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The California Chess Congress of 1858 was one of the earliest recorded tournaments in U.S. chess history. It was held at the Hunt's Building in San Francisco from March 22nd through May 1st. The chess congress was hosted by the Pioneer Chess Club, the German Chess Club and the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club, all located in San Francisco. The worldwide chess fever created by the 1857 world championship victories in New York by young Paul Morphy had reached the Pacific Coast.

The 1858 Congress in San Francisco was covered in the May 1858 issue of The Chess Monthly and game details were provided in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper which published five games from the tournament. The event drew lots of spectators and match play continued past midnight.

The President of the Congress was Selim Franklin, who came to San Francisco from London in 1849, and played chess in London and New York. The members of the organizing committee included W. Schleiden, Daniel S. Roberts, William R. Wheaton, Geo. Pen Johnston, Willard B. Farwell, Thomas Bryne, B.F. Voorhies, Judge Edward Jones, Charles Mayne, M. Eilas, and H.R. Bacon.

Tournament Play

The California Chess Congress began on Monday evening, March 22, 1858, as Congress President Franklin opened the proceedings with a short address, and play began with eight players in the First Class, twenty-six in the First Division of the Second Class and twelve in the Second Division of Second Class.

The First Class Tournament saw the following pairings for play:

Selim Franklin vs. Charles Sutro
(Franklin 3-0)

Judge Edward Jones vs. E. Justh
(Jones 3-1)

Daniel S. Roberts vs. Wilhelm Schleiden
(Roberts 3-1)

John Shaw vs. Philip Kalkman
(Shaw 3-0)

The Chess Monthly for June 1858 stated that "Mr. President Franklin's second encounter with Mr. Sutro, which took place on Thursday the 25th, is spoken of as resulting in one of the finest games ever played in California."

Daniel S. Roberts, who prior to moving to California had been elected President of the Brooklyn Chess Club, in 1856, was considered another of the favourites in the event. He had been required to move to California just before play began at New York 1857, and his presence on the west coast and his chess connections back East were largely responsible for coverage of the California Chess Congress making its way to The Chess Monthly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. Indeed, as reported, Roberts was at the time of the California Congress still president of the Brooklyn organization.

Pairings for the second round of the First Class Tournament were as follows:

Selim Franklin vs. Daniel S. Roberts (Franklin 3-2)

John Shaw vs. Edward Jones (Jones 3-1)

Although the only two games from the Second Round of the First Class Tournament that have survived were won by Roberts, who no doubt sent the games back East for publication, Franklin emerged the winner of their second round match. According to Chess Monthly July 1858, Edward Jones defeated John Shaw, and Franklin won the championship round against Jones. First prize was a "costly gold watch" and second prize "an inlaid rosewood chess-table."

The Chess Monthly added a little more regarding happenings in the far distant west. Franklin, "the winner of the first or grand prize, is a gentleman well-known for his powers as a player and for the warm interest he has so long taken in the game. He has been challenged by Mr. John Shaw to a match of twenty-one games, and as the present champion of Pacific chess we presume he will accept the challenge. The games, proceedings, etc., are to be published in a pamphlet, whose appearance we shall gladly hail as the first production of the chess-press west of the Rocky Mountains. One of the consequences of the Tournament had been the formation of a new and enlarged club, in the capital of California, under the name of 'Cosmopolitan.' Its influence will of course be felt in many other directions. We congratulate the chess lovers of the Golden State upon the entire success of their first general assemblage."

California Chess in the 1860s

Even before the Civil War, the chess-mania in the United States had begun to fade. In March 13, 1861, a correspondent in California wrote The Chess Monthly as follows:

"During the latter part of 1858 and the beginning of 1859, while Mr. Morphy was pursing his unparalleled successes, the chess fever reached its height in San Francisco. Several chess clubs were formed, a grand Tournament was held, and all classes of the community were seized with a rage for playing chess. Since then the interest in our game has somewhat declined, and there is now no regular club in the city. The Mercantile Library Association, however, has a large and beautiful chess room for the accommodation of its members, furnished with sixteen tables, where daily and nightly may be found a collection of players of all grades of force, from the tyro, whose chess acquirements extend only to a knowledge of the moves, to such veterans as Mr. Roberts, formerly President of the Brooklyn Chess Club, or Judge Jones, formerly of New Orleans. The first named gentleman is, perhaps, the strongest player here, although there are some five or six others, to whom he can yield no odds, and who sometimes give him a close contest for the superiority."

"A few months since, Mr. Salem [sic] Franklin, the winner of the first prize in the Tournament of 1858, and who is now residing in Victoria, V.I., paid us a visit. During his stay here he was daily at the Chess Room, and contested a number of games with our strongest players, the result giving him a slight advantage over all excepting Mr. Roberts, with whom the score was about even. Mr. Franklin's style is cautious and defensive. His motto seems to be 'slow and sure.' Indeed, his somewhat excessive slowness at times, furnishes his vanquished antagonists with an excuse, which certain great match-players have not hesitated to make use of when smarting under defeat."

"A player like Morphy would be a godsend to our chess circle. There are men here, I am persuaded, who, could they have practice with a real first rate player, would eventually occupy no mean place in the chess world. We live in hopes that some stray chess knight of established fame will one day drop in upon us, astonishing our best men with his brilliant combinations, and exciting a generous rivalry which may result in developing the latent chess talent now awaiting the hand of the master to call it forth."

Resources

California Chess, 1858-9

External links

http://www.chessdryad.com/ The History of California Chess