The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club is a

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs host over the board, face to face chess mor ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, United States. Hosted at the Mechanics' Institute, it is the oldest-continuously operating

in the United States.

History

The first meeting of the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco was held on December 11, 1854, and it was incorporated on April 24, 1855. At the time, San Francisco was a frontier city that had grown from the California Gold Rush. Today the Mechanics' Institute hosts national and international chess tournaments, offers virtual and onsite classes, and provides scholastic chess classes in partnership with local schools. The first world-class player to visit San Francisco was Johann Zukertort, who spent nearly a month in the city in July 1884.

George H. D. Gossip George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip (December 6, 1841 – May 11, 1907) was a minor American-English chess master and writer. He competed in chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895, playing against most of the world's leading players, but with o ...

visited the city and the club in 1888, writing an account of chess in San Francisco for the June 1888 ''

International Chess Magazine ''International Chess Magazine'' (''ICM'') was a chess magazine established in 1885 by World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz. The magazine was published until 1891. The magazine was based in United States The United States of America (U.S ...

''. Many other leading players have given exhibitions or played at the Institute, including

Harry Pillsbury Harry Nelson Pillsbury (December 5, 1872 – June 17, 1906) was an American chess player. At the age of 22, he won one of the strongest tournaments of the time (winning the Hastings 1895 chess tournament), but his illness and early death prevente ...

Géza Maróczy Géza Maróczy (; 3 March 1870 – 29 May 1951) was a Hungarian chess player, one of the leading players in the world in his time. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Early career ...

, Frank Marshall (1913 and 1915),

Borislav Kostić Borislav or Boryslav ( Cyrillic script: Борислав) is a Slavic male given name. People who have this name include: * Borislav Cvetković, a Croatian-born Serbian football manager and former player *Borislav Ivanov, a Bulgarian chess play ...

(1915),

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

(1921 and 1956),

Arthur Dake Arthur William Dake (April 8, 1910 – April 28, 2000) was an American chess player. He was born in Portland, Oregon and died in Reno, Nevada. He was born into a Polish farmer family ( Edward Winter has quoted a mistaken statement with Dake's n ...

(1937 among many others), Georges Koltanowski (1939),

Svetozar Gligorić Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић, 2 February 1923 – 14 August 2012) was a Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster and musician. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is consider ...

, and

Tony Miles Anthony John Miles (23 April 1955 – 12 November 2001) was an English chess player and the first Englishman to earn the Grandmaster title. Early and personal life Miles was an only child, born 23 April 1955 in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birming ...

. The Institute has also been visited by many

world champions A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, including

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champ ...

(1902 and 1926),

José Capablanca José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

(1916),

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

(1924 and 1929),

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

(1947 or 1949?),

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an ...

(1964),

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...

(1976),

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

(1978),

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

(1999), and

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 196 ...

(1980 and 2006). The chess club is the oldest-continuously operating

in the United States.

Events

The Chess Room holds regular USCF and FIDE rated tournaments, including blitz and rapid events. On May 2, 2019, the Mechanics' Institute Club Rapid Championship brought 13 Grandmasters and 37 titled players in total, making it the strongest tournament ever held in the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club. The event featured a 3-way tie for first between GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, and GM Georg Meier. The chess club also hosts free chess classes and scholastic programs.

Chess Room Directors of the Mechanics Institute

* Arthur Stamer (1951–1964) * Kurt Bendit (1963-1964) * Howard Donnelly (1964-1965) * William Addison (1965–1969) * Alan Bourke (1969-1971) * Ray Conway (1971-1980) * Max Wilkerson (1980–1996) *

James Eade James V. Eade (born March 23, 1957) is an American chess master, chess administrator, chess tournament organizer, and chess book publisher. He holds the title of FIDE Master. He is best known for the books ''Chess for Dummies'' (1996) and ''The Ch ...

(1996-1998) *

William John Donaldson William John Donaldson (born September 24, 1958), known as John Donaldson, is an American chess player, author, journalist and chess official. Like many of his contemporaries, he began playing in the aftermath of the World Chess Championship 1 ...

(1998-2018) * Abel Garza Talamantez (2018-2022)

References

External links

* 1855 establishments in California 1855 in chess Chess clubs in the United States Culture of San Francisco History of San Francisco Sports clubs established in 1855 Sports in San Francisco {{SanFrancisco-stub