Winner's POV Chapter 19: Third American Chess Congress (Chicago 1874)
In Winner's POV, we take a look at tournaments from the 19th century and see the games that allowed the top player to prevail. Some tournaments will be known and famous, others will be more obscure - in a time period where competition is scarce, I believe there is some value in digging for hidden gems in the form of smaller, less known events.
Chapter 19: The Third American Chess Congress
This was a relatively busy time for American chess, as there were no fewer than four American Chess Congresses held in the years 1871-1880. These tournaments aren't quite as big and prestigious as others held during the decade, but after the behemoth that was Vienna 1873, a smaller event is a welcome sight for me. Plus, this was the only noteworthy tournament of 1874, so it makes sense for us to cover it.
Now, I do have to share my frustration with the organizing committee, who apparently insisted on having everything printed in a tournament book rather than being given to the local papers for distribution. That tournament book is nearly impossible to find, and so I've had some issues obtaining evidence from contemporary sources. My best resources have been The Westminster Papers from the Westminster Chess Club (the same source I used for London 1872), and the recently established City of London Chess Magazine. These two books, in conjunction with the tournament book for the Fifth American Chess Congress (New York 1880) were my main sources of information.
Before we continue, I have to mention this quote from The Westminster Papers with which I obviously agree:
"The Chicago Committee have resolved to publish the games after the tourney in Book form. We can assure them that, in our judgment, this is not wise policy. The games should be published at once, and whilst the players are interested in the subject. We believe that those games of the Baden Tourney (Baden Baden 1870) and the Vienna Tourney (Vienna 1873) that were published by us as quickly as we could get them were more played over than all Continental Chess papers, but we never see any one playing over the games, nor do we see them quoted in this Country, Australia or America." (from volume 7, page 64)
Format and Prizes
Similar to the previous iteration, this was a double round robin tournament, though draws did not need to be replayed this time around. The time control was 15 moves per hour.
This event's prizes were shared in the Fifth American Chess Congress's tournament book:
It was mentioned that these prizes were quite small - recall the $300 first prize back in 1857. In 1871, the small prize was chiefly due to the aftershocks of the American Civil war; in 1874, the small prize was chiefly due to the organizing committee needing to keep a good amount of money on hand to facilitate the publishing of the tournament book. I've already aired my grievances with that, so I'll move on.
Players
Worth noting is that Frederick Elder (3rd place at Cleveland 1871) and Hiram Kennicott (who competed at New York 1857) both signed up and played, but withdrew before completing two-thirds of their games; in accordance with the rules of the tournament, their results were expunged and they effectively never entered.
Looking at the 1873 Edo lists, the top of the field is George Henry Mackenzie (6th), Henry Hosmer (18th), and Max Judd (29th). The gap isn't as big as it was in 1871, but the top dog hasn't changed.
The Winner: George Henry Mackenzie
Mackenzie was basically the US Chess Champion now, with some claiming that his reign began with his match victory over Gustavus Reichhelm in 1867, and others claiming that it was his win at Cleveland 1871; irrespective of how he got there, he was universally believed to be the best in the west, and he clearly didn't slow down here. It's time to look at the Chicago 1874 tournament from the Winner's POV.
Round 1: vs. Max Judd
Again, I'm using "round" somewhat liberally since there weren't defined rounds at this event.
Judd had finished a respectable 4th at Cleveland 1871, and given that he was in his early 20s, it's not hard to believe that he was still improving. In between the two congresses, I found games from an 1872 Ohio State Championship where Judd scored 6/7; it was quite clear that he was becoming one of America's best, and who better to test himself against than America's actual best?
The first game of the congress had doubtlessly the most violent start, with Mackenzie sacrificing two pawns and the exchange by move 12! His compensation was in the form of rapid development and open files to attack Judd's King, which we know Mackenzie can do better than anyone on this side of the Atlantic. I like the position so much that it's in the image of this chapter.
As you can imagine, the engine was laughing with 0.00, though the precision required was beyond either player. Both made mistakes, but Mackenzie was the one who needed to find the attack, which he didn't. Judd threw his Queen and Knight up the board, tactically exchanging things until Mackenzie's attack was thwarted. He had a game-winning amount of material, but that rarely stopped Mackenzie, who did have a passed e-pawn.
In the endgame, Judd had a Rook and two pawns against Mackenzie's Bishop pair and advanced e-pawn. It was extremely complicated, with Judd's Queen cleaning up every single Black Queenside pawn, while Mackenzie scrambled to align his Bishops to promote his last remaining pawn. It's an absolutely crazy game, and I hope my notes covered the important parts well enough.
The second game only gets interesting at the end. It was a Ruy Lopez where Mackenzie played actively, creating threats which Judd took a somewhat passive role in blocking. This gradually allowed Mackenzie to improve, first winning a pawn before getting his Rooks doubled on the open f-file. This forced Judd to focus resources on the Kingside, and Mackenzie then created a strong passed pawn on the c-file. It was very much a winning position.
I believe (though I haven't been able to definitively confirm) that time trouble hit very hard in this game. The time control would occur at move 45, and starting at about move 40, Mackenzie's technique began to falter. Judd found a remarkable resource in 42... Qc6, inducing a blunder that actually gave him a winning position after some tactics. However, the players drew after Mackenzie's 44th move, which to me almost certainly means a time trouble miss for the young Judd.
Round 2: vs. Frederick Perrin
Frederick Perrin was the secretary of the New York Chess Club, whose chess was primarily played in the 1850s. His most important tournament was the First American Chess Congress, where he won the first match against Hubert Knott (+3-2=1) before losing the second against Theodore Lichtenhein (+0-3=0). He was among Paul Morphy's closest friends, and his years of experience would hopefully serve him well against Mackenzie.
The first game was a complete slaughter. After playing an alright first dozen moves or so, Perrin incorrectly traded pawns. The resulting open file was occupied by Mackenzie, who was continuing to expand on the Kingside and creating multiple checkmate threats. While Perrin was technically able to stave off checkmate, the open file he gave to Mackenzie was used to win a piece, and resignation occurred after only 25 moves.
We saw Mackenzie have issues facing the French Defense at the previous event, so Perrin's decision to use it here was a good one. Things seemed pretty even for the first 25 moves or so, with both players conceding powerful Knight outposts to each other with otherwise very solid structures. In a longer tournament between world-class players, it's quite probable that this game would've been a very quick draw.
Mackenzie pressed a little, and was rewarded when Perrin made two slips in quick succession. The first only cost him a pawn, but active play would've given chances at an interesting endgame. However, the second cost a pawn and the exchange, and the game was resigned as soon as it was on the board. An unfortunate game from Perrin, but at this stage in his life, he knew very well how hard chess was.
Round 3: vs. Henry Hosmer
Hosmer was the runner-up at Cleveland, and so this match was the most anticipated of the tournament. The games were important enough to be published in British chess magazines, and were annotated by both William Potter and Johannes Zukertort. Let's begin.
The game started as an improved version of Gelbfuhs - Steinitz from Vienna 1873, though the Black pieces were still better after a well-timed d5-d4. Hosmer came up with the wild plan of sacrificing his a-pawn in order to trade Queens and put his pawn on e2. Without a way to force the promotion, he went on a very Mackenzie-style attack, keeping his King centralized and thrusting forward the Kingside pawns.
The critical moment came on move 26, where Hosmer's capture killed off his attack and allowed Mackenzie to quickly solidify. Zukertort provides a very long analysis, and while it isn't perfect, it does show better attempts for Black. Either way, Mackenzie won the e2-pawn, then Hosmer blundered his Bishop on the following move right before the time control. A wild game, but a good win for Mackenzie.
The second game was arguably the best game that Hosmer ever played. It's a gnarly King's Gambit where Hosmer used every asset he had to pressure Mackenzie's King, and the US Champion missed an only move on the move before the time control. It's very wild and extensively commentated by Zukertort, so I'll leave you to watch it for yourself.
Round 4: vs. Frederick Bock
Bock's chess is very light. I found a drawn match played against Max Judd prior to the 1871 tournament (+2-2=1). At this event, he scored 1.5/2 against Frederick Elder before the latter dropping out of the event, so perhaps he's something of a dark horse. Let's take a look.
The Mackenzie variation of the Spanish was back on the menu for this game, with Mackenzie going for a pawn sacrifice that I've since learned was a Henry Bird specialty (and he won games against Wilhelm Steinitz and Samuel Boden with it, so perhaps it has some merit). Bock refused to grab too many pawns, so Mackenzie was allowed to regain his pawn and play a normal game.
There isn't much intrigue in this game, as Mackenzie noticed that Bock's Knight on e4 was stuck, and Bock did not. It was trapped and later won by Mackenzie, who needed to do just a little work to defend against the resulting Kingside attack. It wasn't his hardest defensive task ever.
Bock went for the Steinitz Gambit in the second game, and the first few moves matched Steinitz - Zukertort from the London 1872 tournament, where a Black piece was sacrificed to draw the White King into the open. Both players made mistakes that could've cost them the game, but this short game does not deserve a long preamble. All I'll say is that Bock is no Steinitz.
Round 5: vs. James Congdon
There are no games actually played against James Congdon, who withdrew from the tournament before he could play Mackenzie. While there was a chance for controversy, Bock also forfeited his two games against Hosmer, so the final standings are somewhat fair.
Conclusion
I don't think anyone would argue that Mackenzie had very good chances to go 2-0 against Congdon anyway, so this result seems fine. Once again at the top of the standings, it was clear to everyone that Mackenzie was the best the US had to offer, and had rightfully earned his chance to compete on the international stage. After this tournament, Mackenzie started getting invitations to international tournaments, so we'll see him return to Europe pretty soon.
Now, with no tournaments taking place in 1875, and with 1876 being the year of the next American Chess Congress, I may have to do some digging to find another event worth writing about. I don't necessarily want to do two consecutive ACCs, but we'll see.
Chapter 15 (contains links to chapters 11-14)
Chapter 10 (contains links to chapters 6-9)
Chapter 5 (contains links to chapters 1-4)
