THE FIRST AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS.
A circular was issued by the New York Chess Club, in the month of April,
1857, "for the purpose of ascertaining the feasibility and propriety of a
general assemblage of the chess players resident in America." This "met
with a hearty and zealous response from the amateurs and clubs of the
United States. So favorable was the feeling everywhere manifested, that it
was deemed advisable to proceed with the undertaking, and to complete at
once the preliminary arrangements."[A] In consideration of the movement
having been initiated by the New York Chess Club, it was conceded that the
meeting should take place in that city.
Some of the founders of the New York Chess Club still live to do honor to
the game. I believe that Mr. James Thompson and Colonel Mead suckled the
bantling in times of yore, sometimes forming the entire of the Club
without assistance. In that day of small things, I believe, too, they
defeated the Norfolk (Va.) Club, proving themselves just two too many for
their opponents. Then they travelled about from house to house, as their
members increased, with the arrival of Mr. Charles H. Stanley, Mr.
Frederick Perrin, and others. About 1855 or 1856, the Club made the
acquisition of two enterprising young players, Mr. Theodore Lichtenhein
and Mr. Daniel W. Fiske; and to the latter gentleman is due the credit of
first suggesting this Chess Congress, which made known to fame the genius
of Paul Morphy.
In the summer of 1857, being then engaged on the New York Herald, I used
occasionally to tumble into the basement of an edifice opposite the
newspaper office, where a jolly, fat German, with a never-to-be-remembered
name, regaled his visitors upon sausages and "lager." Here the members of
the Chess Club were wont to congregate; for the landlord had provided
chessmen and boards as an inducement to visitors.
One afternoon being engaged in a game with a brother reporter, a
gentleman, whom I subsequently learned was Mr. Theodore Lichtenhein,
stepped up to us, and put into our hands the prospectus of the approaching
Chess Congress, stating his opinion that an event of so much importance
merited newspaper publicity. So began my acquaintance with American chess
amateurs. Although possessing but little skill as a player, I had a strong
liking for the game, and determined that every thing in my power should
be done to render the meeting successful.
My visits to the saloon, and eventually to the Club, became frequent, and
the Committee of Management, finding that I both could and would work, did
me the honor of appointing me one of the secretaries.
The Congress was advertised to open on the 6th of October, but players
began to arrive some weeks previously. First of all came Judge Meek, of
Alabama, a truly imposing specimen of a man. Soon after him followed Mr.
Louis Paulsen, from Dubuque, Iowa, whose astonishing blindfold feats out
West were the theme of general talk, and almost total disbelief, amongst
Eastern players. From Judge Meek we first heard of Paul Morphy's wondrous
strength. He told the New York Club that if the youthful Louisianian
entered the tournament, he would infallibly wrest the palm of victory from
all competition.
We were much afraid, nevertheless, that Mr. Morphy would be unable to quit
his legal studies for the purpose of attending the Congress, but when Mr.
Fiske announced the receipt of a telegraphic despatch, which stated that
he was _en route_, everybody hailed the news with satisfaction. Mr.
Paulsen now came to the support of Judge Meek, and declared that Paul
Morphy would carry off the first prize in the tournament; giving, as the
grounds of his opinion, some two or three published games of the young
Louisianian, which he considered worthy to rank with the finest
master-pieces of chess strategy. Benignant fate brought the young hero
safely to New York, some two days before the assembling of the Congress.
Who that was present that evening does not remember Paul Morphy's first
appearance at the New York Chess Club? The secretary, Mr. Frederick
Perrin, valorously offered to be his first antagonist, and presented about
the same resistance as a musquito to an avalanche. Then who should enter
the room but the warrior Stanley, tomahawk in one hand and the scalps of
Schulten and Rousseau in the other. Loud cries were made for "Stanley!
Stanley!" and Mr. Perrin resigned his seat to the new comer, in deference
to so general a request. Thus commenced a contest, or rather a succession
of contests, in which Mr. Stanley was indeed astonished. "Mate" followed
upon "mate," until he arose from his chair in bewildered defeat.
The following day, the assembled delegates and amateurs from the various
clubs, organized the Congress by the election of a president, in the
person of Judge Meek, with Mr. Fiske as secretary, four assistant
secretaries, marshals, treasurer, etc. All these matters of detail, as
well as the games played, the laws passed, etc., etc., will eventually
appear in the long looked for "Book of the Congress," forthcoming with the
completion of the "British Museum Catalogue."
In the absence of the "Book of the Congress," I must give a slight sketch
of its proceedings, in order to trace the career of Paul Morphy _ab
initio_. After taking possession of the magnificent hall which the New
York Committee of Management had chosen for the meeting, the sixteen
contestants in the Grand Tournament, proceeded to pair themselves off by
lot. Never was fate more propitious than on this occasion in coupling the
antagonists. It is obvious, that however apparently equal in strength two
opponents may be, one will prove stronger than the other. This is an axiom
requiring no proof. Out of sixteen, one is better than the rest, and one
out of the remaining fifteen is stronger than the fourteen others. The
latter player may be drawn in the first round of the tournay with the
former, and though he stand incomparably the superior of all but one, he
loses every chance of a prize by being put immediately _hors du combat_.
Amongst the sixteen players who entered the lists, two were unmistakably
the strongest, namely, Messrs. Morphy and Paulsen; and much fear was
manifested lest they might be drawn together, in the first round. Such,
however, was not the case. Mr. Paulsen was coupled with Mr. Dennis Julien,
the well-known problem maker, and a gentleman whose hospitality to chess
players scarcely requires praise from me. Mr. Julien had allowed his name
to be entered in the Grand Tournament in the absence of the representative
of Connecticut, Mr. S. R. Calthrop, but the latter player arriving shortly
after, Mr. Julien was but too happy to resign in his favor. Mr. Morphy's
antagonist was Mr. James Thompson, of New York, a gentleman who finished
his chess education at the Cafe de la Regence, and the London Chess Divan,
noted for the brilliancy and daring of his attack, and his pertinacity in
playing the Evans' Gambit wherever he has a chance. If Mr. Thompson had
not been pitted against such a terrible opponent, in the first round, he
would have tested the powers of some of the other players.
Mr. Morphy's second opponent was Judge Meek. As they took their seats
opposite each other, one thought of David and Goliath; not that the Judge
gasconaded in any wise after the fashion of the tall Philistine, for
modesty adorns all his actions; but there was as much difference in cubic
contents between the two antagonists, as between the son of Jesse and the
bully of Gath, and in both cases the little one came out biggest. Judge
Meek sat down with an evident conviction of the result, and although he
assured his youthful opponent, that if he continued mating him without
ever allowing him the least chance, he would put him in his pocket, he
consoled himself with the reflection that Paul Morphy would serve
everybody else as he served him.
Hitherto our hero had won every game. In the third round he encountered
the strongest player of the New York Club, Mr. Theodore Lichtenhein, a
gentleman who had formerly been President of the Circle des Echecs at
Koenigsburg in Prussia, and an admirable exponent of the Berlin school of
play. Mr. Lichtenhein eventually carried off the third prize in the
tournament, and although he did not win any game from Mr. Morphy, he
succeeded in effecting "a draw," which, against such a terrible enemy, is
almost worthy of being esteemed a victory.
Mr. Paulsen had also been successful in the first and second rounds
without losing or drawing a single game, and, as if to keep even with his
great rival, he, too, had made "a draw" in the third section of the
tournament--with Dr. Raphael, of Kentucky. Now was to be decided the
championship of the New World, and notwithstanding that the majority
anticipated the result, yet many of the spectators thought that the
Western knight might prove a hard nut for Morphy to crack. Mr. Paulsen's
game is steady and analytical to a nicety. Modelling his operations on
profound acquaintance with Philidor, he makes as much out of his Pawns as
most others of their Pieces. In reply to Mons. de Riviere, I once heard
Morphy say, "Mr. Paulsen never makes an oversight; I sometimes do."
It is only justice to Mr. Paulsen to state, that he never for one moment
imagined that he would beat Mr. Morphy. So exalted was his appreciation of
the latter's wondrous powers of combination, that he has been frequently
heard to declare--"If Anderssen and Staunton were here, they would stand
no chance with Paul Morphy; and he would beat Philidor and Labourdonnais
too, if they were alive." And when, after the termination of the Congress,
Mr. Morphy offered Pawn and Move to all and every player in America, Mr.
Paulsen declared that he could easily give those odds to him. But this
invariable confession of inferiority did not at all interfere with his
doing the utmost to become victor, although supremacy was only to be
decided by one player scoring five games. If I recollect rightly, it was
in the third game that Mr. Morphy committed an error, which spoiled one of
the finest combinations ever seen on a chess-board. This combination
consisted of some eighteen or twenty moves, and its starting point was one
of those daring sacrifices which European players dignify with the title
"a la Morphy." Certain of the inevitable result, (_humanum est erraret_
almost loses its signification when applied to his combinations,) our hero
played rapidly, and misplaced a move. The result was, loss of attack and a
piece, and apparently of the game; the most ardent admirer of Paul Morphy
believed it was impossible for him to avoid defeat. But though angry with
himself for his carelessness, he was not disheartened, but set to work
with courage, and effected "a draw." The latter part of this game is a
masterpiece of perseverance and strategy. The result of the tournament is
well known. Mr. Morphy won five games, drew one, and lost one in the
concluding section--only one battle lost during the entire campaign. The
annals of chess do not furnish a similar victory.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Prospectus of "The National Chess Congress."