recoup some of their
expenses by selling chess
boards and sets for $15.
Mikhail Chigorin was stunned
at these high prices,
complaining that the sets were
cheat, not worth more than
$2.50, and the poorly made
chess boards were only worth
10 to 15 cents. The sets and
boards sold anyway. (source:
Andy Soltis, Chess Life, Dec
1995)
In June-July 1905, the first in a

planned series of international
chess master tournaments was
held in the coastal town of
Ostend, Belgium. The
tournament was conducted at
the local casino with 14
masters. It was won by
Maroczy.
Ostend. There were 36
competitors. 326 games were
played. Only Emanuel Lasker
and Siegbert Tarrasch opted
not to play. It was won by
Schlechter.
In 1907, a quadruple round

robin elite chess tournament
was held at a casino in Ostend,
Belgium. It included the top
six players in the world, except
for Lasker. The event was
called the "World Tournament
championship." It was the first
time that the title of
grandmaster was used.
Nimzowitch, who was 19 at
the time, participated in the
event, but was forbidden by
law to enter the tournament
room in the casino. He had to
play all his games outside the
tournament room. The Ostend,
Belgium Masters' Tournament
was played in May-June 1907.
Ossip Bernstein and Akiba
Rubinstein tied for 1st place
with 19.5 points. Nimzowitsch
and Jacques Mieses tied for
3rd-4th place with 19 points. A
championship tournament was
also held for the top 6 players.
Siegbert Tarrasch won that
event.
In March-April 1908, an
held at Vienna. It was in honor
of the 60th anniversary of
Franz Joseph I of Austria's
elevation as Emperor of
Austria and King of Hungary.
20 masters participated. Geza
Maroczy, Carl Schlechter, and
Oldrich Duras all tied for 1st
place, with 14 out of 20
points.
In 1909, Alexander Alekhine

won the All-Russian Amateur
tournament in St. Petersburg.
In 1909, the first Chigorin

Memorial Tournament was
held in St. Petersburg.
Rubinstein and Lasker tied for
1st place. Rubinstein and
Lasker won 875 rubles (each),
Spielmann and Duras 475
rubles (each), Bernstein 190
rubles, Teichmann 120 rubles,
Perlis 80 rubles, Cohn,
Schlechter, and Salwe 40
rubles (each).
Hamburg. Because of an injury
to his foot, one of the
participants, Alexander
Alekhine, had to be carried to
his table every day. This would
have been the 17th German
Chess Federation (DSB)
tournament in July-August,
1910. Carl Schlechter won the
event. Alekhine (1892-1946)
tied for 7th-8th. Alekhine was
17 years old and could not
walk on account of a serious
swelling of the lymphatic
vessels of his ankles.
tournament was held at San
Sebastian, Spain. 9 of the top
10 players in the world
participated. It was limited to
those masters who had won at
least one third prize in an
International Tournament. An
exception was made to this
ruling in the case of
Capablanca (who had never
played in an International
Tournament) on the strength of
his phenomenal victory over
Marshall two years earlier. The
exception won the tournament!
Initially, Ossip Bernstein (and
Aron Nimzowitsch) had
objected to Jacques Mieses, the
tournament organizer, about
Capablanca's inclusion in the
tournament based on one
match victory. Capablanca
proved himself first by
defeating Bernstein in the first
round (winning the Rothschild
prize for the most brilliant
game of the tournament). He
then beat Nimzowitsch,
silencing his protests for the
rest of the tournament. He then
went on admirably to win clear
first in the tournament, taking
home the 5000 Franc prize, as
well as winning the brilliancy
prize. Capablanca scored 9.5
out of 14 to win the event. San
Sebastian was the strongest
chess tournament since
Nuremberg in 1896.
Capablanca won a major
international tournament at his
first attempt (the last person to
do that was Pillsbury when he
won Hastings 1895). He won
6, drew 7, and lost 1 (to
Rubinstein) ahead of
Rubinstein and Schlechter. At
age 23, Capablanca was now
the 2nd strongest player in the
world, after Emanuel Lasker.
This was the first international
tournament that reimbursed all
the competitors for their
travelling and living expenses.
Carlsbad. Oscar Chajes (1873-
1928), as Black, had an
interesting game against Amos
Burn in the final round. The
Burn-Chajes game saw 5
queens on the board during
play. Chajes lost after 115
moves. Burn, at one time,
offered a draw, knowing that
he was winning, but Chajes
refused. There were 4 queens
on the board at the same time
from move 77 to 92 in the
queen-pawn ending. It was the
last round of the tournament
and both players booked space
on ships which left in the
evening of the following day.
They would have had to take
an early morning train to get to
the port of embarkation in
time. The outcome of the game
was of no real importance.
Chajes played on in hope of
getting a better score than last
place. The game lasted 15
hours and it was now dawn.
When the game was over, the
remaining spectators and other
players still there gave them a
standing ovation. The
tournament organizers voted to
create a special prize and
award it to both players for
their fighting spirit. After
Chajes was checkmated, both
players rushed to their rooms
to pack and make it to the
railway station. Both players
missed their train. Chajes had
to wait a week before he could
get another ship bound for
New York. Richard Teichmann
won the event.
In February-March 1912, an
held in San Sebastian, Spain. It
was won by Akiba Rubinstein,
scoring 12.5 points out of 20.
In 1913, a tournament was held

in Havana which included Jose
Capablanca and Frank
Marshall (1877-1944).
Capablanca asked the mayor of
Havana to clear the tournament
room so that no one would see
him resign to Marshall.
Charles Jaffe (1879-1941)
drew his game with Frank
Marshall in the first round, and
later, lost his next game to
Marshall, blundering away his
queen for a rook and then
promptly resigned. Jose
Capablanca, who lost to
Marshall and Jaffe, charged
that Jaffe intentionally lost his
game to Marshall so that
Marshall would win the
tournament ahead of
Capablanca. It was alleged that
Capablanca influenced
tournament organizers in the
USA and Cuba so that Jaffe
would be unable to be invited
or play in major tournaments
after this, especially
tournaments in which
Capablanca was playing. Jaffe
never played again in a
tournament where Capablanca
also participated.
In July-August 1914, the 19th

German Chess Federation
Championship was held in
Mannheim, Germany. During
the event, World War I broke
out and the tournament ended
prematurely. Alekhine was
leading 9.5-1.5 before the
tournament ended. All the
Russian players were interned
after the tournament.
In 1914/15, an international
chess tournament was held at
Triberg. It was won by Efim
Bogoljubow, ahead of Ilya
Rabinovich and Peter
Romanovsky.
In January-February 1916, the
first Rice Memorial
Tournament was held in New
York City. There were 14
participants. The event
included two stages
(preliminaries and final). The
preliminaries started as a
round-robin tournament. Five
players qualified for the final.
JosÃ© RaÃºl Capablanca
played superior chess in the
preliminaries. Since the results
of the preliminaries carried
over into the finals,
Capablanca with a 3 1/2-point
lead was a heavy favorite to
win the tournament. Dawid
Janowski, Boris Kostic and
Abraham Kupchik tied for
2nd-4th, and Oscar Chajes
took 5th place. The final
tournament was won by Chajes
(who beat Capablanca) and
Janowski, ahead of
Capablanca, Kostic and
Kupchik. Summary, the winner
was Capablanca (+12 —1 =4),
followed by Janowski 11
points, Chajes 10 1/2 points,
Kostic and Kupchik 10 points
each.
In 1916/17, the 8th Leopold

Trebitsch Memorial
Tournament was won by Carl
Schlechter, ahead of Miland
Vidmar.
In 1918, the first chess

tournament held in China was
won by Xie Xiaxun (1888-
1987).
In 1919, Jose Capablanca won
the Hastings Summer
Congress.
In 1920, Friedrich Saemisch

won the 20th Deutscher
Schachbund (DSB) Congress,
held in Berlin.
In 1920/21, the first Hastings

Hastings, England. It was won
by Frderick Yates.
In 1922, the first Annual

Tournament of the Southern
Chess Association was held in
Florida. It was won by Nestor
Hernandez of Tampa.
In 1922, the London Chess

Congress was played at the
Central Hall in Westminster,
London. The event was won
by Capablanca.
In April-May 1923, and

was held in the health resort of
Carlsbad (Karlsbad, Karlovy
Vary), Czechoslovakia. There
were 18 masters, directed by
Viktor Tietz. Alekhine,
Bogoljubow and Maroczy all
tied for 1st place. The three
winners earned 3,505
Czechoslovak koruna for their
victory, with Alekhine earning
an additional "Prize of Honor,"
a crystal goblet worth 1,000
Kcs, and Bogoljubov receiving
a cash prize worth half
Alekhine's prize. The
tournament also saw the
distribution of ten brilliancy
prizes, including three "first
prizes" which went to
Alekhine for his win against
GrÃ¼nfeld, Nimzowitsch for
his win against Yates, and
Yates for his win against
Alekhine.
In July 1924, the first world

team competition (called the
Chess Olympic Games or
Tournament of Nations) took
place in Paris, France, to
coincide with the 8th Summer
Olympic Games. There were
55 players (one player later
withdrew) from 18 countries.
Each team had a maximum of
four players (Ireland, Canada,
and Yugoslavia only had one
player). Although officially
chess was not part of the
Olympic Games, the rules of
the Olympiads applied with a
ban on professional players.
The two players representing
Russia were refugees living in
Paris. The painter, Marcel
Duchamp, played board 1 for
France. Max Euwe played
board 1 for Holland. The
World Chess Federation
(FIDE) was founded by the
players at this event.
Czechoslovakia (Hromadka,
Schulz, Vanek, Skalicka) took
1st place, followed by Hungary
and Switzerland. The
individual Gold went to
Herman Mattison of Latvia and
was given the title "Amateur
World Champion." World
champion Alexander Alekhine
was the tournament director.

tournament in Germany after
World War I was held in
Baden-Baden. The event was
won by Alexander Alekhine.

tournament financed by
government funds was held in
Moscow.
In 1926, a lightning chess

British Chess Federation
Congress in Edinburgh. One of
the participants was James
Marshall, a former Scottish
chess champion. He had
travelled from his home in
Stirling to see the
championship tournament, and
decided to take part in the
lightning event. He won his
first game, but later collapsed
at the board and died a few
minutes later, despite medical
assistance from other
competitors. The tournament
was abandoned and the chess
room closed until the evening
as a sign of respect.
tournament was held in New
York. Two of the participants
were Aron Nimzowitsch and
Dr. Milan Vidmar (1885-
1962). Nimzowitsch was
paired with Vidmar when
Vidmar took out his pipe and
began to fiddle with it.
Nimzowitsch asked Vidmar
not to smoke. Vidmar agreed,
but later during the game, he
absent-mindedly took his cigar
case out of his pocket and laid
it on the chess table.
Nimzowitch at once left the
table and ran to Geza Maroczy
(1860-1951), the tournament
director, complaining that
Vidmar had his cigar case out.
Maroczy said to Nimzowitsch,
"But Vidmar is not smoking;
his cigar case in unopened."
Nimzowitsch responded, "I
know, but as an old
chessplayer you must know
that the threat is stronger than
the execution."
The very first official Chess

Olympiad began in London in
July 1927. Germany and
Austria were not invited. 16
teams participated with 70
players. The women did not
participate until 1957. Hungary
(Maroczy, Nagy, Vajda,
Havasi, E. Steiner) took first
place and the Hamilton-Russell
trophy. The official title of
"Chess Olympiad" did not
happen until 1952. The Chess
Olympiad was also called the
International Team
Tournament, Tournament of
Nations, and the World Team
Championship. The first
Women's World Chess
Championship was held at the
same time in London as the
chess Olympiad, won by Vera
Menchik.
In 1927, the first Soviet
Women's Championship was
held. It was won by Mrs. Olga
Rubsova.
In 1928, before the start of the

2nd official Chess Olympiad at
the Hague, FIDE decided that
only amateurs could take part.
The British sand Yugoslavia
suspected that the USA team
included chess professionals,
so they withdrew in protest.
Just before the start of the
Olympiad, FIDE canceled the
ban on professionals, but it
was too late for most of the 17
teams to send their best
players. Isaac Kashdan won
the gold medal with the score
of 13 out of 15. An Amateur
World Championship for
individuals, with 16 players,
also took place during the
Olympiad. Each country was
allowed one representative.
The event was won by Max
Euwe. This chess Olympiad
was held in conjunction with
the Summer Olympics in
Amsterdam. This is considered
the weakest of all chess
Olympiads. The Hamilton-
Russell Cup was not offered to
the winning team of this event
because it was a truly open
team event. Hungary (Nagy, A.
Steiner, Vajda, Havasi) won
the event with 44 out of 64
points.
In 1928, the first Women's

Championship of Moscow was
held. It was won by Ludmilla
Rudkenko, scoring a perfect
12-0.
Carlsbad with 9 of the top 10
participating. Vera Menchik,
women's world champion,
participated in the event. At the
tournament, Georg Albert
Becker (1896-1984) said "I
propose to open the Vera
Menchik Club, whose
members will be solely
masters defeated by the lady
world champion." Before the
tournament at Carlsbad, he
said that he would go onstage
as a ballerina if Menchik
scored more than 3 points. At
Carlsbad (won by
Nimzowitsch), she finished
last with 2 wins, 2 draws (3
points) and 17 losses. She beat
Becker (the first member of the
Vera Menchik Club) and
Saemisch. The event was won
by Aron Nimzowitsch.
San Remo 1930 was the first

held in the famous San Remo
casino. Sixteen chess masters
from Europe and the Americas,
including World Champion
Alexander Alekhine, played a
round robin tournament from
16 January to 4 February 1930.
The games were played in the
casino during the day, and in
the evening the playing hall
was used for dancing.
Alekhine dominated the field
with a score of 14/15, 3 1/2
points ahead of second place
Aron Nimzowitsch, and
winning the grand prize of
10,000 lire.
In 1930, Alexander Alekhine

was the first player to score
100% out of 9 games as he
played for France on Board 1
in the Chess Olympiad. In
2002, Robert Gwaze of
Zimbabwe became the second
person to score 100% out of 9
games.
The 1931 Chess Olympiad at

Prague was the only Olympiad
where every single player lost
at least one game. No one was
able to win more than 10
games out of a possible 18
games played. The USA
(Kashdan, Marshall, Dake,
Horowitz, and Steiner) won the
gold medal (48 out of 72
points) and the Hamilton-
Russell Cup for the first time.
This team event of 19 teams
did not have a single new
county participating for the
first time. Every team in this
event had played in a previous
Olympiad. This event enforced
the rule that the playing order
submitted with the entry must
be adhered to throughout the
competition.
tournament was held at Bled.
Two of the participants were
Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-
1935) and Geza Maroczy
(1870-1951). The two got into
an argument and Maroczy
challenged Nimzowitsch to a
pistol duel. Nimzowitch rightly
refused. The event was won by
Alexander Alekhine.
Nimzowitsch took 3rd place
and Maroczy took 11th place.
York. Capablanca won with 9
wins, no losses, and 1 draw.

tournament in Mexico was
held in Mexico City.
Alexander Alekhine and Isaac
Kashdan, who both tied for 1st
with an 8.5-0.5 score.

tournament was held. It was
won by Janos Balogh (1892-
1980) of Romania.
In 1933, Dr. Joseph Goebbels

(1897-1945) banned all Jewish
players from official chess
tournaments in Germany.
In 1933, the 34th Western

Detroit. U.S. chess champion
Sammy Reshevsky was asked
whether he expected to win the
Western Tournament. His
reply was, "Who is there to
beat me?" Reshevsky was
right. Nobody did beat him â€”
but he did not win the
tournament. Reshevsky scored
11-2 with 9 wins and 4 draws.
Reuben Fine scored 12-1 with
12 wins and 1 loss. The event
was held at the Hotel Tuller in
Detroit from September 23 to
October 1, 1933 (otherwise
known as the US Open). The
event was sponsored by the
Auto City Chess and Checker
Club. There were 14 players in
the event. Fine lost to
Reshevsky in round 6, but won
every other game that he
played. Reshevsky drew to
Arthur Dake, Samuel Factor,
Albert Margolis, and George
Barnes.
At the Folkestone Olympiad in

1933, Isaac Kashdan
represented the USA. He
brought along his wife. Umar
Khan offered Isaac Kashdan's
wife 150 English pounds if she
would join his harem. Only 15
teams participated (19 teams
applied), the least of any
Olympiad. Originally, this
Olympiad was scheduled to be
played in Chicago, but these
plans were cancelled due to
financial problems. Alekhine
won the gold medal on board 1
with 9.5 out of 12. The USA
team (Kashdan, Marshall, Fine,
Dake, Simonson) won again
with 39 out of 56 points.
Robert Combe of Scotland lost
to Volfgangs Hasenfuss of
Latvia in 4 moves, the shortest
chess Olympiad game ever.
In July 1934, an international

tournament was held at Zurich.
Switzerland. The event
commemorated the 125th
anniversary of the
Schachgessellschaft Zurich
(the Zurich Chess Society).
The tournament pitted seven
Swiss players against 9
international players. Alekhine
won the event with 13 out of
15 points. Euwe and Flohr tied
for 2nd place. Bogoljubow
took 4th place and Emanuel
Lasker took 5th place.
Moscow. Over 100,000 people
requested tickets of admission
to the first round. Mikhail
Botvinnik and Salomon Flohr
tied for first place in this 20-
player event. The tournament
was organized by Nikolai
Krylenko, the head of Soviet
Chess. He invited two former
world champions (Lasker and
Capablanca) and eight foreign
masters to pit their skills
against 12 Soviet masters. The
Museum of Fine Arts in
Moscow. Over 60,000 tickets
to the tournament were sold
out long before the event even
began. Only 4,000 fans at a
time could be accommodated
with seating in the playing
room. There were also 180
Soviet journalists and 23
foreign journalists that covered
the event. During the
tournament, Ilya Rabinovich
(1891-1942) was ordered to
lose against Mikhail Botvinnik
to ensure that Botvinnik took
1st place. Botvinnik refused to
go along with the plan, saying,
"â€¦then I will myself put a
piece en prise and resign." The
plan was aborted, the game
was drawn, and Botvinnik
shared 1st place with Salo
Flohr (1908-1983) of
Czechoslovakia. Rabinovich
tied for 11th-14th. Earlier,
Flohr had proposed to
Botvinnik that they both draw
their final game and share 1st
place. It was Botvinnik's first
success in international chess.
In 1935, the chess Olympiad

was held in Warsaw as a
reward for Poland's
performance in previous
Olympiads. Three new
countries, Estonia, Ireland, and
Palestine, participated for the
first time. A total of 20 teams
participated in this event. The
USA team (Fine, Marshall,
Kupchik, Dake, Horowitz)
won again with 54 out of 76
points.
In 1935-36, the USSR Trade

Unions chess championship
was held. It had 700,000
entrants, the largest of any
chess tournament.
In August 1936, one of the

strongest international
tournaments ever held took
place at Nottingham, England.
Alderman Job Nightingale
Derbyshire (1866-1954), a
Nottingham manufacturer,
underwrote the event.
Botvinnik and Capablanca tied
for first place. Nottingham
1936 is one of the very few
tournaments in chess history to
include five past, present, or
future world champions
(Lasker, JosÃ© RaÃºl
Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe
and Botvinnik). This was
Lasker's last major event. This
was the first Soviet success
outside the Soviet Union.
Amsterdam. Max Euwe and
Reuben Fine tied for 1st place.
International Master Theo van
Scheltinga (1914-1994) scored
9. He may have been the
strongest chessplayer ever to
finish a chess tournament with
0 points.
A chess Olympiad was held in

Munich in 1936 to coincide
with the Olympic Games.
However, Germany was not a
member of FIDE (they had
withdrawn from FIDE in
1933), so it was an unofficial
Olympiad. There were 21
teams and 208 participants in
this event. Each team consisted
of 8 boards and two reserves
instead of the normal 4 boards.
1,680 games were played, a
record that stood for 24 years
(until Leipzig in 1960).
Hungary won every match to
win the event with 110.5 out of
160.
In 1936, the first U.S.

championship that was played
in a tournament instead of a
match was held in New York
City and won by Samuel
Reshevsky.

tournament was held at Jurata,
Poland. The 22 masters had to
play 21 games in 14 days with
no adjournments.

chess tournament ever held in
Estonia was played in Parnu. It
was won by Dr. Paul Felix
Schmidt (1916-1984).
In 1937, the 7th Chess

Olympiad was held in
Stockholm. USA team won for
the 4th time in a row, led by
Olympic newcomer Sammy
Reshevsky.
In June-July 1937, an
held in Kemeri, Latvia. There
were three co-winners: Samuel
Reshevsky, Salo Flohr and
Vladimir Petrov.

in Plymouth, England. Rowena
Bruce (1919-1999) played
world woman champion Vera
Menchik in the morning and
world champion Alexander
Alekhine in the afternoon for
rounds 2 and 3. She is the only
person to have played two
world chess champions in a
tournament on the same day.
In 1938, AVRO sponsored an
international tournament in the
Netherlands. It had the top 8
players in the world. It was
won by Paul Keres (on
tiebreak over Reuben Fine),
who earned him the right to
challenge Alekhine for the
world chess championship.
The match never came off due
to World War II.
In 1938, the US Open was held

in Boston. Three ladies drove
from New York to participate
in the event, Mary Bain, Mrs.
McCready and Miss Weart.
After the tournament was over,
they were on their way back to
New York. However, they
were in a car wreck after their
car skidded on slippery
pavement and crashed into a
telegraph pole. Miss McCready
suffered minor injuries; Miss
Weart was pinned under the
car and sustained a fracture to
her shoulder; Mary Bain
suffered a fractured vertebra
which required her to be in a
cast for eight months,
bedridden for much of that
time.

8th official Chess Olympiad,
held in Buenos Aires, was the
first time held outside Europe.
The USA, four-time gold
medal winners, did not
participate. The players asked
for $2,500 compensation but
were offered only $1,500 by
the U.S. Chess Federation, so
they all refused to participate.
Abe Yanofsky (1925-2000),
age 14 and the youngest player
in the event, played second
board for Canada. He met a
spectator called J. Janowski. It
turned out they were brothers
and it was the first time they
had met. J. Janowsky
happened to show Abe
Yanofsky a photo of his father
when Abe exclaimed, "That's
my father too!" Yanofsky
scored the best percentage on
board 2. The finals of the
Olympiad began on September
1, 1939, the beginning of
World War II. The English
team withdrew immediately
after taking 3rd place in the
preliminaries group and sailed
home on the first available
ship. Three members of the
British Olympiad team were
later instrumental in breaking
the German "Enigma" code
during World War II. 84 games
were not played and 24 games
were set by default. This was
the first Olympiad that had
preliminary groups and a finals
section to handle the 27 teams.
The German team (Eliskases,
Michel, Engels, Becker,
Reinhardt) won by 1/2 point
over Poland.
In 1940, the US Open wash

held in Dallas. Weaver Adams
played in the event. He had
just written and published a
book called White to Play and
Win. He did not win a single
game with White (3 losses and
1 draw), and won all four of
his games as Black! Adams
then played a match with I.A.
Horowitz. Adams had White
every game and Horowitz had
Black every game. Adams lost
the match.
In 1941, the first USCF Open

postal chess tournament was
held. It was won by Louis
Persinger (1887-1966), one of
the greatest violinists who ever
lived.
In 1942, the first tournament in

the United States that used the
Swiss pairing system was the
Texas chess championship.
In 1942, the US championship

was held in New York. Samuel
Reshevsky lost the US
championship due to a stupid
mistake by the tournament
director. Arnold Denker (1914-
2005) beat Samuel Reshevsky
(1911-1992) on time in the US
chess championship. While
spectators watched, the
tournament director, Walter
Stephens (1883-1948),
mistakenly declared that
Denker's time had expired.
Stephens was looking at the
clock backwards and refused to
change his decision, which
ultimately gave Reshevsky the
title.
In 1943, the first Chess

Review Golden Knights postal
tournament (then called the
Victory Tournament) was won
by John Staffer, born in 1872.

was held in Kansas City,
Kansas in which Al Horowitz
(1907-1973) was participating.
Against one of his opponents,
he made a spectacular and
unexpected move. His
opponent was so shocked he
dropped dead of a heart attack.
In 1945-1946, the first Pan-

American Intercollegiate chess
tournament was played in New
York and won by City College
of New York. It is the largest
and most prestigious collegiate
chess tournament in the
Western Hemisphere.
In July 1946, Larry Friedman

of Cleveland won the first
USCF National Junior Chess
Championship Tournament,
held in Chicago. There were 32
players. (source: Chess Life,
Sep 5, 1946, p. 1)
In July 1946, Herman Steiner

of Los Angeles won the 47th
US Open, held in Pittsburgh.
He scored 13.5 out of 17.
Second place went to Herbert
Seidman. Third place went to
Abraham Kupchik. The Swiss
System was used for the first
time in a US Open (after the
first two rounds were paired by
lot) to determine qualifiers for
the various final sections.
There were 58 entrants.
(source: Chess Life, Sep 5,
1946, p. 1)
first international chess
tournament after World War II
was held at Groningen, the
Netherlands. It was won by
Mikhail Botvinnik (14.5-4.5),
a half point ahead of Max
Euwe (14-5). It was
Botvinnik's first outright
victory outside of the Soviet
Union and Euwe's last major
success. Smyslov took 3rd
place.
In October-November 1946,
the US Chess Championship
was held in New York. Samuel
Reshevsky regained the US
Chess Championship title (he
lost it in 1944 when he failed
to compete) with the score of
16-2. Isaac Kashdan took 2nd
place with 13.5 points and
Anthony Santasiere took 3rd
place with 13 points. Lewis J.
Isaacs withdrew after 9 rounds
of play. Larry Friedman, the
National Junior Champion,
was to have played, but
withdrew at the last minute.
Miss N. May Karff won the
women's chess championship
with 8 wins, 1 draw, and no
losses. (source: Chess Life,
Nov 20, 1946, p. 1)
In December 1946, the first

Championship of the
Phillipines was held in Manila.
It was won by Horacio P.
Tagle. He scored 14.5 — 1.5.
There were 17 participants.
(source: Chess Life, Feb 1,
1947, p. 1)
In December 1946, the first

Oklahoma State chess
Oklahoma City. It was won by
Dr. Bela Rozsa, scoring 5-0.
The tournament had 22
entrants. (source: Chess Life,
Jan 27, 1947, p. 1)
In 1947, the first World

Correspondence Chess
Championship started with 78
players. It was won by Cecil
Purdy several years later.
In July 1947, Larry Friedman

of Cleveland won the second
USCF National Junior Chess
Championship Tournament,
held in Cleveland. He scored
15.5 — 3.5. He scored 2 more
points than his nearest rival.
Jim Cross and Larry Evans tied
for 2nd. Both scored 13.5 —
5.5. There were 45 entrants.
(source: Chess Life, July 20,
1947, p. 1)
In August 1947, the 48th US

Open was held Corpus Christi,
Texas. One of the players was
Norman Whitaker, who had
just been released from
Alcatraz. The president of the
USCF, Elbert Wagner (1904-
1970), told the tournament
organizers not to let him play.
But the organizers, in a
unanimous decision, said that
Whitaker paid his debt to
society and allowed him to
play (he took 8th place). The
event had 86 entrants for a 13-
round Swiss at the White Plaza
Hotel in Corpus Christi. Isaac
Kasdhan won with a score of
11.5 — 1.5 (10 wins and 3
draws). Anthony Santasiere
and Canadian champion Daniel
Yanofsky tied for 2nd place,
scoring 10-3. 10 players
withdrew before the final
round. George Koltanowski
was the tournament director.
1947, p. 1)
In August 1947, the Georgia

State Chess Association held
its first Georgia Open. It was
won by Martin Southern of
Knoxville, Tennessee. The title
of Georgia State Champion
went to Milton Jarnagin.
(source: Chess Life, Oct 5,
1947, p. 1)
In October 1947, John Curdo,

age 15, won the Massachusetts
Schoolboy Championship with
a perfect score. There were 62
participants. (source: Chess
Life, Nov 20, 1947, p. 3)
Curdo has been playing in
tournaments for over 71 years.
In December 1947, Robert

Byrne of Yale won the
Individual Intercollegiate
Chess Championship. He also
won the U.S. Intercollegiate
Lightning Tournament with a
perfect 9-0 score. The event
was held at Columbia
University in New York. 21
colleges and 44 players
participated. (source: Chess
Life, Jan 5, 1948, p. 1)
In 1947, Dr. G. Drexel won the

Florida State Championship,
Milton Jarnagin won the
Georgia Championship, Albert
Sandrin won the Illinois State
Championship, J.M. Stull won
the Kansas State
Championship, David Bentz
won the Maryland
Championship, Leon
Stolcenberg won the Michigan
Championship, George Barnes
won the Minnesota
Championship, A.C. Ludwin
won the Nebraska
Championship, Weaver Adams
won the New England
Championship, Orlando Lester
won the New Hampshire
Championship, Stephen
Kowalski won the New Jersey
Championship, Arthur Pinkus
won the New York State
Championship, A. diCamillo
won the Pennsylvania
Championship, Albert Martin
won the Rhode Island
Championship, Robert Wade
won the Southwestern Open in
Fort Worth with a perfect 7-0,
R. Coveyou won the
Tennessee Championship,
Leonard Sheets won the
Washington State
Championship, H. Landis
Marks won the West Virginia
Championship, and Richard
Kujoth won the Wisconsin
State Championship.
In 1948, Miguel Colon won

the championship of Puerto
Rico. He ended the reign of
Rafael Cintron, who was
Puerto Rican champion for 23
years. Cintron ended up in 6th
place. (source: Chess Life, Mar
5, 1948, p. 1)
In 1948, the first world

championship match-
tournament was held and won
by Botvinnik. Smyslov was
2nd, 3 points behind
Botvinnik. Keres and
Reshevsky tied for 3rd.
In July 1948, Weaver Adams

won the US Open, held in
Baltimore, scoring 9.5 — 2.5.
Isaac Kashdan, George
Kramer, and Olaf Ulvestad tied
for 2nd place. N. May Karff
retained the women's Open
title, scoring 6-0 at Baltimore.
In August 1948, Arthur

Bisguier won the US Junior
Open, held in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. He won on tiebreak
over Frank Anderson of
Toronto. Both scored 8-2. Jim
Cross took 3rd place.
Herman Steiner won the
Biennial US Championship,
scoring 15 - 4. Isaac Kashdan
took 2nd, scoring 14.5 — 4.5.
Gisela Gresser and N. May
Karff toed for 1st in the US
Women's Championship.
During the tournament, a fire
alarm went off at the
tournament site in South
Fallsburg, New York. Nobody
in the playing room paid the
slightest attention.
In August 1948, the first chess

Interzonal Tournament was
held at Saltsjobaden, Sweden,
just outside of Stockholm. On
the last day David Bronstein
(1924-2006) was playing
Tartakower. Suddenly, a
Lithuanian made a lunge at
Bronstein to kill him. Several
spectators grabbed him. He
wanted to murder all Russians
because he claimed the
Russians were responsible for
sending his sister to Siberia
and murdering her. Bronstein
won the game and the
Interzonal with a 13.5-5.5
score. First place prize for the
first Interzonal was $550.
Czech International Master Jan
Foleys (1908-1952) qualified
for the Interzonal, but died of
leukemia before it took place.
Szabo took 2nd and
Boleslavsky took 3rd. Szabo
was leading for the first 17
rounds. He lost to the last-
place finisher in the final round
to knock him out of 1st place.
Four of the five finalists were
Russian. The 5th, Szabo, was
Hungarian.
In 1948, the championship of

North Carolina went to 13-
year-old Kit Crittenden, of
Raleigh. The tournament was
held in Winston-Salem.
1948, p. 1)
In 1948, 16-year-old Larry
Evans won the Marshall Chess
Club Championship, the New
York State Championship, and
the New York Speed
Championship (scoring 8-0).
In December 1948, New York

hosted its first international
chess tournament, the
Manhattan International
Tournament, in 17 years.
Reuben Fine, after a 3-year
layoff, won the event (7 wins
and 2 draws). Miguel Najdorf
took 2nd and Max Euwe and
Pilnik tied for 3rd. The US
champion, Herman Steiner,
took last place with 6 losses, 3
draws, and no wins.
In 1949, Olga Rubtsova won

the USSR Women's
championship. She scored 13-
4. She was also USSR
women's champion once
before, in 1927. (source: Chess
Life, Mar 20, 1949, p. 1)
In 1949, 40,000 youths played

in the Romanian junior
championship. (source: Chess
Life, Apr 20, 1949, p. 3)
In 1949, the first USSR

championship started,
sponsored by the chess
magazine, Schachmaty in the
USSR. There were 1,000
entries.
In 1949, Albert Sandrin won

the US Open, held in Omaha,
scoring 10-2. Santasiere took
2nd and Larry Evans took 3rd.
In 1949, Maurice Fox won the

Canadian championship for the
8th time. He last won it in
1940. He scored 7.5 — 1.5. Dr.
Fedor Bohatirchuk took 2nd.
In 1949, the noted artist Marcel

Duchamp, won the Class A
Tournament of the New York
State Chess Championship,
with a perfect 6-0 score. Max
Pavey won the New York State
Championship, scoring 8-2.
Hans Berliner and Larry Evans
tied for 2nd place. (source:
Chess Life, Sep 20, 1949).
David Bronstein and Vassily
Smyslov tied for 1st in the
17th Soviet Championship,
held in Moscow. Bronstein
was co-winner in 1948. Both
scored 12-6. Geller and
Taimanov tied for 3rd place. 9
Soviet Grandmasters
participated in the 20-man
event. The tournament
celebrated the 50th anniversary
of the first "All-Russian
Tournament" organized by
Chigorin in 1899.
In February 1950, Mrs.

Ludmilla Rudenko won the
Women's World Chess
Championship, scoring 11.5 —
3.5. Her only loss was to
Gisela Gresser of the USA in
the first round. Rudenko was
born in 1904. The Polish
entrant, M. Germanova, lost
10, drew 4, and won none. The
two American entries, Gresser
and Karff. Both ended up in
12th-14th place out of 16.
(source: Chess Life, Feb 5,
1950, p. 1)
Southsea, England. Arthur
Bisguier, US Junior champion,
and Saveilly Tartakower tied
for 1st place. Harry Golombek,
Jonathan Penrose (16-year old
London champion), and Lothar
Schmid (his first international
tournament) tied for 3rd place.
(source: Chess Life, May 5,
1950, p. 1)
In 1950, David Bronstein and

Boleslavsky tied for 1st in the
first Candidates Tournament in
Budapest, Hungary. They both
scored 12-6. Smyslov took 3rd,
Keres took 4th, and Najdorf
took 5th. First prize was
$5,000. The Candidates
Tournament was originally
scheduled for South America.
Bronstein late won in a
tiebreak match and won the
fright to meet Botvinnik in a
world championship match.
In July-August 1950, Arthur

Bisguier, US Junior Champion,
won the US Open, held in
Detroit. He scored 9.5 — 2.5.
Herman Hesse, a former
Pennsylvania State Champion,
took 2nd. There were 120
participants. Larry Evans won
the Lightning Championship.
May Karff and Lucille Kellner
tied for 1st in the US Women's
Open Championship. There
were only 4 entrants in the
women's championship. Right
after the tournament, 6 of the
participants were in a car
accident. They were injured in
an accident at Batavia, New
York, when their car
overturned on a rain-soaked
road. The new crowned US
Open Champion Arthur
Bisguier broke a rib and had a
gash in his forehead. Kit
Crittenden, former North
Carolina champion, broke his
collar-bone. Larry Evans was
badly bruised in the accident.
Walter Shipman had to have
leg put in a cast for an injured
ankle. (source: Chess Life,
Aug 5, 1950, p. 1)

Chess Olympiad for the
Hamilton-Russell Trophy was
revived. The 9th Chess
Olympiad was held in
Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
(present-day Croatia). Madame
Chantel Chaude de Silans
(1919-2004) played on the
French team at the Dubrovnik
Olympiad, the first woman to
play on a men's team. She
played first reserve board,
winning 1 game, drawing 1
game, and losing 4 games.
This was the first Olympiad
commemorated by a special
stamp issue. The USA team
(Steiner, Reshevsky, Horowitz,
Evans, Kramer, and Shainswit)
was the only team that went
undefeated, yet did not win a
medal, taking 4th place with 11
wins, 4 draws, and no losses. If
match scores instead of game
scores were used, the USA
team would have placed first.
US Open champion Arthur
Bisguier was supposed to be
on the USA team, but was too
injured from a car accident in
Batavia, NY. 16 teams entered,
with Greece being the only
new country to play in an
Olympiad. The Yugoslav team
(Gligoric, Pirc, Trifunovic,
Rabar, Vidmar junior, Puc)
won the event. Argentina took
2nd, followed by West
Germany. The USA team
(Reshevsky, Steiner, Horowitz,
Shainswit, Kramer, and Evans)
took 4th.
In April 1951, the first

Maryland Speed
Annapolis, Maryland. It was
won by Norman Whitaker,
with a perfect 7-0 score. There
were 22 players in the event.
In 1951, Cecil Purdy won the

Australian Championship for
the 4th time. For the first time,
representatives from all 6
Australian states competed,
and the tournament was part of
the official Austalian
Commonwealth Golden
Jubilee. (source: Chess Life,
June 5, 1951. P. 1)
In June-July 1951, the first
World Junior Chess
Birmingham, England. It was
won by Boris Ivkov of
Yugoslavia, who scored 9.5 —
1.5 without a single loss.
Malcom Barker of
Birmingham took 2nd place,
scoring 8-3. After the
tournament, Barker gave up
chess and took up bridge. The
USA was not represented.
In July-August 1951, the US

Open was held in Fort Worth,
Texas. It was won by 19-year
old CCNY student Larry
Evans, scoring 10-2. Evans
was already a 3-time winner of
the Marshall Chess Club snd
victor of the 1951 US
Lightning Tournament. Al
Sandrin, 1949 US Open
Champion, took 2nd. Isaac
Kashdan, 1946 US Open
Champion, and NY State
Champion Eliot Hearst tied for
3rd. (source: Chess Life, Aug
5, 1951, p. 1)
In August 1951, the US

New York. It was won by 19-
year-old Larry Evans, who
hadj won the 1951 US Open.
He scored 9.5 — 1.5. Samuel
Reshevsky (who won it in
1936, 1938, 1042, and 1946)
took 2nd. Max Pavey took 3rd.
Evans became the youngest US
titleholder up to that time.
(source: Chess Life, Aug 20,
1951, p. 1)
In 1951, 17-year-old James T.

Sherman won the New York
State Championship. Then, as
a student at Columbia
University, he won the
Intercollegiate Championship.

chess tournament restricted to
college students was held in
Liverpool, England.
In February-March 1952, an
international tournament, the
Capablanca Memorial, was
held in Havana, Cuba to
celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the founding of the Republic
of Cuba. A fine cup was
donated for the winner by
President Juan Peron of
Argentina. During the event,
there was a revolution in Cuba.
The President who sponsored
the tournament was deposed.
The Mexican entrants were
recalled by their government.
Also during the tournament,
Juan Quesada (1912-1952), the
Cuban chess champion, had a
heart attack just before the
17th round and died. He was
40. His funeral was attended
by all the masters participating
in the tournament. Miguel
Najdorf and Samuel
Reshevsky tied for 1st.
Gligoric took 3rd place.
(source: Chess Life, April 5,
1952, p. 1)
In July-August 1952, the US

Open was held in Tampa.
Larry Evans, US Champion,
won it again for the second
year in a row. He scored 10-2
(8 wins and 4 draws). Arturo
Pomar took 2nd. (source:
Chess Life, Aug 5, 1952, p. 1)
In August 1952, the 10th

Chess Olympiad was held in
Helsinki, Finland. The Soviets
(Keres, Smyslov, Bronstein,
Geller, Boleslavsky, and
Kotov) participated for the first
time in a Chess Olympiad, at
Helsinki. They won the gold
medal and repeated winning
the gold medal for the next
twelve Olympiads in a row.
USSR won the gold medal a
total of 18 times. Argentina
took the silver and Yugoslavia
took the bronze. The USA
team (Reshevsky, Evans, R.
Byrne, Bisguier, Koltanowski,
and Berliner) took 5th. After
the tournament, it was
generally agreed that the small
preliminary and final groups of
only 8-9 teams left too much
open to chance, since a single
blunder would have too big an
impact on the final standings.
Consequently, FIDE decided
that in the future, no final
should have less than 12
participants.
In September 1952, an
Interzonal was held in
Stockholm at the Grand Hotel
Saltsjobaden. Alexander Kotov
won the event with 13 wins, no
losses, and 7 draws. Kotov
won the first 8 rounds in a row
and maintained the lead.Mark
Taimanov and Tigran
Petrosian tied for 2nd. As
reserves, Stahlberg and Pilnik
were picked. Foltys qualified
but died before the event. Pal
Benko had qualified, but was
in prison for trying to defect to
the West. USA had several
candidates that were invited to
play. Reshevsky already
qualified for the Candidates
and did not pay. Larry Evans
and Robert Byrne were in
Helsinki for the Chess
Olympiad, but returned home
rather than play in the
Interzonal. Arthur Bisguier
was offered a place, but he had
to withdraw days before the
tournament because of Army
service. After round 2, Julio
Bolbochan of Argentina had to
withdraw because of a brain
hemorrhage. The Russians
drew all games between them.
The 5 Russians in the
tournament (Kotov, Petrosian,
Taimanov, Geller, and
Averbach) took the top 5 spots.
Kotov, Petrosian, and
Taimanov lost no games in the
21-player event.
In 1953, a small international

Lucerne, Switzerland. It was
won by the Czecz International
Master Cenek Kottnauer
(1910-1996). After winning
the vent, he announced his
intention of seeking political
asylum in the West.
In 1953, the Zurich/Neuhausen
Candidates tournament had 9
out the top 10 players in the
world. The event was won by
Vassily Smyslov.
In 1954, the first official

college student Olympiad
chess tournament was held in
Oslo.

in the USSR which included
David Bronstein and Fedor
Dus-Chotimirsky (1879-1965).
Dus-Chotimirsky took a move
back against Bronstein as
spectators watched his game.
In response to the crowd and
the tournament director who
tried to intervene, he shouted,
"Hey, I just made a bad move
and now I am changing it to a
good one. To hell with the
rules, this is chess." The game
continued as nothing
happened.
In September 1954, the 11th

Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Luxemburg lost all 19 matches
and took last place again. One
player from Luxemburg,
Georges Philippe, scored 0 out
of 11 games. His teammate, J.
Jerolim, scored one draw and
16 losses in his 17 games that
he played. Another Luxemburg
player, Pierre Kremer, won 1
and lost 16 (with a record of 1
win and 27 losses in two
Olympiads). This chess
Olympiad was supposed to
have been played in Sao Paulo
in celebration of its 400th
birthday. However, Argentina
cancelled the event 6 weeks
before the start of this
Olympiad due to financial
difficulties. Amsterdam
decided to host the event at the
last minute. Over 30 teams had
registered to play in Sao Paulo,
but 26 teams eventually arrived
in Amsterdam. The most
notable absentees were the
United States, who couldn't
afford the travelling expenses
due to financial difficulties in
the USCF. The Soviet team
(Botvinnik, Smyslov,
Bronstein, Keres, Geller,
Kotov) won the gold, seven
points ahead of the next team,
Argentina, which took the
silver medal. Yugoslavia won
the bronze medal.
In 1954, a giant Dychkhoff

Memorial Correspondence
Chess Tournament was
organized with 1,860
chessplayers from 33
countries. As many as 8,856
games were played in this
event. The event was won by
Lothar Schmid, who later
became a grandmaster in
correspondence and over-the-
board play.

in New Orleans. Several
African-Americans tried to
enter the event, but were
refused.
In 1954, the Argentine Chess
Federation called off the
national chess tournament after
a fight broke out between a
chess player and the
tournament director.
In 1955, the Interzonal was

held at Gothenberg. The event
was won by David Bronstein.
In 1955-56, the annual

Christmas tournament was
being held at Hastings. Fridrik
Olafsson (1935- ) arrived late
to participate in the annual
Christmas Hastings
tournament in England. No
rooms could be found for him,
so he spent his first night in a
jail cell at the Hastings police
station as a guest to the local
police. Olafsson went on to tie
for 1st place with Vicktor
Korchnoi in this event.

12th Chess Olympiad was held
in Moscow. 36 teams
participated and it was the first
time that over 1,000 chess
games were played in one
Olympiad. Colonel Hugh
O'Donnell Alexander (1909-
1974), one of the top British
chess players, was not allowed
to play in the chess Olympiad
in Moscow because of his job
with the Government
Communications Headquarters
where he was head of the
cryptanalysis section. The
Soviet team (Botvinnik,
Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein,
Taimanov, Geller) suffered
their first defeat when the
Hungarian team defeated them.
Luxemburg again took last
place. One of their players,
Wantz, win 2, drew 1, and lost
14 games. Pierre Kremer lost
all four of his games, with a
record on only one win and 31
losses in three Olympiads. Due
to a special rule for the top
board at Olympiads, Larsen's
result automatically earned
him the GM title. The Soviet
Union took the gold, followed
by Yugoslavia and Hungary.
In 1956, the Rosenwald

York City. It was this event
that 13-year-old Bobby Fischer
beat Donald Byrne (1930-
1976) in what was called the
Game of the Century.

Emmen, Netherlands. That
event, plus the next three
Women's Chess Olympiads,
were held independently of the
men's Chess Olympiad. One of
the participants in the 1957
Women's Olympiad was 82
year old Helen Chater who
played board 1 for Ireland. She
won 2 , lost 2, and drew 11.
In 1958, South Africa and

Tunisia participated in the
Olympiad held in Munich.
These were the first African
teams to play in a chess
Olympiad. International
Master Frank Ross Anderson
(1928-1980) was playing board
1 for Canada. He became ill
after a reaction to an incorrect
prescription and was unable to
play the final round. He missed
the Grandmaster title because
of this. Even if he had played
and lost, he would have made
the final norm necessary for
the Grandmaster title. The
Soviet team (Botvinnik,
Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein,
Tal, Petrosian) won again.
the 13th Chess Olympiad was
held in Munich, West
Germany. A total of 36 teams
entered the competition and
were divided into four
preliminary groups of nine
teams each. The top three from
each group advanced to Final
A, the teams placed 4th-6th to
Final B, and no. 7-9 to Final C.
All groups and finals were
played as round-robin
tournaments. The Soviet Union
won the gold medal, followed
by Yugoslavia and Argentina.
The USA team (Reshevsky,
Lombardy, Bisguier, Evans,
and Rossolimo) took 4th.
In 1959, the U.S. Open was

held in Omaha, Nebraska.
Chess master Walter Harris
(1942- ), the first African-
American chess master, played
in the event, but was unable to
get a hotel room where the
tournament was held because
he was Black.
In 1959, the first ham radio

chess tournament was
organized.
In 1959, the Candidates'

tournament was held in Bled.
Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) tried
to unnerve his opponents by
staring at them while they were
thinking. Some players thought
he was trying to hypnotize his
opponents. When he had to
play Pal Benko, Benko brought
a pair of dark sunglasses to
wear during their game. Later,
Benko explained that he wore
the glasses not to ward of Tal's
"evil eye," but as a stunt. A
couple of Yugoslav reporters
asked Benko to wear them to
provide an eye-catching photo
and a lively story for their
newspapers.
held in Leipzig, East Germany.
A total of 40 teams entered the
competition and were divided
into four preliminary groups of
10 teams each. The top three
from each group advanced to
Final A, the teams placed 4th-
6th to Final B, and the rest to
Final C. All preliminary
groups as well as Finals A and
B were played as round-robin
tournaments, while Final C
with 16 teams was played as an
11 round Swiss system
tournament. Max Euwe won 3
games, drew 7 games, and lost
6 games for the worst score by
a Grandmaster in Olympiad
history. The event drew 10,000
spectators a day as the
Olympiad also hosted a "chess
in the Fields of History"
exhibition. Bobby Fischer
participated and played board 1
for the USA. Reshevsky
refused to give up first board
and did not play. Again, the
Soviet team (Tal, Botvinnik,
Keres, Korchnoi, Smyslov,
Petrosian) won the event. The
USA team took the silver and
Yugoslavia took the bronze.

Beverwijk, Netherlands. One
of the participants was Ernst
Gruenfeld (1893-1962).
Gruenfeld, age 67, had lost a
leg when in his early childhood
and had an artificial leg.
Despite his age, and this
handicap, he spurned the
organizers' offer of a car, and
insisted on walking the mile or
so from where he was staying
to the chess tournament hall
each afternoon. On one day, he
set off, but fell down in the
road, and his wooden leg came
off and fell into a ditch! A
distressed Gruenfeld managed
to get to a phone booth and
ring the organizers. The
organizers contacted Max
Euwe, who came on the line.
Hearing of Gruenfeld's plight,
he jumped into a car, and a few
minutes later, he managed to
rescue Gruenfeld and his
wooden leg and take him back
to the house he was staying at.
After a refreshing cup of
coffee and a few minutes' rest,
Gruenfeld was re-united with
his artificial leg and driven to
the tournament hall.
Unfortunately, he faced the
East German GM Wolfgang
Uhlmann that day, and despite
having White, the trauma took
its toll on him. He lost in just
21 moves!
In 1962, Japan held its first

international chess
tournament.
the 15th Chess Olympiad has
held in Varna, Bulgaria.
Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus
lost all of his 20 games, the
worst score ever of any player
at any Olympiad. The Soviet
Union won the gold, followed
by Yugoslavia and Argentina.
In 1963, the first Piatigorsky

Cup was held in Los Angeles.
It was the strongest chess
tournament to be held in the
USA since New York 1927.
Tigran Petrosian and Paul
Keres tied for 1st place.
In November 1964, the 16th

Tel Aviv, the first time an
Olympiad was held in Asia. A
total of 50 teams entered the
into seven preliminary groups
of seven or eight teams each.
The top two from each group
advanced to Final A, the teams
placed 3rd-4th to Final B, no.
5-6 to Final C, and the rest to
Final D. All preliminary
groups and finals were played
as round-robin tournaments.
With Australia playing for the
first time, it was the first time
that players from all five
continents were able to
participate in a chess
Olympiad. It was another
victory for the Soviet team
(Petrosian, Botvinnik,
Smyslov, Keres, Stein,
Spassky). 2nd place went to
Yugoslavia and 3rd place went
to West Germany.
In 1965, Henrique Mecking

won the Brazilian chess
championship at age 13.
In August 1965, Bobby Fischer

participated in the 4th
Capablanca Memorial in Cuba
by playing through a teletype
machine at the Marshall Chess
Club in New York. He tied for
2nd-4th with 12 wins, 6 draws,
and 3 losses. The United States
did not have diplomatic
relations with Cuba, and the
State Department would not
authorize him to travel to
Havana. Fischer thus had to
play by teletype and the Cuban
government paid for the
services, over $10,000.
Fischer's USCF rating was
2706. Fischer was given a
$3,000 appearance fee to play
in the event.
In 1966, the first USCF-rated
scholastic tournament was held
in New York, directed by Bull
Goichberg (1942- ).
held in Havana. During the
Chess Olympiad, Mikhail Tal
(1936-1992) went out one
evening to a local bar in the
city. Apparently, he was
caught flirting with a local
woman, whose husband or
boyfriend took exception. Tal
ended up being struck over the
head with a beer bottle. As a
result, he missed the first four
rounds of the event, and when
he did appear in the
tournament hall, it was with
his head heavily bandaged.
One woman, Berna Carrasco
of Chile, played in this event
that had 300 men. She was the
only player not score a single
half point. The Soviet Union
took the gold, followed by the
USA and Hungary. When
Hungary and Yugoslavia tied
on both game and match
points, and they had drawn 2-2
with each other, the rules
dictated that the final ranking
would be decided by using the
Neustadtl (Sonneborn-Berger)
score - but not which version
of it. A so called unweighted
score was used, which placed
Hungary ahead of Yugoslavia,
giving them the bronze medals.
Had the weighted variant been
used instead, the result would
have been the other way
around.
In 1966, the second

Piatigorsky Cup was held in
Santa Monica. It was won by
Boris Spassky. Bobby Fischer
took 2nd and Bent Larsen took
3rd. When Spassky played
Fischer, there were over 900
spectators, and many others
were turned away. This was
the largest audience ever to
witness a chess tournament in
the United States.
In 1967, the Interzonal was

played at Sousse, Tunisia.
Fischer walked out of the
tournament early while leading
the event. Grandmaster Milan
Matulovic of Yugoslavia was
playing against Istvan Bilek in
the 9th round. Matulovic
moved his bishop (38.Bf3??),
pressed his chess clock, and
soon realized he had made a
mistake. So he took back his
bishop move, moved his king
(38.Kg1), and only then said
"J'Adoube" ("I adjust" —
which is said before adjusting
pieces on a square). Matulovic
then wrote his move on his
score sheet as if nothing
happened. Bilek went to the
tournament director to protest,
but Matulovic replied, "But I
said j'adoube!" There was an
argument, but the tournament
director, having only Bilek's
word against Matulovic,
refused to require Matulovic to
make his original move with
his bishop, as the rules of chess
state. Bilek protested three
times to the tournament
director, but was ignored. The
game ended in a draw. After
this incident, even the
Yugoslav players shunned
Matulovic. After the incident,
Matulovic was always referred
to as "J'adoubovic."

computer to play in a chess
tournament with humans
occurred when MacHack VI
from MIT participated in the
Massachusetts Amateur
Championship.

was held in Kislovodsk,
USSR. During the event, GM
Vladimir Simagin (1919-1968)
had a heart attack and died. He
was 49.
In 1968, at a tournament in
Athens, two Greek players
were trying to qualify for
International Master at the
event. During the opening
ceremony, invited players to
the tournament were asked to
draw or lose their games to the
Greek players. In return, they
would be paid a sum of money
or points would be thrown in
their direction by other
accommodating players. Some
players cooperated, others
refused. The two Greek players
did get their International
Master title.
held in Lugano, Switzerland. A
total of 53 teams entered the
into seven preliminary groups
of seven or eight teams each.
The top two from each group
advanced to Final A, the teams
placed third-fourth to Final B,
no. 5-6 to Final C, and the rest
to Final D. Preliminary head-
to-head results were carried
over to the finals, so no teams
met more than once. All
preliminary groups and finals
were played as round-robin
tournaments. Dris Benabud of
Morocco only played one
game (which he lost) at the
Lugano Olympiad and
2ndreserve board, the fewest
games of any participant in a
chess Olympiad. The Virgin
Islands (combined team of
British and U.S. Virgin
Islands) made their first
appearance, despite not being a
member of FIDE. Bobby
Fischer showed up in Lugano
to play for the USA team, but
withdrew because of the poor
lighting in the tournament hall.
He asked to play his games in
a private room, but the
organizers refused, so Fischer
withdrew. The Soviet team
(Petrosian, Spassky, Korchnoi,
Geller, Polugaevsky, Smyslov)
won the gold without a single
game loss. Yugoslavia took the
silver and Bulgaria took the
bronze.
In 1969, the first National
High School Chess
New York.
In 1969, the World Student

Team Chess Championship
was held in Dresden, Germany.
The Yugoslavian player
Momcilo Despotovic was
playing the American player
Gregory DeFotis, who had
White. DeFotis got in time
trouble and was depending on
Despotivic's score sheet to
determine when 40 moves
were made before time control
at 5 hours. Despotovic relaxed,
made his next move, wrote it
as move 41, and walked away
from the board. DeFotis had 25
seconds left and thought he
made time control since his
opponent had turned over the
score sheet after recording
what was seemingly his 41st
move. When DeFotis saw his
flag fall, he thought he had
made time control. But
Despotovic swooped back to
the board and immediately
claimed a win on time, stating
that his own score "accidently"
contained a duplication of one
move and hence only 40 white
moves had been played.
Despotovic was awarded the
point. It was alleged that
Despotovic pretended to make
41 moves in order to mislead
his opponent. Despotovic
pulled the same trick on
another opponent during the
tournament.
Busum, Germany. Fritz
Saemisch (1896-1975)
participated in the event. He
lost all 15 games on time. He
was 73 years old at the time.
Bent Larsen won the event.
In 1970, the first North

American Computer Chess
Championship (NACCC) was
held in New York City.
In September 1970, the 19th

Siegen, West Germany.
Andrew Sherman played for
the Virgin Islands at the age of
11, the youngest player in the
chess Olympiads. In round two
of the preliminaries, Viktor
Korchnoi overslept and lost his
game by default against Spain,
his only loss. The round started
at 3 pm and he was unable to
make it to his game by 4 pm.
During the event, Jonathan
Penrose collapsed from
nervous tension. Oscar Panno
drew 15 games, the most in an
Olympiad. For the first time,
teams had to be rejected
because the event reached its
capacity of 60 teams to fit the
playing schedule. 64 teams
registered. The teams from
France, Ecuador, and
Venezuela had to return home
without playing any chess.
Panama pulled out, which
allowed Argentina to play. In
the Indonesia versus
Switzerland preliminary
match, a player moved his
queen next to the opponent's
king with check. Capturing the
queen with the king was forced
and so the player made the
move for his opponent,
declaring stalemate and
shaking hands all in one
movement. His dazed
opponent ended up signing the
scoresheet before recovering
his wits and realizing (too late)
that it was not a stalemate at
all. The Soviet Union won the
gold, followed by Hungary and
Yugoslavia.
Zagreb. Bobby Fischer was
playing White against Vlatko
Kovacevic in the event. On his
18th move, Fischer had a
chance to win if Black made
the obvious move. Petrosian
and Korchnoi, who were
watching the game, spotted
Fischer's deadly intention and
were analyzing the position in
a different room. Petrosian's
wife had followed the analysis
of the Petrosian and Korchnoi,
then walked across to the
board and whispered the lines
to Kovacevic. Kovacevic then
played another, less obvious,
but stronger move, and
actually won the game. It was
Fischer's only loss in the 17-
round tournament. In 1970,
Palma de Mallorca hosted an
Interzonal. Mark Taimanov
was paired with Milan
Matulovic in the final round. It
was alleged that Taimanov or
his Soviet Federation paid
Matulovic $300 to lose the
game so that Taimanov would
qualify for the 1971
Candidates matches. Taimanov
needed a win to qualify.
Matulovic showed up 20
minutes late, lingered at the
board, looked at the previous
day's tournament bulletin, then
finally made a move.
Matulovic, normally a slow
player, played at a fast pace
and lost after about an hour of
play. Taimanov qualified for
the Candidates match and then
lost to Bobby Fischer in
Vancouver, with a 0-6 score.
In 1970, Buenos Aires hosted

the Interzonal. Oscar Panno
(1935- ) was to play Bobby
Fischer but protested because
he did not like that fact that
Fischer was playing his last
round games at a different time
than all the other players due to
Fischer's religious beliefs.
Fischer was a follower of the
Worldwide Church of God and
recognized the Sabbath on a
Saturday. Fischer played 1.c4
for the first time in his life and
waited for Panno to make his
move. Panno was out of the
tournament room but returned
52 minutes before returning to
the game and resigned the
game, making it the shortest
game ever played.
In 1970, Bobby Fischer (1943-

2008) won the Blitz
Tournament of the Century in
Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia by a
score of 19 out of 22. After the
tournament, he called off from
memory the moves of all his
22 games, involving more than
1,000 moves.
Caracas. One of the
participants was Lubosh
Kavalek, who had just defected
from Czechoslovakia and was
on his way to the United
States. He played the first half
under the Czechoslovakian
flag, the second half under the
American flag. He represented
the United States before
officially setting foot in the
USA.
In 1971, Walter Browne

(1949-2015) was playing in a
Canadian chess tournament.
One of Browne's opponents
tried to fluster him in a time-
pressure scramble by banging
an extra Queen down on the
side of the board. The
opponent's pawn was about to
make it to the 8th rank and get
promoted to a queen. Browne
picked up the extra Queen and
hurled it across the tournament
room.
In 1971, the chess computer

Mac Hack played in the
Greater Boston Open. John
Curdo (1931- ) played and
defeated Mac Hack. Curdo was
the first chess master to play a
computer program in rated
tournament play.

Interzonal tournament was
held in Ohrid. It was won by
Tatiana Zatulovskaya (1935-
2017).
tournament was held in San
Antonio, Texas, sponsored by
Church's Fried Chicken. Two
of the participants were Larry
Evans and Dr. Anthony Saidy.
Evans was playing Saidy in the
final round of the tournament.
The game was adjourned and
Saidy had a winning position.
Evans, after staying up all
night studying the lost
position, decided the adjourned
position was hopeless and
booked an early flight home.
The next day, Saidy blundered
on move 46. At move 60 when
there was still time to catch the
plane, Evans said "It's a book
draw." "Show me the book"
replied Saidy. Evans
responded, "I have a schedule
to meet." Saidy replied, "Show
me the schedule." With each
move the draw became more
obvious. Finally, Saidy said
"You know it's against the
rules to talk to your opponent."
"Show me the rules!" said
Evans. The game was finally
drawn after 106 moves. After
the game, Saidy told Evans
"You know we have played 12
games and it was the first time
I was up a pawn against you. I
was enjoying it too much.
Sorry." The tournament
director later told Evans that he
should not have told Saidy that
he had a plane to catch. When
Saidy finally signed the score
sheets, Evans rushed off to the
San Antonio airport, but he
missed his flight and had to
stay another day.
held in Skopje, Yugoslavia
(present-day Macedonia). This
was the first time that the
men's and women's events
were held simultaneously. This
Soviet Union team were no all
grandmasters. The Soviet team
had 5 GMs and an
International Master (Savon).
Since Bobby Fischer had
beaten Spassky earlier in the
year, the team wasn't led by the
current world champion - also
a first. It did, however, feature
three previous (Smyslov, Tal,
and Petrosian) as well as one
future champion (Karpov).
Grandmaster Nicolas
Rossolimo played for France at
the Skopje Olympiad. He
played on the French team in
1950. He then played on the
USA team in 1958, 1960, and
1966. He then played for
France again in this Olympiad.
International Master Vladimir
Savon was the first non-
Grandmaster to play for the
Soviet team. During the event,
Tigran Petrosian lost a game
on time to Robert Heubner, his
first loss on time in his whole
career. This Olympiad was the
first time that the men's and
women's events were held
simultaneously. The Soviet
by Hungary and Yugoslavia.
In 1973, the New Hampshire

Open was won by 90-year-old
Harlow Daly (1883-1979) with
a perfect 5-0 score.
In 1973, the police raided a

chess tournament in Cleveland,
Ohio. The arrested the
tournament director and
confiscated the chess sets on
charges of allowing gambling
(cash prizes to winners) and
possession of gambling
devices (the chess sets).
In June 1974, the 21st Chess

Olympiad was held in Nice,
France. W. Reussner of the
U.S. Virgin Islands lost 19
games in one Olympiad, a
record. He drew three games
and did not win a game. South
Africa and Rhodesia were
expelled from FIDE during the
Olympiad. South Africa
dropped out but Rhodesia still
played in the rest of the
Olympiad, winning the Final E
group. In Final B, the Tunisian
team refused to play Israel, so
the score was computed
according to ELO ratings as a
3-1 win for the Israeli team.
The Soviet Union took the
gold, followed by Yugoslavia
and the USA.
Poland. Mikhail Tal (1936-
1992) was playing Jan
Adamski (1943- ) with both
players in time trouble.
Adamski's flag fell but Tal lost
a piece and resigned. At that
moment Tal's wife, who had
been counting the moves, said
"Black has not yet made 40
moves." The flag had fallen
before Tal resigned. The
arbiter intervened and awarded
the win to Tal, who went on to
win the tournament. Tal's wife
scored this point! Later, it was
shown that Adamski quit
writing his moves down after
move 25 because of time
trouble, and then he added two
fake moves while
reconstructing his scoresheet to
make it seem he made more
than 40 moves.
In 1974, the first World

Computer Chess
Championship (WCCC) chess
Stockholm, Sweden. It was
won by Kaissa, a chess
program created in the USSR.
In 1974, China held its first

championship chess
tournament.
In 1974, Claude Bloodgood, a

life prisoner in Virginia, was
allowed to play in a chess
tournament outside the prison.
Bloodgood escaped after he
and another chessplayer
(Lewis Capleaner — a
murderer inmate) overpowered
a guard (George Winslow)
who was escorting them to a
chess tournament. Bloodgood
cuffed the guard, stole his
guns, and fled to New York.
When he was recaptured after
several weeks at large. His
correspondence privilege was
taken away from him at
Virginia State Penitentiary. His
escape led to the resignation of
Virginia's director of prisons,
no more prisoners taken to
outside chess tournaments, and
the Virginia Penitentiary Chess
program dismantled. The guard
was also arrested for his
involvement in the escape.
In 1975, the Vancouver Open

was held in Vancouver, British
Columbia. It was won by Paul
Keres after he defeated Walter
Browne in the last round. This
was Keres's last chess
tournament. He died of a heart
attack on his way home to
Estonia.
At the 1976 World Open in

New York, a stronger player
used the identity of a weaker
friend in one of the lower
sections. The stronger player
was winning all his games
until his identity was found
out. Director Bill Goichberg
had a talk with the person who
disappeared before the end of
the tournament.
the 22nd Chess Olympiad was
held in Haifa, Israel. For the
first time, the event comprised
both an open and a women's
tournament. In 1976,
computers were first used to do
the pairings at the Haifa
Olympiad and the first
Olympiad conducted as a
Swiss System (the women's
event had fewer participants
and did not use the Swiss
system until 1980). Libya
protested and had an Olympiad
of their own. The USSR and
other communist countries did
not play and the USA team (R.
Byrne, Kavalek, Evans, Tarjan,
Lombardy, Commons) won the
event. It was the first time
since 1937 that the USA team
won the chess Olympiad. This
Olympiad was the only one not
to have medals for board
prizes. The Israel team won the
women's event. That team
consisted of four Soviet
Ã©migrÃ©s. The USA took
the gold, followed by
Netherlands an England. In the
women's event, Israel took the
gold, followed by England and
Spain.
In 1976 an unofficial chess

Olympics was held in Tripoli,
Libya in protest to the main
chess Olympiad in Haifa.
There were 37 countries that
played in this event, called the
"Against Israel Olympics."
Italy was the only country to
send teams to both events. The
event was won by El Salvador,
a nation which had never
competed in a FIDE
Olympiad.
In 1977, the USCF Blind

Chess Championship was held.
It was the first tournament to
use Braille wallcharts.

Torremolinos, Spain. It was
won by Larry Christiansen
(1956- ) which earned him the
title of Grandmaster without
ever being an International
Master first.
In 1977, Nona Gaprindashvili

(1941- ) tied for 1st place at
the international tournament at
Lone Pine, California. She
became the first woman to win
a "men's" chess tournament.
the 23rd Chess Olympiad was
held in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. During the event, a
member of a Middle East team
tried to buy one of the girls
working at the site for $1
million. The offer was not
taken up. Grandmaster Hans
Ree broke his leg at the event
after someone told him a joke
and he laughed so hard he fell
out of bed and broke a bone.
The Hungarians won the gold
medal, ahead of the Soviets,
who took the silver medal.
This was the first time the
Soviet team did not take the
gold medal when participating
in an Olympiad. USA took the
bronze medal. This Olympiad
almost didn't happen.
Argentina almost went to war
with Chile (a dispute over the
Beagle Islands in Antarctica)
and the chief organizer of the
event, Rodolfo Zanlungo, was
kidnapped and was being held
under the threat of death
should the Olympiad be held.
On the women's side, the
Soviet team was back, and led
by newly crowned world
champion Chiburdanidze they
secured the gold medals in a
superior display, as well as all
four individual board prizes.
On the reserve board,
Akhmilovskaya won all of her
ten games, the only perfect
score in Olympiad history.
Hungary and West Germany
took silver and bronze,
respectively.
In 1979, at an international
tournament in Slupsk, Poland,
Istvan Bilek (1932-2010) had a
bye in the first round, drew his
next 10 games in 13, 14, 12, 9,
12, 13, 17, and 9 moves, taking
5, 12, 15, 26, 7, 4, 5, 12, 18,
and 5 minutes, respectively.
Thus, he made only 125 moves
in 109 minutes in this 11-round
master event.

in Kiev in which Lev Alburt
was 5th of 16 players. Shortly
after the tournament, Alburt
played in another tournament
in West Germany and
defected. Later that year, a
Russian chess book was
published of a Kiev
tournament. Because of
Alburt's defection, the book
was published with all Alburt's
games omitted. There was also
no crosstable or index. The
players who played Alburt
were given a bye in the book,
either a win or a loss or a draw
according to what their score
was against Alburt.
tournament was held in West
Germany. GM Lev Alburt
(1945) of the USSR was
playing in the event. After the
tournament, Alburt drove to
the police station and
announced he wanted to defect
to the United States.

tournament in China was held.
In November-December 1980,
held in Valletta, Malta. The
Soviet team was captained by
the reigning world champion
Karpov (who fell ill during the
tournament and didn't perform
to his usual standard) and
featured a former champion
(Tal) as well as a future one:
17-year-old Olympic debutant
Kasparov, who in his first
appearance took a bronze
medal on the 2nd reserve
board. John Jarecki played for
the British Virgin Islands at the
age of 11. He played on Board
2. Anatoly Karpov refused to
shake hands with Lev Alburt
because Alburt had defected to
the USA in 1978. The Soviet
team (Karpov, Polugaevsky,
Tal, Geller, Balashov,
Kasparov) won the event (on
tiebreak over Hungary). Both
the Soviet men's and women's
team came from behind to take
the gold in this Olympiad. In
the men's event, the Soviet
Unio took the gold, followed
by Hungary and Yugoslavia. In
the women's event, the Soviet
by Hungary and Poland.
In 1981, at the Lone Pine

tournament in California,
Sammy Reshevsky offered a
draw to John Fedorowicz.
After letting his time tick
down, Fedorowicz accepted.
Reshevsky then denied he
made the offer. There were
several witnesses to
Reshevsky's offers, but the
tournament director, Isaac
Kashdan, eliminated all the
witnesses, saying they were all
Fedorowicz's friends, and
upheld Reshevsky's
fabrication. However, the
game was resumed with
Fedorowicz almost out of time
and Reshevsky lost!

was held on Mount Everest at a
base camp at 7,000 meters
(22,965 feet). Eight players
took place.
held in Lucerne, Switzerland.
A total of 91 nations played a
14-round Swiss system
tournament- 93 had applied,
but Gambia and Mauretania
never showed up. To make for
an even number of teams, the
Swiss hosts also fielded a "B"
team. For the first time, the
two British Channel Islands,
Guernsey and Jersey,
participated with a joint team.
The Ugandan team showed up
in Lugano, site of the 1968
Olympiad. They finally
showed up at Lucerne after the
first round. The Italian Chess
Federation refused to have its
best player, Stefano Tatai, to
play on the Italian Olympiad
team. Tatai was 44 and seven-
time national champion. But
the Italian Chess Federation
only wanted members who
were age 30 or younger to
represent Italy. The result was
a very poor showing at the
Olympiad. On the women's
side, Tatjana Lemachko
defected from the Bulgarian
team on the eve of the last
round and moved to
Switzerland. The youngest
player in the event was Najeeb
Mohammed Saleh of UAE, age
12. The oldest player was Ron
Blow of Guernsey, age 74. The
$1.25 million budget for the
event was raided by a lottery
and private sponsors. In the
men's event, the Soviet Union
won the gold, followed by
Czechoslovakia and the USA.
In 1983, the Soviet Women's

Chess Championship was held
in Tallinn. Anna
Akhsharumova was playing
the final round against her
main competitor, Nana
Ioseliani. Anna won the game
on time forfeit and should have
won the title. But the next day,
Ioseliani filed a protest
alleging a malfunction in the
chess clock. Ioseliani
demanded a new game be
played. Anna refused to play,
so the result of her game with
Ioseliani was reversed by the
All-Union Board of Referees
in Moscow. thereby forfeiting
her title. Anna went from 1st
place to 3rd place over this
decision.
In 1983, Victor Ciocaltea

(1932-1983) was playing in a
chess tournament in Manresa,
Spain. While playing in the 4th
round, he collapsed and died of
cerebral apoplexy.
held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Ion Gudju (born in 1897) of
Romania served on the appeals
committee. He was 87 years
old and may be the oldest
player to participate in the
chess Olympics (but not as a
player). He played in the first
unofficial chess Olympiad in
1924 in Paris. In 1984, the
famous Bermuda Party was
held, which continued until
1998. It was the biggest social
event of the Olympiads. John
Nunn of England won three
gold medals: best score on
board 2, best performance
rating, and winner of the
problem-solving contest. The
USA team defeated the USSR
team for the first time in
Olympiad history. The
youngest player in the event
was 12-year old Isabelle
Kintzlere, who played 3rd
board on the French women's
team. For the first time in
Olympic history, the Soviet
team (Beliavsky, Polugaevsky,
Vaganian, Tukmakov,
Yusupov, and Sokolov) didn't
feature a single world
champion - past, present or
future. The Soviet Union took
the gold, followed by England
and the USA. In the women's
event, the Soviet Union took
the gold, followed by Bulgaria
and Romania.
In 1985, the World Open, held

in Philadelphia, was the largest
tournament largest (1,251) and
richest tournament($150,000)
up to that time.
In 1985, the first tournament of

high school champions
(Denker Champions) was held.
It was won by Alexander
Fishbein (1968- ).
held in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. It may have been the
most expensive chess
Olympiad ever. The organizers
offered $1 million for free
airline tickets to teams who
were reluctant to participate.
108 teams showed up, a record
at the time (prior to this,
Lucerne had 91 teams in
1982). Israel was not allowed
to participate, but the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO)
was. Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and the Netherlands
refused to play in protest to the
Israeli ban. Strong individual
players like Viktor Korchnoi,
Robert HÃ¼bner, and Eric
Lobron also stayed away. 10-
year old Heidi Cueller
represented Guatemala and
may be the youngest player to
participate in the chess
Olympics. The Guatemalan
men's team was represented by
four brothers named Juarez.
The USA team defeated the
USSR team, becoming the
only team to defeat the Soviet
team twice in a row in
Olympiad competition. Judit
Polgar won a gold medal in the
Women's Olympiad at the age
of 11. In the men's event, the
Soviet Union won the gold,
followed by England and the
USA. In the women's event,
the Soviet Union took the gold,
followed by Hungary and
Romania.
Calcutta. It was the strongest
chess tournament ever held in
India up to that time. Georgy
Agzamov (1954-1986) won the
event. Vishy Anand took 3rd
place.

in Somerset, New Jersey. In
the event, International Master
David Strauss (1946- ) became
the first IM to lose to a
computer in tournament
competition. He lost to a
Fidelity chess computer.
Sevastopol. One of the
participants was GM Georgy
Agzamov (1954-1986). He had
just finished the tournament
and was taking a shortcut to
the beach. He fell off a cliff
and got stuck between two
rocks. Several people heard
him yell for help, but he was
too deep down in the rocks and
died before a rescue team
could get to him. At one time,
he was ranked number 8 in the
world, with a 2728 rating. He
died a week away from his
32nd birthday.
Brussels, Belgium. Viktor
Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov
were two of the participants.
Korchnoi was playing Karpov
when, in a drawn position,
Korchnoi accidently touched
his king on his 48th move,
which would have led to a loss
of his knight and loss of the
endgame. Instead of resigning
normally, he took his hand and
swept all the chess pieces off
the chessboard and onto the
floor before storming out.

Chess Olympiad was held at
Thessaloniki, Greece. Israel
was back, having been
effectively banned from the
previous Olympiad in Dubai,
as were the countries that had
stayed away in sympathy: The
Netherlands, Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway. Also
reappearing in the Olympic
arena - after a 16-year absence
- was East Germany, who
celebrated their return by
beating their West German
rivals 3-1. The Seirawan-Xu
game lasted 190 moves and
was a draw (stalemate). This is
the longest game in the chess
Olympiads. During the
Olympiad, Woman
Grandmaster Elena
Akhmilovskaya, playing on the
Soviet women's team (she had
a score of 8.5 out of 9 on board
2), defected and eloped with
International Master John
Donaldson, who was captain of
the USA men's team. The two
were married at the U.S.
Consulate in Greece. The
Hungarian women's team
(Susan, Judit, and Sofia Polgar
with Ildiko Madl) displaced
the Soviet team for the gold. It
Soviet women's team did not
win the women's event. In the
men's event, the Soviet Union
won the gold, followed by
England and Netherlands. In
the women's event, Hungary
won the gold, followed by the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
tournament was held in Rome.
It was won by Sofia Polgar,
who scored 8.5 out of 9. Her
performance rating was over
2900.
Belgrade, Yugoslavia. It had
98 grandmasters participating,
the most grandmasters in one
tournament. This was the
strongest Swiss tournament of
all time. The winner was
Krunoslav Hulak.
In 1989, the police raided a

chess a chess tournament in
Los Angeles. The L.A.P.D.
vice officers raided a nightly
chess tournament held at Dad's
Donuts. They cited three men
for gambling after finding
$1.50 on the table. The police
staged the raid after an
undercover detective tried
unsuccessfully to join a blitz
chess game. The detective then
pulled out his badge and said
"all of you are under arrest," as
the L.A.P.D. swooped in.
In 1989, during the French
championship, IM Gilles
Andruet and IM Jean-Luc
Seret got into a violent fight
over an argument whether
Andruet resigned before Seret
checkmated him. After the
fight, Andruet needed 8
stitches and had to withdraw
from the tournament, despite
the fact that he was in the lead
after 10 of 14 rounds.
played in Novi Sad,
Yugoslavia (present-day
Serbia). The Hong Kong men's
team was represented by four
players from four different
countries. The Novi Sad
Olympiad had 123
grandmasters, 177
international masters, and 85
FIDE masters. Teams from
Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania
arrived in Novi Sad without an
invitation and the organizers
refused to let them participate.
This would also turn out to be
the last Olympic appearances
of the "old" Eastern Bloc
countries: East Germany,
Yugoslavia and the Soviet
Union. The Soviet team
(Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Beliavsky,
Yusupov, Yudasin, Bareev)
won the event. The USA took
the silver and England took the
bronze. In the women's event,
Hungary took the gold,
followed by the Soviet Union
and China.
From March 2-14, 1991, the
Pan Pacific Grandmaster Chess
Tournament was held in San
Francisco. The event was won
by Eugene Torre. 2nd place
went to Patrick Wolff. 3rd-6th
went to Mikhail Tal, Joel
Benjamin, Ian Rogers, and
Larry Christiansen. 7th place
went to John Fedrorowicz. 8th-
10th place went to Utut
Adianto, Lubomir Ftacnik, and
Susan Polgar. 11th place went
to John Grefe. 12th place went
to Walter Browne.
In June 1992, the 30th Chess

Olympiad was held in Manila.
12 of the 15 former Soviet
republics had their own team
for the first time. All finished
in the top half (including Gold,
Silver, and Bronze). An all-
German team was present for
the first time since 1939. Of
the five Yugoslav republics,
three had their own teams. This
was the last appearance of
Czechoslovakia and the re-
appearance of South Africa. In
the men's team, Russia took
the gold, followed by
Uzbekistan and Armenia. In
the women's team, Georgia
took the gold, followed by
Ukraine and China.
In 1993, the top 10 players in

the world played in an
international tournament in
Linares. The event was won by
world champion Garry
Kasparov.
In July 1993, an unrated black
player named John von
Neumann was playing at the
World Open in Philadelphia
and scored 4/5 out of 9 in the
Open section, including a draw
with a grandmaster (Helgi
Olafsson) and a win against a
2350-rated player. He wore a
large pair of headphones and
seemed to have something in
his pocket that buzzed at
critical points of the game.
When quizzed by Bill
Goichberg, the tournament
director, von Neumann was
unable to demonstrate very
much knowledge about simple
chess concepts, and was
disqualified and received no
prize money. It appeared he
was using a strong chess
computer to cheat and play his
games. It was alleged that he
was entering moves on a
communication device whose
signal was being sent up to a
hotel room where an
accomplice was operating a
chess computer. Von Neumann
has never been seen or heard
from since. John von Neumann
is the same name as the noted
mathematician and pioneer in
artificial intelligence.
In 1993, a local chess

tournament was held in San
Antonio. One of the
participants, Tim Trogdon, got
so mad at the poor pairing
results and the bad tournament
conditions, that he tore down
and ripped up all the pairing
sheets that were posted for the
next day. The police were
called and he was arrested.
the 31st Chess Olympiad was
held in Moscow only after the
scheduled site in Thessalonki,
Greece cancelled out 55 days
before the start of the event. A
record number of nations
counted some old faces playing
under new flags. Yugoslavia
was back, but now represented
by the federation of Serbia-
Montenegro. Another former
Yugoslav republic, Macedonia,
also made its debut, as did the
Czech Republic and Slovakia
who competed individually for
the first time. Finally, the
International Braille Chess
Association entered two truly
international teams. During the
event, Grandmasters
Alexander Shabalov and Alex
Yermolinsky (both
representing the USA) were
robbed when they went for a
walk. The captain of the
Macedonia chess team was
robbed of $7,000 inside a bank
that was across the street from
the playing center. Russia A
and Russia B won the gold and
bronze medal. It was the first
and only time that the same
nation won more than one
medal. Several chess players
were robbed during the
Olympiad. Ivanchuk played all
14 games without a loss.
Hungary had a woman, Judit
Polgar, as board 1, a first for
the Olympiad. In the men's
team, Russia won the gold,
followed by Bosnia and Russia
B. In the women's team,
Georgia won the gold,
followed by Hungary and
China.
In 1994, Anatoly Karpov won

the Linares tournament with a
performance rating of 2899,
winning 11 out of 14.
In 1995, Alexander Ivanov

(1956- ) was playing in the
U.S. chess championship in
Modesto, California when he
lost his first round on time.
After the first round, his wife,
Woman International Master
(WIM) Esther Epstein (1954-
), arrived to play in the
Women's championship. She
told her husband, "I don't care
how you lose, just don't lose on
time!" It worked. He won 6
games, lost one (not on time)
and tied for 1st place in the
U.S. chess championship.
Esther finished 3rd place in the
women's championship (she
won it in 1991 and 1997). She
also refrained from telling her
husband that a fire had
damaged their apartment in
Massachusetts until after the
tournament was over.
In 1996, the Las Palmas chess

tournament was a Category 21
tournament with an average
rating of 2756. The six best
participated. Five of the six
players had been world
champions. The event was won
by Kasparov.
the 32nd Chess Olympiad was
held in Yerevan, Armenia. All
the men on the Israeli chess
Olympiad team were all born
in the Soviet Union. Kirshan
Ilumzhinov gave every
member of the Olympiad a
bottle of vodka, a jar of caviar,
and a watch. He was later
elected FIDE president. The
Afghanistan team showed up
after the 7th round and still
played. A Mali chess team
signed up but didn't show up
and were disqualified. In the
men's team, Russia took the
gold, followed by Ukraine and
the USA. In the women's team,
Georgia took the gold,
followed by China and Russia.
Novgorod. Just before the last
round, where Nigel Short was
supposed to play Kasparov the
next day, Nigel decided to take
a midnight stroll down by the
river. Unfortunately, one of the
locals was also there,
accompanied by his Russian
German shepherd. The dog
escaped from his owner and
attacked Nigel, biting both of
his arms as Nigel tried to fend
off the dog. The dozy owner
realized that his dog was
attacking someone and called
the dog off, but Nigel was
badly bitten and wasn't sure if
the dog had rabies. Nigel spent
much of the night in a Russian
hospital, an experience he later
described as worse than the
attack itself. The hospital was
filthy and unsanitary and he
was told that rabies was quite
widespread amongst dogs in
Russia at that time. Despite the
trauma, Nigel was able to draw
against Kasparov the next day.
the 33rd Chess Olympiad was
held in Elista, Kalmykia. The
Olympiad was the first
international chess event to be
held at Chess City.
Construction of the complex
was not complete by the start
of the tournament, and some
FIDE members were
concerned that the facilities
would not be ready in time,
including the airport, telephone
system, player housing, and
the "Chess Palace" to be used
as the main playing hall. The
organizers had a web page for
the Olympiad, but it was
hacked with a message that
said, "hacked to Kasparov."
Russia fielded four teams. In
the gold, followed by the USA
and Ukraine. In the women's
team, China took the gold,
followed by Russia and
Georgia.
In 1999, the Petrosian

Memorial was held in
Moscow. 42 of the 45 games
(93.3%) were drawn. Five of
the 10 players drew every
game.
held in Istanbul. A record 129
countries participated. Turkey,
as hosts, fielded two teams,
whilst the International Braille
Chess Association provided
one squad. Nicaragua,
Mauritania, and Djibouti were
signed up but never arrived.
From 1956 to 2000, Lajos
Portisch has played in 20 chess
Olympiads, more than anyone
else. In the men's team, Russia
Germany and Ukraine. Russia
won their 5th consecutive title,
although only by a single
point. In the women's team,
China took the gold, followed
by Georgia and Russia.
In 2000, Vladimir Bagirov

(1936-2000) died of a heart
attack at the age of 63 while
playing at an international
tournament in Finland. He had
just finished a move while in
time pressure and his flag fell.
As both players moved to a
separate board to reconstruct
the game, he collapsed and
died.
In 2001, Leonid Yudasin won

the last Manhattan Chess Club
championship in New York
City.
held in Bled, Slovenia. The
2002 Bled Olympiad was the
first to test for drugs through a
urine sample. All 802 players
passed. Grandmaster Jan
Timman of Holland refused to
play in protest to the plans of
drug testing. World Champion
Garry Kasparov participated
with the highest Elo rating in
the Olympiads. He was rated
2838 at the time and had a
performance rating of 2933. A
chess ballet opened this Chess
Olympiad. The Australian
men's and women's teams were
sponsored by a pharmaceutical
company called Ansell. Part of
the deal was to help the
company promote their brand
of condoms called
"checkmate." Two members of
the same family played on
different teams. International
Master Levente Vajda played
for Romania while his sister,
Woman Grandmaster Szidonia
Vajda, played for Hungary.
Robert Gwaze of Zimbabwe
became the second person
(after Alekhine in 1930) to
score 100% out of 9 games. In
the gold, followed by Hungary
and Armenia. In the women's
team, China took the gold,
Poland.

in Abuju, Nigeria, called the
All Africa Games Tournament.
Ahmed Esam Aly, the
Egyptian chess champion,
played in the event, but was
bitten by an infected mosquito
at the tournament. He died a
few weeks later of cerebral
malaria. Also bitten by a
mosquito at the event was the
60-year-old head of the
Egyptian chess delegation,
Mohammed Labib. He also
died of cerebral malaria. Both
were incorrectly diagnosed in
Egypt after becoming ill.
tournament, the Capablanca
Memorial, was held in Havana.
Peter Szekely (1955- ) took
just 130 moves to draw all 13
of his games (an average of 13
moves a game).
In 2004, the 36th Chess

Olympiad was held in Calvia
on the Spanish island of
Majorca. It drew 1,135 players
with 250 grandmasters
participating. Prior to the
closing ceremony, FIDE vice-
president Zurab
Azmaiparashvili was roughed
up and arrested as he attempted
to ascend the stage to give out
the Nona Gaprindashvili
Trophy. Bill Hook played for
the Virgin Islands at the age of
79. The USA team was made
up of 6 ex-Soviet players:
Onischuk, Shabalov, Goldin,
Kaidanov, Novikov, and
Gulko. A player from Papau
New Guinea and a player from
Bermuda refused to submit to a
urine sample to test for drugs.
Their teams were punished by
points taken away. New
Guinea went from 117th place
to 126th place. In the men's
team, Ukraine won the gold,
Armenia. The USA took 4th
that included a team all born in
the Soviet Union. In the
women's team. China took the
gold, followed by the USA and
Russia. In 2004, the UK
Challenge Tournament had
over 71,000 chess players
involving 2,000 schools. It was
the world's largest chess
tournament.
In 2005, Al Blowers and his

company, Tax System
Services, sponsored the largest
chess tournament in the United
States, the HB Global Chess
Challenge. The total prize fund
was $500,000 and held in
Minneapolis. It drew 1,358
players and 43 grandmasters.
HB stood for Hilda Blowers,
his mother.
In 2005, the Supernationals

scholastic chess tournament
was held in Nashville,
Tennessee. There were 5,270
junior players competing.
In 2006, there were 1,307

players registered in the 37th
Chess Olympiad in Turin,
Italy. Armenia won its first
gold medal at this Olympiad.
They would win again in 2008
and 2012. The Russian team
finished in 6th place, the worst
Olympic result for a Soviet or
Russian team since they first
played in a Chess Olympiad in
1952. Bill Hook played at the
chess Olympiad at Turin at the
age of 81, making him the
oldest chess player of any
Olympiad.
In July 2006, at the World

Open in Philadelphia, two
players were accused of
cheating in chess by using
computer assistance. One
player was found to be using a
wireless transmitter and
receiver called "Phonito." He
had a wireless device in his
ear, claiming it was a hearing
aid. He was disqualified from
the event. The other player,
wearing a hat, was suspected
of cheating. The tournament
director wanted to search this
person. The suspect agreed, but
first ducked into a bathroom.
Although no device was found,
there were suspicions that he
used the bathroom visit to
dispose of a miniature wireless
receiver that might have been
hidden in the hat he wore.
At the 2007 international

tournament in Lahholm,
Sweden, GM Farid Abbasov
won the gold medal at the
event. However, thieves broke
into his hotel room and stole
his computer, flight ticket, and
documents.
In December 2007, the

tournament director's laptop
was stolen at the 34th Eastern
Open in Washington, D.C. It
had occurred shortly after
round 3, when the 6-month-old
laptop was stolen from the
director's room. Generous
chess players at the event
contributed $600, which was
matched by a generous donor
to pay for a new laptop.
In 2008, at the Corus chess

tournament, Ivan Cheparinov's
game against GM Nigel Short
was declared a forfeit after the
first move because he had
twice refused to shake Short's
hand at the start. Cheparinov
refused to shake hands because
Short insulted him a few years
ago. The forfeit was
overturned, the game was
played after a handshake, and
Short won.

Dresden. Grandmaster Vassily
Ivanchuk (ranked 3rd in the
world at the time) refused to
submit a urine sample for a
drug test at the event. He was
then considered guilty of
doping while playing chess
and faced a two-year ban. It
was the last day of the
tournament and Ivanchuck had
just lost to Gata Kamsky. He
was then asked to submit to a
drug test. Instead, Ivanchuk
stormed out of the room in the
conference center, kicked a
concrete pillar in the lobby,
pounded a countertop in the
cafeteria with his fists and then
vanished into the coatroom.
For the first time, the final
ranking were determined by
match points, not game points.
In the men's section, Armenia
Israel and the United States (a
team without a single born in
the United States). In the
women's section, Georgia took
the gold, followed by Ukraine
and the United States (a team
without a single born in the
United States).
In January 2009, a heated

argument erupted at a Dubai
chess tournament between an
Iranian chess master and his
Asian opponent. The two then
got into a fight after the Asian
opponent said he was good in
karate.
In 2009, the Pearl Spring chess

tournament was held in China.
It was a category 21
tournament, with an average
rating of 2764, making it the
highest tournament ever held at
that time. It was won by
Magnus Carlsen.
In 2009, the 2nd Gedeon

Barcza Memorial was
supposed to take place in
Budapest. Although the first
round was actually played with
5 International Masters and 7
Grandmasters, it soon became
clear that the main organizer
did not have the money to play
with the hotel or the players.
The Ramada Resort Hotel,
where the players were staying
and where the tournament was
held, never received any
money from the organizer. On
the second day, the hotel
decided to close the playing
hall. The hotel manager said,
"no money, no business." All
12 chess players were
financially harmed and the top
GMs were still waiting for
their appearance fees. The
organizer blamed the situation
on lost potential sponsors.
In 2009, a chess player who

had just finished a tournament
at the Marshall Chess Club
was mugged after leaving the
club.
In 2009, at the Aeroflot Open

in Moscow, GM Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan,
the top seed, lost quickly to
Igor Kurnosov of Russia. After
the game, Mamedyarov
accused his opponent of
cheating, saying that his
opponent went to the bathroom
after every move, taking his
coat with him. Mamedyarov
said he examined the game
against the computer program
Rybka, and that every move in
the game matched the
computer's recommendations
every time. Kurnosov's pockets
were searched, and the
organizers only found
cigarettes, a lighter and a pen
in his pockets. After the
protest, Mamedyarov withdrew
from the tournament and
Kurnosov was allowed to
finish the tournament.
In January 2010, Magnus

Carlsen won at Corus Wijk aan
Zee, a Category 19 tournament
with average rating of 2710. In
the men's section, Ukraine took
the gold, followed by Russia
and Israel. In the women's
section, Russia took the gold,
followed by China and
Georgia.
held in Khanty-Mansiysk,
Russia. This was the 4thtime
that Russia organized a Chess
Olympiad. There were 148
teams in the open event and
115 in the women's event. In
total, 1306 players were
registered. In the first round,
the team from Yemen refused
to play against Israel. Each of
the four Israeli players was
thus awarded a technical
victory.
Corsica. Ehsan Ghaem-
Maghami (1982- ), and Iranian
Grandmaster refused to play
his 4th round chess game
against Israel's Ehud Sachar.
Because of his refusal,
Maghami was barred from the
rest of the tournament.
In 2011, the K-12 Nationals

scholastic tournament was held
in Dallas. During the
tournament, Quinton Smith
(1994-2011), one of the
participants, climbed to the
roof of the 27-story Hilton
Anatole and fell (or jumped) to
his death. He laid on the
ground for several hours before
someone called the police. He
had lost his first four games
and was given a bye in the 5th
round.
In 2012, Cebu City,

Philippines drew 43,157
participants from public
schools for a chess tournament,
with the help of 750 trained
teachers.
In Augst-September 2012, the

largest Chess Olympiad ever
held, took place in Istanbul
with 157 teams from 152
countries. In 2012, of the 157
Board 1 players, only three
players had no losses —
Wesley So (he played 11
games), Le Quang Liem (he
played 10 games), and Boris
Gelfand (he played 8 games).
GM Eugene Torre played in
his 20th Chess Olympiad. He
ties with GM Lajos Portisch
(who played from 1946 to
2000) for the most Olympiad
appearances. Torre played in
18 straight Chess Olympiads,
breaking the old record of 18
held by Heikki Westerinen.
Russian journalist Evgeny
Surov was denied accreditation
and was not even allowed to
enter the venue as a spectator.
This led to protests by the
Russian Chess Federation and
more than 40 top players.
From March 15 to April 1,

2013, the World Chess
Candidates was held in
London. The winner was
Magnus Carlsen on tiebreak
over Vladimir Kramnik.
In August 2014, the 41st Chess

Olympiad was held in Troms,
Norway. During the event,
Kurt Meier, 67, a Swiss-born
member of the Seychelles
team, collapsed and died
during his final chess match.
Hours later, a player from
Uzbekistan, Alisher Anarkov,
was found dead in his hotel
room. China won the open
section of the tournament for
the first time (followed by
Hungary and India), while
Russia claimed victory in the
women's section for the third
consecutive time as well as
third time overall. China took
2nd and Ukraine took 3rd.
In 2014, the Sinquefield Cup

was held in St. Louis,
Missouri. It had an average
rating of 2802 Italian
Grandmaster (but born in the
USA) Fabiano Caruana took
1st place in the strongest chess
tournament ever held, the
Sinquefield Cup, played in
Saint Louis from August 27
through September 7. Caruana
won his first 7 games in a row,
before being held to a draw by
world champion Magnus
Carlsen. Caruana finally won
the event with 8/5 out of 10, 3
points ahead of the next
person, Magnus Carlsen. His
first place prize was $100,000.
Carlsen same in second,
winning $75,000. Hikary
Nakamura, America's top
player, ended the tournament
in last place. In October 2014,
the Millionaire Chess
Tournament was held in Las
Vegas. It has a total of
$1,000,000 in prizes. There
were 560 participants. The
winner was Wesley So.

was held near San Jose,
California. During the
tournament, International
Master Emory Tate (1958-
2015) suffered a heart attack
and died.
In March 2016, the Candidates

Tournament was held in
Moscow. The winner, Sergey
Karjakin, earned the right to
challenge the defending world
champion, Magnus Carlsen, in
the World Chess
Championship 2016. The
result was decided in the final
round when Karjakin defeated
runner-up Fabiano Caruana.
In September 2016, the 42nd

Baku, Azerbaijan. It was the
first time that the Chess
Olympiad had been hosted in
Azerbaijan, the birthplace of
former world champion Garry
Kasparov. The total number of
participants was 1,587, with
894 in the Open and 693 in the
Women's event. The number of
registered teams was 180 from
175 countries in the Open
section and 142 from 138
countries in the Women's
section. Both sections set team
participation records. The
United States won the gold
medal in the Open event for
the first time since 1976 and
for the sixth time overall, while
China won their fifth gold
medal in the Women's event
and the first since 1994 after
winning the silver medal in the
last three Olympiads. In the
fourth round, a Japanese player
(Tang Tang) was forfeited after
he was caught with an
electronic device in a random
check conducted prior to
leaving the venue. The game
result was reversed from a win
for the player to a loss, which
also resulted in a change in the
match score. Chief Arbiter
Faiq Hasanov said that he was
approached by an arbiter in the
anti-cheating department and
informed about the matter. He
himself did not bother to check
if there was a chess program
installed on the device, as
possession already violated the
rules, leading to an automatic
forfeiture. Later information
from other arbiters involved
indicated there possibly were
two devices involved, and their
quick check did not indicate a
chess program was running.
Without sufficient evidence of
cheating per se, Hasanov felt
that more than game
disqualification would be
double punishment.
In 2017, the 6th Supernationals

(high school, junior high
school, and elementary) was
held in Nashville, Tennessee
with 5,577 participants. It is
the largest USCF-rated
tournament in history.
In 2017, 18-year-old Iranian

Woman Grandmaster (2016)
and International Master
(2016), Dorsa Derakhshani
(1998- ) participated in the
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess
Festival. After returning to
Iran, she was kicked off the
Iranian national chess team
because she played in a
tournament without a hijab
(headscarf). Her brother, 15-
year-old FIDE Master Bona
Derakhshani was banned from
any Iranian chess tournament
because he competed against
an Israeli chessplayer at the
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess
Festival.
In 2017/18, the Hastings

International Chess Congress
was held for the 93rd time.
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Chess Tournament Trivia

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Chess Tournament Trivia

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Chess Tournament Trivia

In September 1467, the first

In 1575, the first major chess

In January 1841, "tournament"

In 1843, Ludwig Bledow

In 1843, the first documented

In 1848, the first open chess

In January 1849, there was a

On May 27, 1851, the first

In June 1851, there was a one

From June 6, 1851 to July 15,

From July 28, 1851 to August

In January 1853, the first

From February through April

In 1854, the first problem-

In 1855, a chess tournament

In 1855, the first world

In 1856, Napoleon Marache

In August 1857, the first

On October 6, 1857, the first

In March 1858, there was a

In August 1858, Howard

In September 1861, Louis

On September 22, 1861, the

In June 1862, the second

In 1864, the Adelaide Chess

In September 1865, Wilhelm

In 1865, Captain George

In November 1866, the first

On June 4, 1867, the Paris

In September 1867, the British

In December 1868 to January

In 1868-69, Joseph Henry

In August 1869, George

On July 18, 1870, the first

In 1870, John Wisker (1846-

In September 1870, the first

In 1871, Reverend Arthur

In December 1871, the 2nd

In August 1872, Wilhelm

In 1873, Albert Ensor won the

In February 1873, the first

In June-August 1873, Steinitz

In 1873, the first Netherlands

In 1874, William Henry Hicks

In July 1874, the 3rd American

In 1874, A. De Lelie won the

In 1875, Pietro Seni won the

In 1875, George Jackson won

In the autumn of 1876, the first

On Aug 17, 1876, the 4th

In August 1876, George

In 1876, Andrei Asharin

In July 1877, a group of

In June-July 1878, the first

In 1878, Mephisto (Isidor

In 1878, the first New York

In January 1880, the 5th

In July 1880, the first

In 1881, Edward Chamier

In 1883, the first International

In July 1884, the first Scottish

In 1884, the first international