1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress
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The 1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress was the first major international
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
tournament in America in the twentieth century. It featured the participation of World Champion
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 Cham ...
, who had not played a tournament since 1900 and would not play again until 1909. After the tournament Lasker moved to America and started publishing ''Lasker's Chess Magazine'', which ran from 1904 to 1907. However, that was not the only chess magazine spawned by the tournament. The Daily Bulletins produced by
Hermann Helms Hermann Helms (1870, New York USA – 1963, Brooklyn) was an American chess player, writer, and promoter. He is a member of the United States Chess Hall of Fame, organized as part of the World Chess Hall of Fame. Biography Chess competition He ...
proved so popular that Helms started the ''
American Chess Bulletin The ''American Chess Bulletin'' was a chess periodical that was published monthly (November-April) and bi-monthly (May-October) from 1904 to 1962. It was published from New York City. The editor was Hermann Helms (1870–1963), who founded the ma ...
'' as a direct consequence of the tournament. Volume 1, Issue 1 of the magazine was devoted to Cambridge Springs. Helms was somewhat more successful than Lasker as a publisher and American Chess Bulletin would be edited and published by Helms from 1904 until his death in 1963. The surprising upset victory of Frank Marshall marked his rise to prominence in American chess and he would eventually reign as champion of the United States for twenty-six years. Cambridge Springs 1904 marked the end of
Harry Nelson 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 prevent ...
's chess career. He would not play another tournament before his death in 1906 at the age of 33.


Background

A small town in northwestern Pennsylvania, Cambridge Springs seems like an unlikely location to hold an international chess tournament. However, back in the early 1900s Cambridge Springs was a flourishing resort town due to a couple of geographic oddities. The primary factor was location. At first glance nothing seems remarkable about the town, but in fact it is located on the
Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...
line, halfway between New York and Chicago, which made it an ideal stopover location for railway patrons. The secondary factor was the local
mineral springs Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage under ...
which were visited by numerous people seeking to improve their health. In 1895 William D. Rider Jr. started construction on what he hoped would be the greatest hotel between Chicago and New York City. The mammoth hotel was not completed until 1897. When finished, the hotel featured over five hundred rooms in a seven-story structure spanning five acres. Features included a theater for five hundred, where the chess tournament was held, a ballroom, a solarium, two gymnasiums, bowling alleys and an indoor pool. The hotel grounds were equally impressive, featuring a nine-hole golf course and a man-made lake. Rider was a successful publicist for his hotel, and the chess tournament of 1904 was an outgrowth of those efforts. Over two hundred reporters from around the world were present at the Rider Hotel. Financed primarily by Rider and the Erie Railroad Company, the tournament received additional support from Professor Isaac Leopold Rice as well as by selling tournament bulletins to chess clubs around the country. It was originally intended that the chess tournament be a yearly affair; however, Rider died in 1905 and the prospect of future tournaments died with him. Cambridge Springs was the most important chess tournament that took place in the year 1904. It was the first major international tournament in America since the Sixth American Chess Congress of 1889. There would not be another tournament of the same stature in America until the
New York 1924 chess tournament New York 1924 was an elite chess tournament held in the Alamac Hotel in New York City from March 16 to April 18, 1924. It was organized by the Manhattan Chess Club. The competitors included world champion José Raúl Capablanca and his predecesso ...
. In 1998 the U.S. Chess Championship returned to Cambridge Springs and the tournament was held in one of the few hotels remaining from the railroad resort era, the Riverside Inn.


Participants

All of the world's top players were invited to the tournament.
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 Gà ...
was unable to attend due to his career as a mathematics teacher.
Siegbert Tarrasch Siegbert Tarrasch (; 5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century. Life Tarrasch was born in Bresla ...
, having finished behind Lasker at
Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
and
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, was carefully avoiding tournaments in which Lasker was participating. In fact the two would not face each other in a tournament until the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament, eighteen years after their last meeting at Nuremberg. While most of the players were seasoned international veterans, four of the competitors, Barry, Fox, Hodges and Lawrence, participated in an international tournament for the first time at Cambridge Springs. The players could be roughly divided into two groups, eight Europeans and eight Americans. The Europeans: * Emanuel Lasker 35, Berlin – The reigning World Chess Champion * Mikhail Chigorin 53, St. Petersburg – Champion of Russia * Dawid Janowski 35, Paris – Born in Poland, eventually became a French citizen * Carl Schlechter 29, Vienna – Drew a World Championship match with Lasker in 1910, but Lasker retained the title * Georg Marco 40, Vienna – Editor of the Wiener Schachzeitiung * Jacques Mieses 38, Leipzig – Long career in Chess as a player, organizer and writer * Richard Teichmann 35, London – Born in Germany, living in London as a language teacher, blind in his right eye * Thomas Lawrence 33, London – Six-time champion of the London Chess Club The Americans: * Harry Pillsbury 31, Philadelphia – Winner of the greatest tournament of the nineteenth century, Hastings 1895 * Frank Marshall 26, Brooklyn – Living in England for the two years prior to the tournament * Jackson Showalter 43, Georgetown, KY – Six-time United States Chess Champion * Albert Hodges 42, Staten Island – Three-time New York State Champion * John Barry 31, Boston – Champion of New England * William Napier 22, Pittsburg – Born in England, moved to America at the age of five * Albert Fox 23, New York – Brooklyn Chess Club champion * Eugene Delmar 63, New York – Four-time New York State Champion The Europeans and Marshall would all arrive in America on a single steamship, the S.S. Pretoria.


Main tournament

The tournament started on April 25, 1904, and ended on May 19, 1904. It was a single-round-robin tournament where each player would play one game against the other players, for a total of fifteen games. Games were played on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Wednesday was for adjourned games and Saturdays were for Rice Gambit consultation games. Games started at 10:00 am and played until 3:00 pm and then continued at 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm if necessary. The
time control A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game cloc ...
was 30 moves in 2 hours, then 15 moves per hour. There was a " grandmaster draw" rule that prohibited draws of less than 30 moves, unless the draw was forced. Janowski, Marshall and Teichmann all started the tournament very strongly. After six rounds Janowski led with 5½ points, followed closely by Marshall and Teichmann with 5. Teichmann became ill and would only score an additional 1½ points in the remaining nine rounds. Marshall and Janowski continued their torrid pace through the ninth round where they both had eight points, followed by Lasker in third with 6½. In the tenth round however, Janowski started to falter and lost two games in a row, including one to Fox. Going into the 15th and final round Marshall was in first place with 12 points, but he was only one point ahead of Janowski, who in turn was only one point ahead of Lasker. Marshall played black against Fox who was up a pawn after 20 moves. However, Fox quickly blundered a
rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...
and Marshall won. Meanwhile, Janowski and Lasker were playing against each other for second place. Janowski, with a one-point lead, only needed a draw with the white pieces to clinch the second prize. Janowski launched a very spirited attack against Lasker's
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
, which was stuck in the center of the board. Lasker was up to the challenge though, and built a defense that turned back Janowski's attack and eventually won the game. Marshall finished first, undefeated with 13/15, and with his last round victory Lasker tied Janowski for second place with 11/15.


Tournament crosstable

In addition $700 was distributed among the non-prize winners, in accordance with the number of points scored by each player.


Brilliancy prize

The Baron von Rothschild contributed $100 for a brilliancy prize. Initially it was voted to split this into two prizes of $60 and $40. However, in the end four prizes were actually awarded: First prize ($40) was won by Schlechter for his defeat of Lasker. Second prize ($25) went to Napier for his win against Barry. Third and fourth prizes ($35) were split by Janowski for his victory over Chigorin, and by Delmar for his victory over Hodges. The game that won third place
Chigorin vs. Janowski
was not one of the games initially submitted for the prize. Ten games were submitted for the prize (winners are in bold):
Barry vs. Napier

Hodges vs. Delmar

Lasker vs. Showalter
(draw)
Barry vs. Teichmann

Janowski vs. Napier

Mieses vs. Janowski

Marshall vs. Pillsbury

Janowski vs. Marshall

Schlechter vs Lasker

Lasker vs Napier
(submitted by both players, Napier thought this the best game he ever played despite the loss )


Pillsbury's revenge

One of the most famous games of the tournament was Pillsbury's revenge against Lasker. This game is actually more famous for the folklore that surrounds it than for the game itself. The story starts in St. Petersburg, 1896 when Lasker beat Pillsbury in a magnificent game which won the brilliancy prize. Immediately after the game Pillsbury is convinced his 7th move was a mistake and an alternate move would have led to an advantage. Dr. J. Hannak, Lasker's biographer, describes Pillsbury's preparation: Finally, eight years after his initial defeat, Pillsbury has the opportunity to unveil his improvement against Lasker. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nc6 (see diagram) 7. Bxf6! gxf6 8. Qh4 dxc4 9. Rd1 Bd7 10. e3 Ne5 This knight move is a mistake. Tarrasch recommends (10...f5 11.Qxc4 Bg7 12.Qb3 Bxc3+ 13.Qxc3 Qa5) while modern engines prefer (10...f5 11.Qxc4 Qb6 12.Rd2 0-0-0) 11. Nxe5 fxe5 12. Qxc4 Qb6 13. Be2 A positional pawn sacrifice that Black probably should have declined with Rc8. 13... Qxb2 14. 0-0 Rc8 15. Qd3 Rc7 16. Ne4 Be7 17. Nd6+ Kf8 18. Nc4 Qb5 This move is given incorrectly as Qb4 by some sources. 19. f4 exf4? 20. Qd4! White now has a large advantage. 20... f6 21. Qxf4 Qc5 22. Ne5 Be8 23. Ng4 f5 24. Qh6+ Kf7 25. Bc4 Rc6 26. Rxf5+ Qxf5 27. Rf1 Qxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Bd7 29. Qh5+ Kg8 30. Ne5 1–0 Black will get mated in six moves at most.


Cambridge Springs Defense

The Cambridge Springs Defense of the
Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...
takes its name from this 1904 tournament. It was played in three games
Marshall–TeichmannHodges–Barry
an
Schlechter–Teichmann
The results were not good as Black only scored a single draw and two losses. Despite these results and the fact that the variation did not truly originate at Cambridge Springs, the name Cambridge Springs Defense is still used today to refer to this variation.


Rice Gambit Tournament

Along with the main tournament a special
Rice Gambit The Rice Gambit is a chess opening that arises from the King's Gambit Accepted. An offshoot of the Kieseritzky Gambit, it is characterized by the moves 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. 0-0 (instead of th ...
consultation tournament was contested on three consecutive Saturdays, April 30, May 7 and May 14. This is widely attributed to Rice's sponsorship of the main tournament. It is not clear if the players received additional compensation for playing in the Rice Gambit tournament or if it was considered part of their responsibilities for entering the main tournament. Overall, the Rice Gambit "won" the tournament with a score of four wins, one loss and two draws.


Round one


Round two

In the third round the four man teams dissolved and three two man consultation games were played instead.


Round three


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links


CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS 1904



1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress

Cambridge Springs (1904)
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