Correspondence Chess
by Bill Wall

Correspondence Chess by Bill Wall Correspondence chess involves playing the game with distant opponents using some kind of communication to transmit the moves. This can be done by standard mail, telegraph, wireless, telephone, and the Internet. A correspondence chess game was thought to be played between the Emperor Nicephorus (760-811) and the Caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rachid (763-809) in the 9th century. A correspondence chess game was thought to be played in 1119 by King Henry I (1068-1135) of England and King Louis VI (1081-1137) of France. Moves were dispatched through the use of couriers. (source: Golombek, Encyclopedia of Chess) In the 1600s, Venetian and Croatian merchants played correspondence chess (CC). A letter was written for every move. In 1673, Thomas Hyde (1634-1703) wrote De Ludis Orientalibus (the Book of Oriental Games). This book, first published in 1694, documented correspondence games between Venetian and Croatian merchants as early as 1650. In September 1706, a player by the name of M. Caze wrote a letter to Lord Sunderland recommending a correspondence chess match between Paris and London to test a chess variant. The proposed correspondence match never took place. (source: Murray, A History of Chess, 1913, p.845) In 1804, the earliest known postal game was between a Prussian army lieutenant colonel named Freidrich Wilhelm von Mauvillon (1774-1851) stationed at Breda, Netherlands, and one of his friends stationed at The Hague (Den Haag), Netherlands.  The two cities were about 40 miles apart. Mauvillon's chess games (winning two and drawing one) were published in his chess book in 1827.  In the 18th century, Frederick the Great (1712-1786) played a correspondence game with Voltaire (1694-1778) by royal courier between Potsdam and Paris (530 miles). Katherine the Great is also said to have been one of Voltaire's correspondence chess partners. In late 1823, Le Cercle du Philidor chess club in Paris (with the help of de la Bourdonnais) challenged the London Chess Club (located at Tom's Coffee House on Cornhill) in a correspondence match of two chess games, but the match did not get played after three months of negotiations. The Paris CC withdrew their challenge, possibly because the Paris CCC was about to be dissolved. When the Edinburgh Chess Club read in the press that the proposed London-Paris correspondence chess match was off, they challenged London in early 1824. In March 1824, the Edinburgh Chess Club (met at the North British Hotel) made a proposal to the London Chess Club (met at Tom's Coffee House on Cornhill) to play a chess match by correspondence. The London Chess Club agreed to the match. The first well known correspondence challenge was the Edinburgh — London chess club match, from April 24, 1824 to July 31, 1828.  The match was scheduled to continue until two decisive games were completed.  Draws did not count (there were 2 draws — games 1 and 3).  Edinburgh (headed by John Donaldson) made the first move on 4 of the 5 games. Edinburgh won, 2-1.  Several newspapers published the moves and for the first time a wide readership could study the games of contemporary players. The letters were carried a distance of nearly 400 miles by mail coach travelling day and night. The letters and moves were delivered within two days. Each letter from London to Edinburgh cost 1 shilling 1 pence (over $4 in today's currency). John Cochrane (1798-1878) led the London team, which also included W. Lewis, Joseph Parkinson, Joseph Wood, W. Fraser, Brand, and T. Mercier. Cochrane persuaded his team to play the Scotch Gambit. When London obtained a good position, he left for India. EdinburghCC — London CC, Game 1 (Apr 24, 1824 to Dec 14, 1824), 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 Qe7 4. Nf3 d6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Qe2 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 Be6 9. Bb3 Bxb3 10. axb3 Nc6 11. Nbd2 Qe6 12. b4 Bb6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nc4 Qe6 15. Nh4 Ne7 16. g4 Ng6 17. Nxg6 fxg6 18. O-O Rf4 19. h3 Raf8 20. Nxb6 axb6 21. f3 Qf6 22. Kg2 c6 23. Rf2 b5 24. Qe3 h5 25. Kg3 Qg5 26. Re1 Kh7 27. Qe2 Rh8 28. Qe3 Kg8 29. Rh2 hxg4 30. hxg4 Rxf3+ 31. Kxf3 Qxe3+ 32. Kxe3 Rxh2 33. Ra1 Rh3+ [33...Rxb2 34.Ra8+ and 35.Ra7] 34. Ke2 Rh2+ 35. Ke3 Rh3+ 1/2-1/2 London — Edinburgh, Game 2, (Apr 29, 1824 to Feb 23, 1825), 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 [this was the origin of the opening's name, the Scotch Gambit] exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Qe7 6. O-O dxc3 7. Nxc3 d6 8. Nd5 Qd7 9. b4 Nxb4 10. Nxb4 Bxb4 11. Ng5 Nh6 12. Bb2 Kf8 13. Qb3 Qe7 14. Nxf7 Nxf7 15. Qxb4 Ne5 16. f4 Nxc4 17. Qxc4 Qf7 18. Qc3 Be6 19. f5 Bc4 20. Rf4 b5 21. e5 dxe5 22. Qxe5 h6 23. Re1 Rh7 24. f6 g5 25. Rf5 a5 26. Qc5+ Kg8 27. Rxg5+ hxg5 28. Qxg5+ Kf8 29. Bd4 Be6 30. Qc5+ Kg8 31. Qg5+ Kf8 32. Bc5+ Ke8 33. Qd5 Ra6 34. Qb7 Qh5 35. f7+ Kxf7 36. Rf1+ Kg6 37. Qe4+ Bf5 38. Qe8+ Rf7 39. Qg8+ Kf6 40. g4 Ra8 41. Qxa8 Qxg4+ 42. Kh1 Rd7 43. Ba3 Kf7 44. Qc6 Rd1 45. Qxb5 [45.Rxd1? Be4+] 45...Qe4+ 46. Kg1 Kg6 47. Qb2 Qg4+ 48. Qg2 [48.Kf2 Qf4+] 48...Qxg2+ 49. Kxg2 Bh3+ 50. Kxh3 Rxf1 51. Be7 a4 52. a3 Rf5 0-1 Edinburgh — London, Game 3, (Dec 20, 1824 to Mar 18, 1828), 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bb4+ 5. c3 dxc3 6. O-O d6 7. a3 Bc5 8. b4 Bb6 9. Qb3 Qf6 10. Nxc3 Be6 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. Bxd5 Nge7 13. Bg5 Qg6 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15. a4 a5 16. b5 Rab8 17. Nh4 Qf6 18. Nf5+ Kf8 19. Rac1 Ne5 20. Kh1 h5 21. g3 g6 22. Nh4 Ng4 23. h3 g5 24. Nf3 c6 25. Bc4 Rh7 26. Kg2 Kg7 27. Be2 Ne5 28. Nxg5 Qxg5 29. f4 Qg6 30. fxe5 Qxe4+ 31. Bf3 Qe3 32. Qb1 Kh8 33. Rce1 Qg5 34. h4 Qg7 35. Be4 Rh6 36. Rf5 dxe5 37. Rg5 Qf8 38. Qc1 Bd8 39. Rxe5 Bf6 40. Rf5 Re8 41. bxc6 bxc6 42. Rxa5 Kg7 43. Rc5 Re6 44. Qc4 Qe7 45. Re3 Qa7 46. Re2 Rd6 47. a5 Rd1 48. Bf3 Bd4 49. Rg5+ Rg6 50. Qxc6 Bf6 51. Rxg6+ fxg6 52. Qb6 Qf7 53. Rc2 Rd7 54. Bc6 Qe6 55. Kh2 Rd4 56. Qa7+ Kh6 57. Bf3 Qe3 58. Qf7 Rd2+ 59. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 60. Kh3 Qf2 61. Bg2 Bd4 62. Qf4+ Kg7 63. Be4 Ba7 64. Bd3 Bd4 65. Bc4 Kh7 66. a6 Kg7 67. Qe4 Qf6 68. Qf4 Bb6 69. Kg2 Bd4 70. Bd3 Ba7 71. Kh2 Qb2+ 72. Kh3 Qf6 73. Qe4 Bd4 74. Qd5 Ba7 75. Bc4 Bd4 76. Qg8+ Kh6 77. Bd3 Ba7 78. Be4 Bd4 79. Qc8 Kg7 80. Qd7+ Kh6 81. Bg2 Qf2 82. Qb5 Kg7 83. Be4 Qf6 84. Qd3 Qe6+ 85. Kh2 Qa2+ 86. Bg2 Qf2 87. Kh3 Qf6 88. Bf3 Qe6+ 89. Kh2 Qe3 90. Qd1 Qf2+ 91. Bg2 Be5 92. Qd3 [92.Qd7+] 92...Qd4 93. Qe4 Qxe4 94. Bxe4 Bb8 95. Kg2 Kf6 96. Kf3 Ba7 97. Bc6 Bb6 98. Be8 Ba7 99. Ke4 Bb6 1/2-1/2 This was the longest published correspondence game until the 1950s. Edinburgh — London, Game 4, (Feb 26, 1825 to Sep 15, 1826), 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 Qe7 4. d3 d6 5. Nf3 Bb6 6. O-O Bg4 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Nbd2 Ngf6 9. h3 Bh5 10. Qc2 Bxf3 11. Nxf3 Nh5 12. a4 a5 13. Ba2 h6 14. Bxb6 Nxb6 15. Kh2 g5 16. g3 Nd7 17. Ng1 Qf6 18. d4 Qg6 19. Nf3 Nhf6 20. Nd2 h5 21. Kg2 b6 22. Qd3 O-O 23. Kh2 Kh8 24. Rae1 d5 25. Bb1 Rae8 26. Qb5 c6 27. Qb3 dxe4 28. dxe5 Nxe5 29. f4 gxf4 30. Rxf4 Rd8 31. Nf1 Rd3 32. Qxb6 [32.Re2] 32...Nf3+ 33. Rxf3 Rxf3 34. Qd4 Kh7 35. Kg2 Re8 36. Qg1 h4 37. g4 Nd5 38. Qd4 Nf4+ 39. Kh1 Nxh3 40. Nh2 Nf2+ 41. Kg1 h3 42. Kf1 Nd3+ 43. Ke2 c5 44. Qg1 Rf2+ 45. Qxf2 Nxf2 46. Kxf2 Qd6 47. Nf3 Qf4 48. Rxe4 Rxe4 49. Bxe4+ Kg7 50. Bc6 h2 51. Kg2 Qh6 52. Nxh2 Qxc6+ 53. Nf3 Qxa4 54. Kg3 Qb3 55. Nd4 cxd4 0-1 Edinburgh — London, Game 5, (Oct 6,1826 to Jul 31, 1828), 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 Nxd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Ne7 6. Bc4 Nc6 7. Qd5 Qf6 8. Nc3 Bb4 9. Bd2 d6 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Qc4 Bc5 12. O-O O-O 13. Qd3 Ne5 14. Qg3 Bxb5 15. Nxb5 c6 16. Nc3 Nc4 17. Bg5 Qg6 18. b3 f6 19. Bc1 Qxg3 20. hxg3 Bd4 21. bxc4 Bxc3 22. Rb1 b6 23. Rd1 Rae8 24. Rb3 Ba5 25. f3 f5 26. exf5 Re2 27. g4 Rxc2 28. Bf4 Rxc4 29. Bxd6 Re8 30. Ra3 h6 31. Bc7 Re7 32. Rd8+ Kh7 33. Rc8 Rc1+ 34. Kh2 Ree1 35. Kh3 Rh1+ 36. Bh2 Bc3 37. f4 Bd2 38. g3 Ba5 39. Re3 Rc2 40. g5 Rhxh2+ 41. Kg4 h5+ 42. Kf3 Rhf2+ 43. Ke4 g6 44. Rc7+ Kg8 45. Ke5 Rc5+ 46. Kf6 Rxf5+ 47. Kxg6 Rf8 48. Rg7+ Kh8 49. Kh6 Bb4 50. Re6 Rf5 51. Rh7+ Kg8 52. Rg6+ Kf8 53. Rxc6 Rc5 54. Rf6+ Ke8 55. g6 Rc3 56. g4 Bf8+ 57. Rxf8+ Kxf8 58. g7+ [58.Rh8+ Ke7 59.g7 Rc6+] 58... Kf7 59. Rh8 Rc6+ 60. Kh7 1-0 The Edinburgh vs. London correspondence chess match was perhaps the first competitive chess event to receive any kind of publicity. The match was possibly the earliest international sporting contest of any kind between teams, certainly between chess clubs. On April 27, 1824, a correspondence chess match was played between the chess club of Amsterdam (Vereenigd Amsterdamsch Schaakgenootschap) and the chess club of Rotterdam (a distance of 36 miles).  The match was won by the Amsterdam Chess Club after winning two games. This was the earliest continental correspondence chess match. On December 14, 1824, the first game in the Edinburgh-London correspondence march ended in a draw after 35 moves. The agreed terms stipulated that a new game was to be played. In 1824, a group of players from Leeds started a correspondence chess game against some players from Liverpool. Play lasted for about 3 months in favor of the Leeds team, which won in 47 moves. (source: Leeds Mercury, Oct 15, 1825, p. 2, and Kaleidoscope, Oct 11, 1825, pp. 116-117) Liverpool — Leeds, Correspondence, 1824-1825, 1. d4 d5 2. e3 c5 3. dxc5 e5 4. b4 a5 5. c3 b6 6. Bb5+ Ke7 7. c6 axb4 8. a4 f5 9. cxb4 Nf6 10. Nf3 Ke6 11. Ng5+ Ke7 12. Qc2 Qc7 13. Bd2 Ke8 14. O-O Bd6 15. g3 h6 16. a5 bxa5 17. Nf3 Kf7 18. bxa5 g5 19. a6 Qb6 20. Qb2 Bxa6 21. Rc1 Nxc6 22. Rxc6 Qxb5 23. Qc1 Rc8 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. Nc3 Qc6 26. Qa3 Ra8 27. Nb5 Ke6 28. Qb2 Bxb5 29. Rxa8 Be2 30. Rh8 Bxf3 31. Rxh6 Qa4 32. Qc1 Qd1+ 33. Qxd1 Bxd1 34. e4 fxe4 35. Bxg5 Be7 36. Kf1 Kf7 37. Bd2 d4 38. h3 Bc5 39. g4 e3 40. fxe3 dxe3 41. Bxe3 Bxe3 42. Rh8 Bf3 43. Rc8 e4 44. Rc3 Nd5 45. Rb3 Ke6 46. g5 Bd1 47. Rb1 Bc2 White resigns, 0-1 In February 1825, the 4th game of the Edinburgh-London correspondence match began. In December 1825, a 2-game correspondence match between the Manchester Chess Club and some players in Liverpool began.  The Manchester Guardian printed in installments the moves played while the games were in progress. This had never been done before. Manchester won one of the games, with the final moves concluding the match on April 29, 1826. The other game was a draw.  On September 15, 1826, the Edinburgh Chess Club resigned the 4th game of their correspondence match with the London Chess Club. On October 6, 1826, the 5th game of the correspondence chess match between the Edinburgh Chess Club and the London Chess Club began. In 1827, Freidrich Wilhelm von Mauvillon published his chess book, Anweisung zur Erlernung des Schachspiels ("Instruction to Learning the Game of Chess"), which included the first known correspondence chess games that we have a record of. He won two and drew one. One of the three games were finished over-the-board. The book was published in Essen, Germany. In April 1827, the Amsterdam Chess Club began a correspondence chess match with the Antwerp Chess Club. Amsterdam won 2-0 by February 1829. (source: The Athenaeum, 1830, p. 167) On July 31, 1828, the London CC resigned to the Edinburgh CC in their correspondence match. The Edinburgh CC won a silver cup. In 1828, the Hyderabad Chess Club of India played the Madras Chess Club of India in a correspondence match.  This was the first major correspondence chess match outside Europe.  The games are the earliest recorded chess games from India played according to western rules. The Hyderabad team was led by a strong player names Shah Sahib, who died soon after the match began. He was replaced by Row Sahib, a weaker player. The Madras team was led by the strong players Ghulam Kassim (1790?-1840) and James Cochrane (1798-1878). The Hyderabad team was led by Shah Sahib who died soon after the match began. His replacement was Row Sahib, a weaker player. The Madras Chess Club beat the Hyderabad Chess Club 2-0. These are the earliest recorded games from India using western rules. In November 1828, the first known private correspondence match was started between E. Houlston, Jr. (London) and his father, H. Houlston (Wellington).  H. Houlston won.  In 1828, William Lewis (1787-1870) wrote a book on the London-Edinburgh correspondence match, published in London. In 1829, two correspondence chess games were played between the old Berlin Chess Club and the Breslau Chess Club.  It lasted until 1833.  Berlin won both games, with the help of Julius Mendheim. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1899, p. 408) In February 1834, the Westminster Chess Club (No. 20, Bedford Street, Covent Garden) in London began a correspondence chess match with the Paris Chess Club.  Each side put up 50 British pounds, winner take all. Jacquest Chamouillet (1783-1872) was in the committee of Paris in the London vs. Paris correspondence match, and he convinced the Paris team to adopt the defense advocated by Jacques Mouret (1787-1837), which became known as the French Defense. By October 1836, Paris won both games in the match, with the help of Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (1800-1872). (source: Chess, the Match by Correspondence, Recently Played by the Chess Clubs of Paris and Westminster, 1837) On March 14, 1834, the Leeds Chess Club and the Doncaster Chess Club began a correspondence match, consisting of two games, conducted simultaneously. The Doncaster Chess Club won the first game when the Leeds CC resigned on November 11, 1834. Doncaster also won the second game when the Leeds CC resigned on March 17, 1835. (source: Bell's Life of London, April 12, 1835) In 1835, the first U.S. major correspondence chess match was played between the New York Chess Club and the Federal City Chess Club in Washington DC.  Play was interrupted in 1839 and there was no official result. (source: Chess Life, June 5, 1951) In 1836, a correspondence match was played between the Paris Chess Club and the Westminster Chess Club for 50 guineas.  Paris also challenged Westminster in a match to be played over the board at Dover or Calais. (source: London Times, May 28, 1836) In 1836, the Dundee Chess Club challenged the Edinburgh Chess Club to a correspondence match. (source: Bell's Life, Aug 21, 1836) In 1836, correspondence games were published for the first time in Italy by Giuseppe Gasbarri (1809-1885) of Florence, Italy. In 1837, the Cambridge Chess Club played a 2-game correspondence match with the Nottingham 'Town and Gown' club. The Nottingham team won in early February 1838. In February 1838, two correspondence games were played between the New York City Chess Clubs and Washington DC Chess Clubs.  In New York, the games were played at Bassford's club room.  (source: NY Evening Post, Feb 21, 1838)   New York won the first game and the second game was a draw. (source: Bell's Life, July 12, 1840) From 1838 to 1839, Lionel Kieseritzky (1805-1853) of Livonia played a correspondence match against Carl Jaenisch (1813-1872). The match was unfinished because Kieseritzky had to leave for Paris. In December 1838, the Leeds CC started two correspondence matches with the Liverpool CC. Each match consisted of 2 games. Leeds won both matches. It won the first match, scoring 2-0. It won the second match with one win and one draw. (source: Leeds Mercury, Jan 30, 1841) In January 1839, the Ballinasloe Chess Club in the Galway County, Ireland, played the earliest known Irish correspondence match. They defeated The Philidorean Society of Dublin after two games, winning one game and drawing the other. (source: Bell's Life, Jan 5, 1840) In 1839, the astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher (1780-Dec 28, 1850) defeated M. John of the Hamburg Chess Club in a correspondence match. (source: Bell's Life, Dec 15, 1839) On January 10, 1840, Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879) introduced the Uniform Penny Post. The penny post was established throughout Britain in which normal letters could be sent for one penny. The penny post gave considerable impetus to chess by correspondence. About a dozen correspondence chess matches started between individuals dwelling in remote parts of Britain. (source: Bell's Life, Jan 26, 1840) On January 31, 1840, the Wakefield Chess Club started a correspondence match with the Huddersfield Chess Club. The Wakefield CC won the game. (Leeds Mercury, Jan 23, 1841) Huddersfield CC — Wakefield CC, Corr. 1840-41, 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. O-O gxf3 6. Qxf3 Qf6 7. e5 Qxe5 8. d3 Bh6 9. Bd2 Ne7 10. Nc3 Nbc6 11. Rae1 Qc5+ 12. Kh1 d6 13. Bxf4 Bxf4 14. Qxf4 f5 15. Nd5 Kd7 16. b4 Black resigns, 1-0 In 1840, a 2-game correspondence chess match, played by mail (after the inauguration of the penny post), was played between Harry Wilson of the Isle of Wight and Samuel Newham of Nottingham. Both games were drawn. (source: Bell's Life, Nov 29, 1840) In 1840, Howard Staunton (1810-1874) began a correspondence game against Reverend Horatio Bolton (1793-1873). In 1840, there was an Armagh Chess Club in Northern Ireland (source: Bell's Life, Mar 15, 1840). The club secretary was George Cochrane. In March 1840, they challenged the Liverpool Chess Club to a correspondence match. Armach lost the first game and drew the second game. In 1840, the Maryport Chess Club in Maryport, Cumberland, England defeated the Inverness Chess Club in Scotland in a correspondence match. (source: Bell's Life, Nov 1, 1840) In 1840, there was a chess club in Posen, Prussia. They played a correspondence match with the Berlin Chess Club in 1840 and lost. (source: Bell's Life, Nov 15, 1840) In 1840, the New York Chess Club played the Norfolk Chess Club in Norfolk, Virginia in a correspondence chess game.  The New York Chess Club won one game, which finished in June 1842, and drew a second game, which finished in 1843. One of the players for the Norfolk team was Littleton Tazewell, former Governor of Virginia. The New York Chess Club won a handsome chess board and pieces. (sources: Chess Life, June 5, 1951, Bell's Life, July 24, 1842, Panola Times (Mississippi), Jul 29, 1843, and Chess Player's Chronicle, vol. 4, 1843, p. 247)  In 1841, a correspondence chess match was held between chess clubs in Cincinnati, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio.  There was also a correspondence chess match between New York and Norfolk, Virginia. (source: Bell's Life, June 6, 1841) In 1841, the first correspondence chess game in Canada took place, between Quebec City and Kingston chess clubs. In 1842, Staunton won a correspondence match with some of the leading amateurs of the Bristol Chess Club. (source: Chess Player's Chronicle, 1842, p. 131) In 1842, a correspondence chess match, consisting of two games, was started between the Hamburg Chess Club and the Breslau Chess Club. The games were interrupted by the great fire of Hamburg, which began on May 5, 1842. (source: Bell's Life, Aug 4, 1844) On November 2, 1842, a correspondence chess match began between the Pest (before the merger of Buda that created Budapest in 1873) Chess Club and the Paris Chess Club (headed by Saint-Amant). In January 1846, the Pest Chess Club won the match with two victories, under the direction of Jozsef Szen (1805-1857). In one of the correspondence games, the Pest team played 3...Be7 after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, now called the Hungarian Defense. In 1843, there was no chess club in Munich, but chess was played at the Café Otto (source: Bell's Life, March 5, 1843). A chess club in Munich was later established and played a correspondence game with the Augsburg Chess Club. (source: Bell's Life, April 30, 1843) In 1843, the Café de la Regence challenged the chess players of the Wurm Cafe to a correspondence match. The Hungarian team, led by J. Lowenthal and J. Szen, won the match. This was the first recorded Hungarian correspondence match. In 1843, the Burslem Pottery Club played the Enfield Chess Club in a correspondence game and won. In 1844, a correspondence match was played between Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) of Breslau and the Warsaw Chess Club. (source: Bell's Life, Aug 4, 1844) In January 1844, the Mechanics' Institute chess club in Maidstone, Kent, England, began a 2-game correspondence match with the Mechanics' Institute chess club of Rochester, 10 miles away. They each won a game. A third game was played between the two clubs in 1845. (source: West Kent Guardian, Jun 21, 1845) On April 9-10, 1844, Samuel Morse claimed to have played the first game of chess by telegraph using the newly completed 38-mile line between Washington, DC and Baltimore. In September 1844, a chess match was played between the Wakefield and Halifax Chess Clubs, perhaps the first team match.  On November 23, 1844, some players in Baltimore (Charles Howard, W. Habersham, and James McHenry) challenged any three members of the Washington Chess Club in Washington, DC to a telegraph chess match. The two cities were the first to be linked by an American telegraph. The chess games were played to test the accuracy of the telegraph as well as for the players own amusement. On November 26, the chess game was started. The Washington DC players were Col Gardiner, Mr. Dexter, and Dr. Condict. The Baltimore team won. Seven games were played. In 1845, the New York Chess Club met at the Carlton House in New York. The treasurer was P. H. Hodges. The dues were $5.50 a year. In 1845, the New York Chess Club started a correspondence match with players in Philadelphia. (source: Bell's Life, Jan 12, 1845 and June 8, 1845) In early 1845, Howard Staunton (1810-1874) was proposing playing correspondence chess by telegraph and brought up the idea to Professor Wheatstone. He suggested that a game should be played by telegraph between two persons only, one stationed at each end of the telegraphic line. On April 9, 1845, Howard Staunton and Captain Hugh A. Kennedy (1809-1878) traveled to Gosport, on the west side of Portsmouth Harbor, southwest of London to play a team of players in London (Vauxhall terminus) by telegraph. The two teams of players were 100 miles apart. The telegraph ran along the tracks of the South-Western Railway. Staunton and Kennedy lost their first game to the team of Henry Thomas Buckle, Captain William Evans, George Perigal , William Tuckett, and George Walker (Staunton only says the first game was unfinished). According to Staunton, the first game was to test the powers of the telegraph with the signals that would be used in the next day's game. Staunton wrote, "the first day's play is a sort of rehearsal merely to familiarize the men to our chess notation." Getting the moves back and forth involved a ten-minute delay. The game lasted 8 hours and was transmitted in Gospart by Mr. Hoffmeister. For Staunton and Kennedy, the moves were made in their hotel, and a messenger took it to the telegraph offices a few blocks away. During the first game, several mistakes occurred in transmission of the moves. One case had a bishop on the wrong square for several moves in the game. On April 10, 1845, a second game was played between Staunton and Kennedy at Gosport vs the team in London. The draw in the second game was agreed after 43 moves so that Staunton and Kennedy could catch the last (half past 5 o'clock) train of the day back to London. On April 17, 1845, der Humorist reported a telegraph game between Howard Staunton of London and Matthew B. Wood of Southampton. In 1845, there was a Sunderland Chess Club in Sunderland, England. In 1845, they lost a correspondence match to S. Angus of Durham. (source: Bell's Life, May 11, 1845)  In 1845, a correspondence match was started between the Quebec Chess Club and the Montreal Chess Club. The Quebec CC won the match in 1846. In 1846, Charles Vezin (1781-1853) defeated U.S. champion Charles Stanley (1819-1901) in a correspondence game.  In March 1846, a correspondence chess match began between the Louisville CC and the Lexington CC in Kentucky. The match was drawn. In 1846, William Cooke, Charles Wheatstone, and John Ricardo founded the Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company. When operators were bored, they played correspondence chess by telegraph. In 1846, the Maryport Chess Club defeated the Surrey Chess Club in a correspondence match, scoring 2-0. (source: London Standard, Jun 23, 1846) In 1846, the Louisville CC (B. Raphael and B. Ballard) defeated the Nashville CC in a telegraph match. (source: New York Herald, Nov 17, 1858) In 1846, correspondence games were played in Trinidad during the rainy season. In 1847, a correspondence match between St. Louis and Lexington, Kentucky was started. St. Louis won the match. In 1847, the Athenaeum Chess Club in Philadelphia (Philip Randolph and Benjamin Tilghman) beat the Boston Chess Club (George Hammond and others) in a correspondence match with one win and one draw. In 1847, the Oxford Chess Club advertised that it wanted to play a correspondence match with any provincial club except for Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Brighton. In October 1847, the first known correspondence varsity match between universities began. It was a 2-game match between the Hermes Club at Oxford University and the Trinity Cambridge Club. Oxford won. (source: Chess Player's Chronicle, 1848, p. 161) In January 1848, the old London Chess Club challenged the Philidor Chess Club of Amsterdam in a correspondence match of one game for 100 guineas. London won the match, which finished in January 1850 after 50 moves. (source: Chess Player's Chronicle, vol 11, 1850, p. 43) In 1849, a chess game won by the Shrewsbury School against Brighton College may be the earliest preserved inter-school correspondence game known. (source: Illustrated London News, Dec 29, 1849) In 1849, the Glasgow CC played a correspondence match against the Newcastle CC. The Newcastle team won. In 1850, a return match between the London Chess Club and the Amsterdam Chess Club began. The first game ended in a draw in 1851, which as then replayed. London won the second game. In October 1850, Josef Kling (1811-1876) began playing a correspondence chess game with the Forfarshire Chess Club of Scotland. Kling won. In 1851, there was a correspondence match between Wellesley House School and King's College School. In 1851, during the London International Tournament, a correspondence match by telegraph was planned between London and Paris. Due to disagreements with the French government, the telegraph match did not take place. Thus, the organizing committee of the London tournament arranged a telegraphic match between the St. James Hall Chess Club and the London Chess Club. In December 1851, "Sybil" became the first known woman to play correspondence chess. She played a postal game against George Fraser of Dundee as part of the Home Circle family weekly magazine challenge. She won her game, checkmating Fraser on the 51st move. (source: Home Circle, Mar 5, 1853) Sybil — George Fraser, Corr. 1851-53, 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 Nf6 5 d4 exd4 6 cxd4 Bb6 7 Bg5 d6 8 h3 h6 9 Bxf6 Qxf6 10 Bb5 O-O 11 Bxc6 bxc6 12 Nc3 Qg6 13 Nh4 Qg5 14 g3 f5 15 Nf3 Qg6 16 Nh4 Qf6 17 e5 dxe5 18 dxe5 Qxe5+ 19 Qe2 Qc5 20 O-O f4 21 g4 Bd7 22 Rad1 Rae8 23 Ne4 Qb4 24 Rfe1 Ba5 25 a3 Qb3 26 Rd3 Qf7 27 b4 Bb6 28 Rf3 Be6 29 Qc2 Bd5 30 Nf5 Be3 31 Rexe3 fxe3 32 Rxe3 Kh8 33 f3 Qd7 34 Nc5 Qd8 35 Rxe8 Qxe8 36 Kg2 Qe1 37 Nd3 Qe8 38 Nf4 Qf7 39 Ne7 Qxf4 40 Ng6+ Kg8 41 Nxf4 Rxf4 42 Kh2 Rxf3 43 Qa4 Kh7 44 Qxa7 h5 45 gxh5 Kh6 46 a4 Rf7 47 a5 Kg5 48 Qc5 Kxh5 49 a6 Rf1 50 Qe7 g5 51 Qh7 mate. 1-0 In 1852, members of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Preston defeated members of the Lancaster Chess Club in a correspondence match. (source: Chess Player's Chronicle, 1852, p. 68) In 1853, two ships, the Barham and the Wellesley, played a correspondence game while sailing on their last homeward voyage from Calcutta to London. They used optical signaling systems between them to make their moves. (source: The Anglo-American Magazine, 1853, p. 216) In April 1853, the first correspondence chess tournament was organized by Henry Mott (1818-1875) and the Home Circle family weekly. There were 16 participants in the 'Home Circle Chess Tourney.' The newspaper was later discontinued in July 1854, but the games continued to be published in Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper. The knock-out 'Family Paper Chess Tourney' was won by C.F. Smith of London after three years of play. Second place went to Silas Angas. In 1855, Cambridge University defeated Oxford University in a correspondence match. On February 22, 1856, the first correspondence match (two games) between the Athenaeum Chess Club in Philadelphia and the New York Chess Club began.  Philadelphia won both games in 1857. (source: The Chess Monthly, Vol 1, 1857, p. 72) In March 1856, a telegraph contest was started between the Liverpool Chess Club and the Manchester Chess Club, 30 miles apart. The game lasted eight hours and was drawn by mutual consent after 28 moves. This was the first inter-club telegraph chess match. (source: Manchester Guardian, Mar 29, 1856) On April 4, 1856, Howard Staunton discussed his early telegraph games in the Illustrated London News. In the summer of 1856, a correspondence tournament for 32 players was started in the Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper. It was won by James White (1835-1907) of Lowick after 42 months of play. In 1856, the San Francisco German Chess Club challenged the San Francisco Pioneer Chess Club in a correspondence match. The moves were published in the local newspapers. The German Chess Club won the game and the match after checkmating in 42 moves. The German Chess Club won a supper. In 1858 a Cambridge University chess team played a two-game correspondence match against a chess team from the Stourbridge Institute in England and won both games. (source: Illustrated London News, Apr 24, 1858) On July 19, 1858, the first Australian telegraph match was played, between the Hobart Town chess club and George Town chess club. (source: Era British weekly newspaper, Oct 31, 1858) After the first cable was laid across the Atlantic in August of 1858, Howard Staunton (1810-1874) of London offered to play Paul Morphy (1837-1884) in New York correspondence chess by the new transatlantic cable. The stakes were to be 500 pounds a side. However, the transatlantic cable failed and was not successfully replaced until 1866. In December 1858, the Shasta Chess Club of California challenged the Yreka Chess Club in a correspondence game. Well Fargo was used to bring the moves each trip. In December 1858, the New York Chess Club played a correspondence match by telegraph against the Athenaeum players of Philadelphia. Two games were played over the wires of the American Telegraph Company. The first game was drawn and the second game was won by Philadelphia. In 1859, the Augusta, Georgia Chess Club defeated the Charleston, SC Chess Club in a correspondence match. (source: Republican Banner, June 14, 1859) In 1859, Francis E. Brenzinger of Brooklyn began two correspondence chess games against his brother, Dr. Karl Brenzinger, of Pforzheim, Germany.  The first game was won by Francis on March 18, 1875. The second game ended in a draw in May 1875. (sources: La Strategie, May 15, 1875, and Turf, Field and Farm, Jun 4, 1875) On October 26, 1861, the first telegraph match played by submarine cable took place between the Liverpool and Dublin Library Clubs. The final result of the match is unknown. (source: Belfast News-letter, Oct 30, 1861) In 1862, a chess team in Hanley, England played a correspondence match against the City Road club of north-east London. (source: Era, Sep 28, 1862) In 1862, the first international telegraph chess game was played between Hugh Kennedy (1809-1878) of England and Serafino Dubois (1817-1899) in Italy. Dubois won the game. In 1863, a correspondence tournament for 128 players was started in the Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper. In 1863, a telegraph match was played between the chess clubs of Hamilton, Canada and St. Catherine's in Western Canada. In 1863, Henry Mott organized a correspondence chess tournament with 128 players. This was the largest postal tournament until the 1940s. The tournament continued until mid-1867, but was never completed. In 1866, a 3-game correspondence match began between New York City and Kingston, New York. New York won 3-0. In the winter of 1866, the Christchurch Chess Club in New Zealand was formed for a telegraph match against the Nelson Chess Club. This was the first telegraph match in New Zealand. In 1867, the Newburgh Chess Club in New York played 3 games by correspondence with the New York Chess Club. December 1868, a telegraph match was played between the Westminster Chess Club and the Bristol Chess Club. Eight games were played. The Westminster Club won four, drew one, with 3 unfinished games to win the match. In 1870, at the suggestion of the Chess Players' Quarterly Chronicle (CPQC) some of the English provincial chess clubs started a correspondence competition. Paired clubs would play two games. The Sheffield Athenaeum CC won the first tournament. A Staunton chess set was given as a prize by the CPQC. In 1870, the halfpenny postcard was introduced. This made it cheaper for correspondence chess players to send their moves through the mail. There was a marked increase in playing postal chess. In November 1870, a telegraph match was played between Victoria and New South Wales. Victoria won with 3 wins, 1 loss, 2 draws, and one unfinished game. In late 1870, the first correspondence chess club, the Caissa Correspondence Club, was founded in England.  The club sponsored correspondence tournaments and matches. It initially had only 12 members, rising to 14 members in 1875. The club lasted four years.  In 1871, the Irish Sportsman and Farmer sponsored the first Irish correspondence chess tournament. It was a 16-player knockout tournament, won by George Barry. In 1871, a seven-board correspondence chess match was played between teams in Sydney, Australia and Melbourne, Australia. Sydney won with 5 wins, 1 draw, and one loss. In 1871, Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-1895) played at least two correspondence chess games with the Earl of Ravensworth (1797-1878). Churchill drew one and lost one. In 1871, the Oxford University Chess Club, or OUCC, (a group of undergraduates) first challenged the Cambridge University Chess Club. The Cambridge club consisted only of Dons and so they declined to play the Oxford undergraduates. So, the Cambridge Staunton Club (an undergraduate group, later changed to Cambridge University Chess Club) took up the challenge to a correspondence match with 7 players on each side.  This is the earliest documented postal team match on the individual opponent system. Oxford won the correspondence match, scoring 4.5-2.5. In 1871, the Cambridge Staunton Club played a 2-game correspondence match against the Exeter Literary Society. Each won one game. In 1872, Johann Loewenthal (1810-1876) proposed that a telegraph match of two games be played between the City of London Chess Club and the Vienna Chess Club (Schachgessellschaft), the two strongest chess clubs in Europe. A time limit of 4 days would be granted to each party for deliberation. Six players were to be elected on each side. The first moves were dispatched by telegraph and correspondence on June 8, 1872. The match ended in March 1874. London won one game and the other game was a draw (source: The Chess Players' Quarterly Chronicle, 1874, p. 54). The consultation match played by telegraph was the first of its kind in Europe. In 1872, in the return correspondence match between the Cambridge Staunton Club and the Oxford University Chess Club, Oxford won 4-1. In 1873, Professor John Cherriman (1823-1908) organized the first Canadian correspondence chess tournament. It was won by Henry Robertson of Collingwood, Ontario. In 1873, the British Chess Association (BCA) sponsored a correspondence chess tournament. In 1873, the Chess Players' Chronicle sponsored a correspondence tournament. It was won by Thomas Bourn. (source: Chess Players' Chronicle, 1873, Supplement 1, p. 1) In 1874, George Gossip (1841-1907) won a correspondence chess tournament sponsored by the Chess Players' Chronicle. In 1874, the weekly magazine Bow Bells began organizing correspondence chess tournaments. In 1874, John Hanshew (1847-1879), editor of the Maryland Chess Review, started a correspondence tournament that was all-play-all and that every player met every opponent twice. In 1875, the first correspondence match in Italy took place between the chess clubs of Ferrara and Livorno.  In May 1875, the News of the Week began organizing postal chess events. In December 1875, the first international correspondence match began between the USA and Canada. It was arranged by Professor John Cherriman. There were 29 players on each side, each playing 4 games simultaneously. The match lasted until 1877. The USA won 22 to 11.  In September 1876, the first correspondence all-play-all chess tournament in Europe was organized by Rev. Thomas Hewan Archdall (1843-1924). There were 17 entries. The winner was John Crum (1842-1922) of Glasgow who did not lose a single game. He won a 10 British pound cup. In July 1877, the first inter-continental correspondence chess match, the International Postal Card Match, began between the USA and the UK. It involved 28 men on each side, each playing 4 games simultaneously. The match lasted until 1881. There was no official result after 112 games. The USA team had 32 wins and the UK team had 30 wins of the games that actually finished.  In 1877, chess was first played using the telephone. The first documented telephone chess game is from Dr. White and Mr. Treadwell of New York playing A. Douglas. The players were about a mile apart. White and Treadwell won. (source: Turf, Field and Farm, Oct 5, 1877) In late 1877, a telephone chess match was played in Hartford, Connecticut. The match was between two players, John Belden and Fred Thompson. The game was played over a private line. In 1877, William Nash organized his first all-play-all correspondence chess tournament. Another telephone match was played in Hartford in January 1878 between Ellen E. Strong Gilbert (1837-1900) and John Belden against C. G. Lincoln and A. E. Olmsted. (source: Hartford Times, Jan 3 and Jan 19, 1878) In January 1878, a chess game by telephone was played between F. Thompson and John Cooper, separated by 3 miles between Belper and Milford in Derbyshire, England. (source: Chess Player's Chronicle, Mar 1, 1878) In 1878, Joseph Shaw (1834-1897) organized the first Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship (the Dominion Chess Correspondence Tourney). This was the first postal round-robin in North America. It was won by John Henderson (1836-1896). In 1878, the Albion Corresponding Chess Club was formed. It was active until 1883. In 1879, Ellen Gilbert won an international correspondence chess match. She played first board for the USA in an 1879 correspondence chess match against England, winning all 4 games against England's top board, George Gossip. The USA team won the match, scoring 27-23. She was known as "The Queen of Chess."  In 1879, the old Glasgow Chess Club (Athenaeum) challenged Copenhagen in a 2-game correspondence chess match. Copenhagen won both games. In 1880, the Albion Corresponding Chess Club defeated the Chichester Chess Club in a correspondence match, scoring 4.5-3.5. (sources: The Chess Player's Chronicle, 1880, p. 182 and Huddersfield College Magazine, 1880, p. 305) In February 1880, a telephone chess match was played between the Chichester Chess Club members and the Brighton Chess Club. The telephone line connecting the two clubs was 25 miles long. The match ended in a draw. In 1880, Dr. Isaac Ryall (1830-1901) organized the Hamilton Chess Club Correspondence Tournament in Canada with 19 entries. It was won by John Henderson of Montreal. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1882, p. 293) In 1880, John Henderson (1836-1896) won the first Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship (1878-1880). In 1880, the first telephone chess match in Italy was played in Livorno. In July 1880, the first circulating correspondence chess game on record began. The score sheet was sent in rotation to 10 players. Each player recorded his move, then sent the score sheet to the next player. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1882, p. 22) In November 1880, the Liverpool Chess Club played the Calcutta Chess Club via telegraph.  It was the first intercontinental telegraph match. The match lasted four months and was won by Liverpool. Liverpool won one game and drew the other. A telegraphic code for the match was invented by W. Rutherford, a member of the Liverpool CC, in which two moves combined could be sent in a single word. The cost of the telegraph match was 30 British Pounds, equivalent to $4,000 in today's currency. In 1882, the Kimberly Chess Club in South Africa started a 2-game correspondence chess match with the Port Elizabeth Chess Club. The Kimberly CC won the match in 1885. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1885, p. 320) In 1882, a correspondence match was held between the chess clubs of Moscow and Warsaw. In 1882, the Toronto Chess Club played the Detroit Chess Club by telegraph. This may be the first telegraph match between the USA and Canada. In 1882, the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette organized a correspondence chess match between U.S. and Canadian players. It was won by Henry Kittson of Hamilton, Canada in 1885. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1885, p. 320) In 1882, the British Chess Magazine sponsored a correspondence tournament, limited to 12 competitors. In 1882, a 2-game correspondence match was played between Rome and Padua. Each side won one game. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1882, p. 377) In 1882, the Chess Player's Chronicle had begun a correspondence tournament. In August 1882, the Brighton Guardian sponsored a correspondence tournament. It attracted 15 entries. It was won by H. Robinson. In 1883, J. Russell of Glasgow won the first English Mechanic Correspondence Chess Tourney, organized by James Pierce. He won 10 out of his 11 games. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1884, p. 31) In 1883-84, the Cambridge University Chess Club played a postal game with patients at the Bethlehem (Bedlam) Hospital and lost. (source: The Field, May 10, 1884, p. 659) Cambridge University — Bedlam Asylum, Correspondence 1883-84, 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Ndb5 Nf6 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 d5 9.exd5 exd5 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Be2 O-O 12.O-O Ne7 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Bd3 Kh8 15.Qh5 f5 16.Ne2 Qd6 17.Nd4 Qe5 18.Nf3 Qg7 19.Nh4 Rg8 20.g3 Qf6 21.f4 Rg4 22.Rae1 Rag8 23.Ng2 R8g6 24.Rxe6 fxe6 25.Be2 Rh6 (26.Qe8+ Rg8 27.Qd7 Qd4+ 28.Rf2 Nc8) 0-1 In 1884, the French chess magazine La Strategie organized a chess tournament, open to subscribers in Europe and Algeria. There were 11 players from France, Belgium, England, Greece, and Hungary. The winner in 1888 was Emmanuel Laquiere, a Frenchman living in Algeria. In 1884, two correspondence games were played by telegraph between Paris (Cercle des Echecs) and Vienna for the stakes of 2,000 francs a side. Each side won one game. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1885, p. 439) In 1884, the Glasgow CC defeated the Edinburgh CC in a 2-game correspondence match. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1884, p. 284) In 1885, members of the Sussex Chess Association played members of the Irish Chess Association in an inter-association correspondence match, with 14 a side. Ireland won, scoring 7.5-6.5. In 1885, the Scottish Chess Association (SCA) organized its first correspondence chess event, the first Scottish Correspondence Chess Championship. The winner was John D. Chambers (1845-1930). He defeated John Court in the final of the knockout tournament. In 1885, Yale was engaged in correspondence matches with the Princeton and Columbia College Clubs. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1886, p. 69) In 1885, Prague and Munich drew both of their games in a correspondence match between the two chess clubs. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1886, p. 319) In 1886, Prague defeated Munich in a 2-game correspondence match, winning the stakes of 100 marks. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1886, p. 153) In 1886, a correspondence match played by telegraph began between the British Chess Club (Leicester Square) and the St. Petersburg Chess Club (led by Mikhail Chigorin). The British Chess Club was fined by the umpire Ignatz Kolisch for repeatedly overstepping the time limit and resigned with ill grace in 1887 when both games were hopelessly lost. In 1886, Ireland played Scotland in a large correspondence match. Perhaps as many as 128 players were involved. Scotland won. In 1887, John D. Chambers (1842-1930) won the first Scottish correspondence chess championship, which began in 1885. In June 1887, the U.K. International Correspondence Tournament was organized by the Scottish player George Fraser (1831-1905). It took 26 months to complete. It was won by Fraser. In 1888, members of the Irish Chess Association (ICA) played a correspondence match with members of the Yorkshire County Chess Club. The Yorkshire team won, 14-12. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1889, p. 56) In 1888, the French weekly Le Monde Illustre organized the first individual international correspondence chess tournament. In 1888, the second Scottish Chess Association correspondence championship began. It was a round-robin event for 16 players. The winner was D. M. Latta. In December 1889, a correspondence match between Canada and the United States was held with 60 players a side. The American team won, (source — Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec 29, 1889) In 1890, perhaps the first German correspondence chess tournament was played, organized by Deutsches Wochenschach. In 1890, William Steinitz was arrested, charged as a spy. Police authorities assumed the moves made by Steinitz in playing his correspondence games with Mikhail Chigorin were part of a code by means of which important war secrets could be communicated. (source: Irving Chernev, Chess Review, Dec 1935, p. 285) In 1890, Belfast played Dublin in a correspondence match. Dublin won, scoring 26.5-23.5. In 1891, the St. John Globe Correspondence Tournament No. 2 started, organized by J. E. Narraway. Walter Penn Shipley and Edward B. Holt (1840-1909) tied for 1st when it ended in July 1894. In 1891, Mikhail Chigorin defeated William Steinitz with two wins in a telegraph match. In 1891, a North vs. South of Ireland correspondence chess match has played. The South won, scoring 52-48. On December 12, 1891, a 2-game telephone match was played between the British CC and the Liverpool CC. Liverpool won one game and the second game was a draw. (source: Liverpool Chess Club, Report of the Committee, For the Year Ending 30th September, 1892) On January 16, 1892, a 2-game telephone match was played between the Birmingham CC and the Liverpool CC. Liverpool won one game and Birmingham won one game. (source: Liverpool Chess Club, Report of the Committee, For the Year Ending 30th September, 1892) In 1892, an Ireland vs. West of England correspondence match was held, with over 100 boards a side. In March 1892, a telegraph match was played between the Manhattan Chess Club and the New Orleans Chess, Checker, and Whist Club. Manhattan won 7-4. It was agreed that the loser pay for the cost of the telegraph, which was $120 (over $2,000 in today's currency). New Orleans paid for the telegraph cost. (source: Daily Standard-Union, Mar 26, 1892) In 1892, Professor Johann Berger (1845-1933) won the correspondence chess tournament sponsored by Le Monde Illustre. He scored 45 wins, 3 draws, and no losses. In 1892, the Princeton University Chess Club defeated the Yale University Chess Club in a correspondence match. In 1892, Emanuel Lasker edited the London Chess Fortnightly. In the first issue, he proposed to inaugurate a correspondence chess tournament for ladies only. This would have been the first of its kind, but nothing came of this. In 1893, William Steinitz in New York played two telegraph games with Liverpool. He won one and drew one. In 1893, Steinitz lost a correspondence game to Eliza Campbell Foot, president of the New York Ladies' Chess Association. From 1893 to 1897, Austro-Hungary held a major national correspondence chess tournament, sponsored by the Budapest newspaper Pesti Hirlap. Rudolf Charousek (1873-1900 and Geza Maroczy (1870-1951) tied for 1st place. From February to December 1894, a Southern California chess correspondence tourney was held. C. F. Pierce of Los Angeles took 1st prize. Arthur Johnston of Santa Ana took 2nd prize. C. W. Waterman of Los Angeles took 3rd prize. Other Southern California players included: Bateman, Walter Bennett, Candler, R. L. Cuzner, Johnson, A. Johnston, H. Jones, H. Kerchkovv, C. A. Miller, L. Morris, Peipers, Sheldon. (source: Los Angeles Herald, Dec 27, 1894) On January 1, 1895, the Continental Correspondence Chess Association Tournament began with 70 players. It was organized by Walter Penn Shipley (1860-1942), Arthur Hale, and John Young, all of Philadelphia. The eventual winner was Charles W. Phillips of Chicago in 1899. N. Voss and F. Smyth tied for 2nd place. (source: Topeka State Journal, Apr 29, 1899) On March 9, 1895, the Manhattan Chess Club (New York) played the British Chess Club (London) by cable, transmitting the moves by telegraph. Only about 22 moves were played in each of the 10 games. One game was agreed drawn. All the other games were adjudicated as drawn by Emanuel Lasker. (1868-1941). (source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Mar 10, 1895, p. 10) In 1895, the Manhattan Chess Club played the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia in a telegraph match. The two teams were 100 miles apart. The rooms of both chess clubs were directly connected by wire. Philadelphia won 7.5 to 6.5. In May 1895, a two-game telegraph match was started between Victoria, Canada and San Francisco. They each won one game. In June 1895, a two-game telegraph match was started between Vancouver, British Columbia and San Francisco. San Francisco won both games. In 1895, the first Italian chess correspondence tournament was held. It was won by Francesco Abbadess of Palermo in 1899. There were 38 players in the tourney. On March 13, 1896, the first cable chess match between Great Britain and the United States began. It was organized by the Brooklyn Chess Club, and would be the first Anglo-American chess match. The first team match had 8 players per side. Subsequent matches had 10 players per side. Sir George Newnes (1851-1910) was president of the British Chess Club and he provided a silver cup that would go to the winning team. Newnes was an editor and publisher of magazines in Britain. He was the first to publish the Sherlock Holmes mystery series, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. USA won the first match, 4.5 to 3.5. In April 1896, Edward T. Runge (1868-?) founded the Pillsbury National Correspondence Association (PNCCA), the first correspondence chess club to have large support. There were over 200 members. Its president was Edward Napier of Pittsburgh. (source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr 12, 1896). In 1896, the Brussels Chess Club defeated the Lille chess Club in a correspondence match. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1896, p. 219) In March 1897, a telegraph match was played between the Manhattan Chess Club and the New Orleans Chess Club. Manhattan CC won 6.5 to 3.5. On May 31, 1897, a telegraph match was played between the Manhattan Chess Club and the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia. The Franklin Chess Club won 8-6. In May-June 1897, a cable match played by telegraph (a Wheatstone Duplex machine) was arranged between five members of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC, and five members of the British House of Commons in London (8,360 miles apart). The match lasted seven days and ended in a draw, 2.5 to 2.5. This match was arranged by Richmond Pearson, ambassador to England. In this match, a record of time in cable matches was established. Twenty moves were cabled in 21.5 minutes, one move going to and from Washington in 31 seconds. In 1897, the Café de la Gaule in Lyons defeated the Algiers Chess Club in a correspondence match. In 1897, the first telegraphic chess match in Italy was held between the Milan Chess Club (Circo lo Scacchistico de Milano) and the Chess Club of Palermo. Milan won. In 1898, Cambridge and Oxford defeated the American universities (Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and Princeton) by one point in a cable match (3.5 to 2.5). The winning team took possession of the Rice Trophy, donated by Isaac Rice of New York. In 1898, a chess game was played between the officers of HMS Arrogant and Mars, played by signal in the English Channel. In 1898, La Srategie sponsored a correspondence match (number 11). It was won by P. Gaspary of Athens, Greece. In 1899, a team match by telegraph on 12 boards was played between Boston and Chicago. Chicago won the match 6.5 to 5.5. In 1899, a match by telegraph between St. Petersburg and Vienna was played and won by Vienna. Baron Albert de Rothchild handed over 2,000 francs to the Vienna team. (source: American Chess Magazine, 1899, p. 397) In 1900, the first ladies' correspondence chess tournament was organized by Hobbies weekly magazine. There were 7 ladies that played. Mrs. F. Sterling Berry and Mrs. Bowles tied for first.  In 1900, the second annual team match by telegraph was played on 12 boards between Boston and Chicago. Chicago won 8.5 to 3.5. In 1900, a correspondence match was played between the North of England and the South of England. The South won, scoring 57-43. In April 1900, a cable match took place between the British universities and the American universities. The British players were Tattersall, Softlaw, and Wiles from Cambridge, and A. George, G. Ellis, and Soddy from Oxford. The American players were C. Rice and F. Hopkins from Harvard; A. Cook and Austell from Yale; Sewall from Columbia; and J. Hunt from Princeton. The British team won 4.5 to 1.5. In 1900, "The Twentieth Century Correspondence Tournament" was organized with a field of 175 players. It was won by J. McClure. On November 12, 1900, the first telegraph match between Victoria and West Australia (2,300 miles) was played, 10 players a side. West Australia won with 6 wins, 3 losses, and one unfinished game. In 1901, a 22-board correspondence match began between the state chess associations of Iowa and Nebraska. (source: Omaha Daily Bee, Feb 3, 1901) In 1901, the British Chess Company (BCC) offered prizes for chess matches played between the readers of various newspapers. In 1901, a Kitchin Memorial Correspondence tournament was organized in Yorkshire in memory of Charles Stuart Kitchin who died in 1900. A. Denham of Huddersfield won the first event. (source: British Chess Magazine, 1902, p. 115) In 1901, in a correspondence game between the Liverpool CC and the Edinburgh CC, White (Liverpool) announced mate in 45 moves, whereupon Black (Edinburgh) resigned. In 1901, a 230-board correspondence match began between the New York State Chess Association and the Pennsylvania State Chess Association. (source: New York Tribune, Oct 28, 1901) In November 1901, a 25-board correspondence match between Texas and Missouri began. (source: The Houston Daily Post, Apr 27, 1902) In 1902, Dr. Otto Meyer of Richmond, Virginia, won the first annual tournament of the Pillsbury National Correspondence Chess Association. In the finals, he won 4, drew 3, and lost none. Second place went to J. Jellett of St. Paul, Minnesota. The tournament began in 1896. (source: The Richmond Times, Jun 14, 1902) In 1902, a 116-board correspondence chess match between Brooklyn and Chicago began. It was played under the auspices of the Pillsbury Correspondence Chess Association. (source: The Saint Paul Globe, Apr 21, 1902) In 1902, a correspondence chess match of 27-boards a side was started between Mississippi and Texas. (source: The Coalville Times (Utah), Jul 25, 1902) In February 1902, the Minnetonka merchant ship defeated the Cunard liner Etruria in a game of chess conducted over radio.  The Minnetonka crew proudly proclaimed her victory to the Minneapolis wireless operator. (source: The Atlantic Transport Line) On June 10, 1902, six passengers on the American liner SS Philadelphia and one passenger (Paul Ginther) on the Cunard liner SS Campania 80 miles away in the Atlantic played the first match by radio, transmitting their moves by wireless operators aboard the ships. The match was not concluded after 21 moves and several hours since the radios were needed for navigational use and the ships failed to reestablish communications. Later, the SS Philadelphia played other ships, winning its chess games, and claiming to be the first mid-ocean wireless chess champion. (source: The New York Times, June 15, 1902 and Jan 19, 1903 and The Argus, Jan 21, 1903) On January 16, 1903, a team of chess players on the American liner SS Philadelphia defeated a team of chess players on the liner SS Lucania, winning their game in 13 moves. (source: The American Almanac, Year-Book, Cyclopedia and Atlas for 1903) In 1903, James E. Narraway (1857-1947) took first place in the Pillsbury National Correspondence Chess Association (PNCCA) Masters' Tournament. In 1903, Edinburgh began a correspondence match against Rome. Edinburgh won one game and drew the other. In 1903, the Chicago Chess and Checker Club defeated the Brooklyn Chess Club in a telegraph match, scoring 6-5. (source: New York Tribune, Aug 30, 1903) In 1903, Le Monde Illustre organized a Rice Gambit international correspondence chess tournament. This was a thematic tournament to test the Rice Gambit variation in the King's Gambit. The winner was Semyon Alapin (1856-1923) In July 1904, the Honolulu Chess Club played a 2-game wireless chess match with the Hilo Chess Club.  Hilo won both games. (source: Honolulu Evening Bulletin, July 21, 1904) In 1904, the annual interstate telegraph match between the Melbourne Chess Club in Australia and the New South Wales Chess Association was cancelled because the Australian postmaster general claimed he could not spare the time since the telegraph lines were jammed from increased activity due to rates being recently reduced. In the early days of cable matches, the telegraph companies were very glad to allow chess matches as good advertising. In September 1904, the American transport liner Minneapolis played a wireless chess match with the Holland-American liner Ryndam.  The game ended in a draw after 4.5 hours of play.  Many of the passengers on both ships were betting on the game as to who would be the winner, hoping to meet and settle their bets in New York, but the outcome of the game made this unnecessary.  (source: New York Evening World, Sep 5, 1904) In September 1904, Admiral Caspar Goodrich (1847-1925) and the officers of the United States cruiser New York played a chess game by wireless telegraph with Captain Hubbard and the officers of the cruiser Boston.  The game was finally won by the players on the Boston.  (source: Los Angeles Herald, Oct 2, 1904) In 1905, the "Masters' Correspondence Tournament" was started. Walter Penn Shipley and J. E. Narraway tied for first place. In July 1905, a game of chess was played by wireless between the Carpathia and the Baltic in the Atlantic Ocean.  The game ended in a draw after 30 moves.  (source: Lasker's Chess Magazine, Vol 2, 1905, p. 152). In 1905, a telegraph match was played between the Manhattan Chess Club and the Chicago Chess and Checker Club. Emanuel Lasker was the referee and adjudicated the unfinished games. Than Manhattan Chess Club won 9 to 7. In November 1905, a German ambassador on his way home from New York was detained in Finland by Russia for cabling chess moves. He was part of the opening proceedings in Manhattan when the Berlin Chess Club played the Manhattan Chess Club in a cable match. (source: New York Sun, Sep 17, 1916) In 1906, Alexander Alekhine won the 16th Correspondence Gambit Tournament of the chess magazine Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie, which took place during 1905-1906. Alekhine considered this his first serious tournament. He won 10, drew 3, and lost 1 game. In June 1906, the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) was formed. Its original name was The Capital and Counties Correspondence Chess Association. It was the first successful British correspondence organization, and it still exists. Its first president was Major Archibald. K. Murray followed by Max Meyer. It is the longest running continuously operating correspondence chess organization in the world. In 1907, J. Solari and the Rev. B. Reed won the first BCCA championship. In December 1907, the BCCA began their first international correspondence chess match against the Pillsbury National Correspondence Chess Association of the USA. 51 boards took place. The USA team won the event. In January 1908, the BCCA played a correspondence match against the readers of The Four-Leaved Shamrock in Ireland. The Shamrock team won, 11.5 to 8.5. In 1908, BCCA membership was 72. In 1908, the first Irish Correspondence Chess Championship began. In 1908, the British Chess Magazine (BCM) sponsored a correspondence chess tournament. It was the last big correspondence chess tournament before World War I. It was won by William Gunston in Section 1, and Frederick Yates in Section 2. The Final Section, which started in 1910, was won by Rev. E. Griffiths. In 1909, the BCCA played another correspondence match against the readers of The Four-Leaved Shamrock. The Shamrock team won, 15-9, with one game unfinished. 1909 saw the formation of the BCCA Handicap tourney. The BCCA Handicap tournament is the longest running continuous correspondence chess tournament in the world. In 1909, Reverend B. Reed and J. Solari were declared joint BCCA champions. In 1909, the Correspondence Chess League of Greater New York (CCLGNY) was formed. One of the co-founders was Stanley Chadwick (1870-1943). It had over 780 members in 37 states and in Canada.  In 1909, Princeton played a wireless chess match with players at the Brooklyn navy yard.  (source: New York Tribune, March 14, 1909) In late 1909, the BCCA launched its first chess magazine, the British Correspondence Chess Association Magazine. It originally appeared on a quarterly basis. In 1910, a wireless telegraph match between ocean-going ships was played. Passengers of the King Friedrich August steamer played a match against passengers of the Principessa Mafalda. The game was drawn after 31 moves. The increasing distance between the ships made continuation of the game too difficult. In 1910, J. Twomey won the first Irish Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1910, Princeton played Penn State in a wireless chess match, which may be the first intercollegiate wireless chess match. In 1910, Alexander Alekhine played in the 17th Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie Correspondence Tournament and won it by a wide margin. In 1910, the Zealandia was the first Australian owned ship to be fitted with wireless telegraphy.  Soon after Zealandia began operating across the Pacific, the wireless operator began engaging in a long-range chess match with the Union Line passenger steamer Makura as the two liners were crossing the Pacific in opposite directions.  (source: Across the Pacific: Liners from ANZ to North America, by Peter Plowman, p. 102, 2010) In 1911, the City of London Chess Club won the Newnes trophy by beating the American team in a cable match for the third consecutive time. In 1911, two games of chess were played by wireless telegraphy between two liners in the Atlantic Ocean, the Briton and the Medric.  Each won a game.  Among the players on the Briton was Rear Admiral (later Vice-Admiral) Sir Paul Warner Bush (1855-1930), commander-in-chief, Cape of Good Hope Station.  (source: The Washington Post, Feb 5, 1911). In 1911, the Illinois Correspondence Chess Association was formed. (source: Chess Review, Jan-Feb 1934, p. 4) In 1913, the Evening Star in Washington, DC, sponsored a correspondence match for anyone residing in the district. (source: Washington Evening Star, April 13, 1913, p. 4) In 1915, chess was being played between French and German soldiers in their trenches. The moves were announced by megaphone in French.  In May 1915, the chess club of Ohio State University played a wireless match with the University of Michigan.  The game ended in a draw.  (source: Detroit Free Press, May 23, 1915) In 1917, the Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA) was founded with the merger of the National Correspondence Chess Association, the Correspondence Chess League of Greater New York, the Chess By Mail Correspondence Bureau, and the Chess Amateur Correspondence League. Charles A. Will became its president. (source: Washington Evening Star, May 20, 1917) In 1917, The Chess Correspondent chess magazine was introduced by the CCLA. In January 1918, the British Chess Federation (BCF) organized its first national correspondence championship with 90 players. It was won by the Rev. F. E. Hamond. In 1918, Lorenz Hansen was arrested by federal authorities in Germantown, Maryland, believing that he had a secret code, was spying, and was communicating with someone at Grand Rapids, Michigan. The secret code was chess notation sent on a postcard. Once it was realized that it was chess notation in a correspondence chess game, he was released. (source: American Chess Bulletin, Feb 1919, p. 48) In 1918, James E. Narraway (1857-1947) won the 5th North American Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1918, Malcom Sim (1881-1956) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1919, John D. Chambers (1842-1930) won the British Correspondence Chess Association championship (1918-1919). In 1920, two correspondence games were played between the New York Bar and the London Bar. (source: New York Sun, Mar 7, 1920) On April 14, 1920, a radio match between Washington DC and Chicago was played.  It was the first recorded long-distance radio chess match.  The moves in Washington DC were telephoned from the Capital City Chess Club to the United States naval laboratory wireless operator in Arlington, Virginia, and relayed to an amateur's station in Evanston, Illinois, then relayed to the Chicago Chess Club.  Edward Lasker (1885-1981) played for Chicago and Norman Tweed Whitaker played for Washington DC.  25 moves were played in almost 3 and ½ hours.  The contest closed according to an agreed time limit.  Jose Capablanca was to adjudicate the game.  (source: Chicago Daily Tribune, April 16, 1920, p. 8 and The Wireless Age, Vol 20, June, 1920 and The Washington Herald, May 28, 1920) In 1920, a chess match between a city in Holland and Berlin was played by wireless telegraphy. (source: New Science and Invention in Pictures, vol 8, 1920). In April 1921, Edward Lasker, on board the steamship Olympic, played a wireless match against 3 players on the steamship Adriatic.   Only 16 moves were made before communications was lost. In 1921, the first British Chess Correspondence Championship was launched. In 1921, the Canadian Correspondence Chess Association was formed. In 1922, New York University played a radio chess match with Princeton.  It was the first intercollegiate radio chess match of its kind. (source: New York Evening World, Feb 11, 1922, p. 4) In June 1922, a radio chess match was played between E. T. Gundlach on the steamship President Taft and Edward Lasker at the Chicago Chess Club.  It was billed as the world's first radio chess match between land and sea. Lasker won the match.  (source: The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 7, 1922, p. 11 and The Courier-Journal, June 8, 1922) In 1922, Joseph Henry Blake (1859-1951) won the British correspondence chess championship. Radio broadcasting began at Haverford College in 1923, when AM station 1150 WABQ was built and launched by its 15-member Haverford Radio Club.  They soon began conducting chess matches by wireless using Morse code.  Initial matches were with other colleges in the United States. In May 1923, two steamships, the SS Western World out of New York and the SS American Legion out of Argentina, 6,000 miles apart played a game of chess by wireless radio. Each ship had a three-man team.  (source: Oakland Tribune, May 29, 1923, p. 9 and Schenectady Gazette, Aug 2, 1972, p. 16) In 1924, William Hewison Gunston (1856-1941) won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1924, Dr. R. C. Macdonald won the Scottish Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1924, Haverford College played a wireless chess match with the College of the City of New York (CCNY).  It was the first intercollegiate chess match played by radio.  (source: http://spinningindie.blogspot.ae/2009/08/haverford-college-radios-heyday-in.html) In December 1924, Haverford College in Pennsylvania (college broadcasting station 3BVN) played an amateur radio chess match with Oxford University in England (private station G-2NM).  It was the first international chess match by amateur radio and was reported by the American Radio Relay League.  The communication was maintained by radio telegraphy on 85 meters, despite heavy static.  However, a week later, the Postmaster General in England declined to give permission for Oxford to play chess by amateur wireless telegraphy.  The Postmaster objected on the ground that permits are granted to amateurs subject to the condition that messages shall be sent only to stations which are actually cooperating in experiments.  The Postmaster General ruled that the exchange of messages relating to a chess match was not regarded as a bona fide experiment.  (source: New York Times, Dec 10, 1924, p. 1 and New York Times, Dec 22, 1924, p. 2) In 1925, Dr. Ronald Cadell MacDonald (1868-1942) won the Scottish correspondence chess championship. He won the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) championship 8 times. In 1926, Haverford College in Pennsylvania played an amateur radio chess match with the University of Paris.  The broadcasting and receiving station used in Franc was L'Intransigeant (F-SER), at wavelength from 90 to 100 meters.  Broadcasting and receiving at Haverford College was Stations 3ZG and 3OT, operating on a 40-meter wavelength. (source: The New York Times, Jan 17, 1926, p. 1) In May 1926, the Shanghai chess club defeated the Manila chess club in a radio match over shortwave. (source: Indiana Gazette, May 28, 1926, p. 1) On November 6, 1926, a cable chess match between London and Chicago was held. London beat Chicago 4-2. In December 1926, the first international radio match between Argentina and Uruguay took place between the Club Gimnasia y Esgroma de Rosario and the Uruguayan Chess Federation in Montevideo.  The match lasted nearly 24 hours. (source: Horacio A. Nigro Geolkiewsky of Montevideo, Uruguay).  Also see Ajedrez por radio, una historia concisa. In 1927, Kenneth Whitfield (1902-1983) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In May 1927, a 12,000-mile wireless radio match was played between the London House of Commons and the Australian Parliamentarians in Canberra, Australia.  The match ended in a draw.  The Duke of York made the opening move in Canberra and Prime Minister Baldwin made the first move in London.  (source: The New York Times, May 10, 1927, p. 38 and The Winnipeg Tribune, May 10, 1927) In 1928, the National Chess Federation organized a Radio Chess League. On August 15, 1928, the Internationaler Correspondenz-Schachbund (ICSB) was created. Its president was Erich von Freinhagen. In December 1928, the Internationaler Fernschach Bund (IFSB) (International Correspondence Chess Association) was founded in Berlin under the direction of Erich Otto Freienhagen. After World War II, it became known as the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA). In 1929, Dr. Norman Shaw of McGill University, Montreal issued a challenge to play a radio match with Frank Davies, physicist of the Byrd expedition in the Antarctic, a distance of 11,000 miles. In 1929, the Correspondence Chess League of Australia (CCLA) was formed. In 1929, the German language monthly magazine Fernschach was founded for correspondence chess. It discontinued in 1939, and restarted in 1951. In 1929, the Commonwealth Correspondence Chess League was formed. In 1930, Eduard Dyckhoff (1880-1949) won the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IFSB) world correspondence chess championship. In 1930, a radio match was played between a chess club in Los Angeles (headed by Herman Steiner) and a chess club in Rosario, Argentina.  It was the first time an international radio match was contested between teams of four players.  Two amateur radio stations, owned by T. E. La Croix of Long Beach and Dr. Adolfo Elias of Rosario, were used for the communication.  (source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 1, 1930, p. 27 and North Adams Transcript, Apr 10,1930) In the 1930s, Norman Tweed Whitaker (1890-1975) had a friend who was competing in a U.S. correspondence chess championship, During the tournament, his friend suddenly died. His widow needed money, and this gave Whitaker the idea of finishing his friend's games without letting anyone know. Whitaker wound up winning the tournament. In the 1930s, crews in the lighthouses of the mid-Atlantic coast played "Radio Chess" with the crews of other lighthouses.  Two crews tried to checkmate each other while the rest listened in and planned their turns at play.  (source: Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast) In 1931, a wireless chess match was played between Sydney and Melbourne Universities.  Sydney won the match.  The students claimed that is was the first inter-state and the first inter-university chess match ever played by wireless. (source: Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 3, 1931) In 1932, the National Correspondence Chess Club was founded by Tom A. Morris as 'The Forest and District Correspondence Chess Club.' In 1932, Theodore Henry Tylor (1900-1968) won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1932, Janos Balogh (1892-1980) won an international correspondence tournament.  In 1932, Hans Mueller (1896-1971) won the European Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1933, the CCLA was the first organization to have a numerical rating system for chess players. In 1933, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) won the European correspondence chess championship.  In 1933, there were 720 players involved in the Counties and District Correspondence Chess Championship in England. In 1934, the first chess match ever staged in Ohio over a short wave radio set was played by Victor Alderson and Homer Lawrence.  (source: Mansfield News-Journal, Mar 2, 1937) In 1934, Harold E. Jennings (1898-1990) won the first Correspondence Chess League of American (CCLA) championship. In 1934, H. Opsahl won the 1934 Canadian Correspondence Chess Association (CCCA) Championship. In 1935, the IFSB organized the first international team tournament. In 1935, a correspondence chess Olympiad was held with 17 countries participating. It was won by Hungary. The Olympiad was for European countries only. In 1935, Istvan Abonyi (1886-1942) was elected president of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (IFSB). He was president from 1935 to 1939. In 1935, George Shorrock Ashcombe Wheatcroft (1905-1987) won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. In the spring of 1936, the Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA) started a 1,002-board correspondence match with the British Correspondence Chess Association. Entry fee was 25 cents. It was stopped in 1941 when the British government's Board of Censors thought that chess notation was some kind of code for secret messages. When the match has halted, the U.S. had won 223 games, lost 203, and drew 100. There were 476 games unfinished. In 1937, the Fifth Grand National Correspondence Chess Tournament of the CCLA began. It was won by Delmar Saxton of Omaha in 1946. In 1937, Samuel Hindin (1888-?) won the New Zealand Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1937, Cecil John Seddon Purdy (1906-1979) won the Australian Correspondence Championship. In 1937, Stanley B. Wilson (1881-1960) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1938, Leonard Illingworth won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. In April 1939, three University of Illinois "hams" from station W-9201 defeated members at station W-9YB at Purdue, in a wireless telegraphy chess match.  (source: Daily Illini, April 23, 1939) In 1939, H. Jarvis of England was playing a correspondence game with Eberhardt Wilhelm of Germany. When World War II started, it was Mr. Jarvis's move. After the war, it took two years before normal postal services were resumed between England and Germany. Wilhelm wrote that he was still waiting for the next move. Mr. Jarvis replied with a move. So one move took eight years to play. In 1939, Dr. Edmund Adam (1894-1958) was the last German Open correspondence chess champion. In September 1939, the 7th Grand National Correspondence Chess Championship started. It was won by Herman Holenweg of Milwaukee in 1948. In 1940, C. W. Marshall and D. M. MacIsaac tied for 1st in the Scottish Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1940, W. L. Roche won the 1939-40 British Correspondence Chess Championship. In December 1940, Chess Review magazine sponsored its first correspondence chess tournament. In two years, over 350 of its readers were actively participating in Chess Review tournaments. In 1941, English actor Herbert Marshall (1890-1966) played correspondence chess with a British schoolmate as he made movies in Hollywood. Later, he made numerous appearances on the Armed Forces Radio Service, hosting a variety of shows. (source: Modern Screen, Oct 1941, p. 9) In 1941, Mario Napolitano (1910-1995) won the Italian Correspondence Chess Championship. He tied for 2nd in the first World Correspondence Championship (1950-1953), behind Cecil Purdy. He took 2nd in the 2nd World Correspondence Championship (1956-1959). He took 5th in the 3rd World Correspondence Championship (1959-1962). In September 1941, the 9th CCLA Grand National Chess Championship started. It was won by H. Robison in 1948. In 1941, the first USSR correspondence chess championship was abandoned after the German invasion. In 1942, chess ratings for American correspondence players were first published in the January issue of Chess Review magazine. The highest rated player was L. P. Vichules, rated 1281. Ranked #2 was J. E. Palange at 1229. The 3rd highest rated correspondence player was a woman, Mrs. Dorothy S. Muir of Schenectady, New York, rated 1214. In 1942, Harald Valdemar Malgrem (1904-1957) won the Swedish Correspondence Chess Championship. He tied for 2nd in the first World Correspondence Chess Championship (1950-1953). In 1942, William Ritson-Morry (1910-1994) won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. At the end of 1942, all correspondence chess play between America and other nations was halted for the duration of the war. In 1942-43, Humphry Bogart was playing correspondence chess with several U.S. servicemen. (source: Chess Review, Feb 1943, p. 56) During World War II, no postal chess play was allowed between civilians and servicemen in the United States and Canada.  Soldiers overseas were not allowed to play postal chess due to censorship restrictions. (source: Chess Review, June 1946, p. 6) In 1943, the 11th CCLA Grand National Correspondence Chess Championship started. It was won by Sven Brask in 1949, In 1943, R. Bonham won the 1942/43 British correspondence chess championship. He was blind. In 1943, John Staffer won the first Golden Knights Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1943, John (Jack) Collins (1912-2001) won the U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship. He was the first postal chess editor of Chess Review.  In 1943, Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) was also playing correspondence chess with several GIs overseas until he was visited by the FBI and was told not to play any more correspondence chess with military members for the duration of the war. The FBI was reading his mail and thought that the chess notation he was sending to Europe were secret codes. In 1944, David Vincent Hooper (1915-1998) won the British correspondence chess championship. In 1944, Marvin C. Palmer (1897-1985) won the Chess Review Correspondence Championship, with a record of 22-0. In 1945, an inter-base radio chess match was being played at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island, Antactica.  However, the match has to be abandoned as a cat knocked over the chess board. (source: http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/antarctic2.html) In 1945, Cecil John Seddon Purdy (1906-1979) won the Australian Correspondence Championship. In 1945, the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA) was formed. The ICCA was later reconstituted as ICCF. Sir Robert Robinson (1947 Nobel winner for chemistry) was offered the presidency of the ICCA, but he declined. B. H. Wood then became its president. In 1945, Ake Lundqvist (1913-2000) won the Swedish Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1945, Baruch Harold Wood (1909-1989) won the British Correspondence Championship. In 1945, the first International Radio Chess Match was held.  From September 1 to September 4, 1945 one of the most historic chess matches took place. It was the USA vs USSR radio chess match. The 10 leading masters of the United States played the 10 leading master of the USSR for chess supremacy.   The match was announced in August 1945 for the benefit of Russian war relief.  It was to be a four days' radio match between 10 selected chess players in the United States and the Soviet Union.  The chairman of the organizing committee was investment banker and chess patron Maurice Wertheim (1886-1950).  W.W. Lancaster served as vice chairman.  Joseph E. Davies (1876-1958), former Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1937-1938), was one of the major sponsors of the event.  Other sponsors included New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) and New York senator James Mead (1885-1964).  J.N. Derbyshire, head of the British Chess Federation, acted as official referee for the match.  The Soviet match committee proposed Derbyshire as the referee, who was accepted by the USA team.  The match was played by radio (using the Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company) starting at 10 am EST, and was a double round robin. The time limit was 40 moves in 2 1/2 hours and 16 moves per hour after that. The Udeman Code was used for transmitting the move messages. It took an average of 5 minutes to transmit a move.   The US team played in the ballroom of the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York, using giant wallboards to reproduce the play for the spectators. The Soviet team met at the Central Club of Art Masters in Moscow, 5000 miles away. Mayor LaGuardia made the opening move for the USA team. US Ambassador Averill Harriman officiated at the Moscow end. Fred Reinfeld and Edward Lasker announced the moves to the audiences. Ken Harkness was the match director.   The match was historic in that it was the first international sports event since the outbreak of World War II. Also, never before had teams representing the USA and the USSR competed against each other. It was the first match to be played by radio telegraphy. Up to that time it was the most widely publicized event and the greatest spectacle in the chess history of the United States. This was also the debut of the USSR in a sport. Never before had the USSR played another country in any form of sport.   All records for attendance were broken by both sides. In the US, over 1000 spectators watched the match from the Grand Ballroom of the Henry Hudson Hotel.  The spectators were also entertained with exhibition games, lectures, demonstrations and other features.  The same numbers of spectators watched the match in Moscow. Movie audiences in every theater of the Soviet Union saw films of the match.   During the match 2,163 messages were sent by radio telegraphy.   USSR won the match by the overwhelming score of 15 1/2 points to 4 1/2 points.   All the proceeds of the event went for therapy equipment used in the treatment of wounded Russian and American soldiers.  At the conclusion of the match, a plaque was formally presented by Chairman Wertheim to the Soviet Consul General, Pavel Mikhailov (who doubled as the controller of military intelligence for the NKVD).  The concluding ceremonies were opened by Grace Moore (1898-1947) of the Metropolitan Opera Company singing "The Star Spangled Banner."  Others on the program included actor Sam Jaffee (1891-1984) and Pulitzer Prize journalist Leland Stowe (1899-1994).  In 1946, the first Golden Knights Correspondence Chess Championship was held. It had 1,456 entries. (source: Chess Review, Jul 1952, p. 196) In June 1946, the first radio match between Great Britain and the Soviet Union took place.  The USSR easily won (18-6) with players like Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Boleslavky, Flohr, Kotov, Bronstein, Boleslavsky, Lilienthal, and Ragozin. On August 25, 1946, the German Chess Correspondence Federation, Bund deutscher Fernschachfreunde (BdF) was formed. By 1946, there were over 1,000 members in the BCCA. In 1946, Dr. Edmund Adam (1894-1958) was the first president of the German Correspondence Chess Association. He played in the 1950 world correspondence chess championship. One of his opponents was International Master Graham Russell Mitchell (1905-1984), a British MI5 intelligence officer. In 1946, Robert Martin (1910-1978) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1946, Jack Straley Battell (1909-1985) was the highest rated postal player in the United States and won the 1946 Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA) championship.  The first world correspondence championship was delayed by the outbreak of World War II. In 1947, the preliminaries for the world corr. Championship started. There were 78 participants from 22 countries. The tournament ended on March 31, 1953. The winner was Cecil John Seddon Purdy of Australia. In 1947, Dudley LeDain (1900-1978) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In June, 1947, Australia defeated Canada in a radio match.  (source: Sydney Morning Herald, Jul 8, 1947) In 1947, Britain won a radio match against Australia.  The match, which lasted 2 days, was the longest range chess match ever played, with 10,500 miles separating the contestants.  The players notified their moves through Overseas Telecommunications. (source: The Ottawa Journal, Oct 6, 1947, p. 18) In March 1948, the Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchange had a radio chess match with 10 players to a side.  The Dutch team won.  (source: The Kokomo Tribune, Mar 11, 1948) In 1948, the first Polar radio chess game started between Australian scientists on Heard Island and South Africans on Marion Island, 1,400 miles away.  The Australians are studying cosmic rays in the Antarctic, while the South Africans are maintaining a weather station in the Antarctic.  (source: Winnipeg Tribune, Apr 26, 1948) In 1948, Robert Wyller played 1,001 correspondence games at once. (source: Chess Life, Mar 1985, p. 42) In January 1949, the BCCA began publishing Correspondence Chess: The Quarterly Magazine of the British Correspondence Chess Association. In 1949, the first Correspondence Chess Olympiad began. In 1952, it was won by the Hungarian team, which took the gold medal. Czechoslovakia took the silver medal and Seden took the bronze medal. The Hungarian team consisted of Jano Balogh, Gedeon Barcza, Miklos Szigeti, Lajos Monostori, Arpad Szucs, and Dezso Elekes. In 1949, the first USSR correspondence chess championship started, sponsored by the chess magazine, Schachmaty in the USSR. It was limited to a thousand entries. (source: Chess Life, May 20, 1949, p. 3) On May 1, 1950, the first world correspondence chess championship began with 78 entries. In 1950, the CCLA U.S. Women's Correspondence Chess Championship started. It was won by Pic Wigren in 1951, scoring a perfect 11-0. In 1951, Alexander Konstantinopolsky (1910-1990) won the first Soviet Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1951, the ICCA became the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). It now has over 100,000 members. Its motto is "Amici Sumus" — We Are Friends. In 1951, the price of an American postcard went from 1 cent to 2 cents, affecting many correspondence chess players. In 1951, the CCLA had 1,208 active members. In 1951, the CCLA sponsored the U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship. It was won by Nicholas Preo, winning 22, drawing 2 , and losing none. (source: Chess Life, Apr 1983, p.65) In 1952, the Hungarian Secret Police suspected that Pal Benko was a spy because of his coded letters. The coded letters were correspondence chess games and the code was chess notation. In 1952, actress Mala Powers (1931-2007) played correspondence chess with hospitalized military veterans she met while on tour in Tokyo and South Korea. (source: Massillon Evening Independent, Aug 7, 1952) In 1952, Dr. Bela Rozsa (1905-1977) won the CCLA 10th Grand National Correspondence Chess Tournament. In 1953, Cecil John Seddon Purdy (1906-1979) won the first world correspondence chess championship (1950-1953). In 1953, FIDE created the International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster title and the International Correspondence Chess Master title. In 1954, a giant Dychkhoff Memorial Correspondence Tournament was organized with 1,860 chessplayers from 33 countries. As many as 8,856 games were played in this event. The event was won by Lothar Schmid, who later became a grandmaster in correspondence and over-the-board play. In 1954, the Postal Chess-By-Mail Club was started by Bob Smith. In 1954, The BCCA Magazine was re-title to Correspondence Chess. In 1954, the first correspondence chess grandmasters were Purdy, Malgrem, Napolitano, and Barda. (source: Chess Life, Oct 5, 1954, p. 2) In 1955, Ramchandra B. Sapre (1915-1999) won the first Indian Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1956, Altiashev won the 2nd USSR correspondence chess championship. (source: Chess Review, Mar 1946, p. 70) In 1955, the first world blind correspondence championship began. It was eventually won by R. Bonham of England. (source: Chess Review, Dec 1954, p. 355) In 1956, Valt Borsony (1911-1966) won perhaps the shortest chess game in world correspondence championship history, winning in 7 moves. Borsony — Laustsen, 2nd World Corres. Ch, 1956, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Ng4? 7.Bb5+ 1-0 In 1957, Peter Dubinin (1909-1983) won the USSR Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1957, Jiri Pelikan (1906-1984) won the first Argentine Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1958, the All Service Postal Chess (ASPC) Club was formed. (source: Chess Life, Nov 1970, p. 644) In 1958, the first ASPC championship began, directed by Claude Bloodgood. Eugene Leininger and Bob Karch (1930-2010) tied for 1st place in the event. In 1958, the USA was invited to play in an ICCF Chess Olympiad. In 1959, Viacheslav Ragozin (1908-1962) won the 2nd world correspondence chess championship (1956-1959), ½ point ahead of Lucius Endzelins of Australia. In 1960, Americans, Russians, and New Zealanders were playing chess with each other by radio in Antarctica.  Men stationed at New Zealand's Scott Base in McMurdo Sound were playing chess with Russians at the Soviet station of Lazarev in Queen Maud Island, nearly 3,000 miles away.  Players at American bases on Ross Island in McMurdo Sound were playing with men at the main Russian base of Mirny on the Queen Mary coast in East Antarctica.  (source: Brownsville Herald, Sep 8, 1960, p. 13) In 1960, Hans-Werner Massow (1912-1988) was elected president of the ICCF. He continued as president until 1987, for a total of 27 years. In 1960, Vladimir Antoshin (1929-1994) won the USSR correspondence chess championship. In 1960, Bernard Cafferty (1934- ) won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1961, John F. Cleve (1926-1995) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1961, the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA) became the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). The ICCF became affiliated with the World Chess Federation (FIDE — Federation Internationale des Echecs). In April 1961, the first issue of King's Korner, the correspondence magazine of the All Service Postal Chess (ASPC), was published. In 1962, the first Grandmaster of Correspondence of the Blind was awarded to R. Bonham. In 1962, the British Postal Chess Federation was formed (now called the British Federation for CC-BFCC). In 1962, Yakov Estrin (1923-1987) tied for 1st place in the USSR Correspondence Championship. In 1962, Count Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (1911-1980) became the first grandmaster of over-the-board and correspondence chess. In December 1962, the BCCA became the largest affiliate of the British Postal Chess Federation. In 1963, the BCCA began publishing Correspondence Chess Magazine. In 1964, a radio match between a South African Antarctic outpost and Radio Nederland had to be called off because Moscow radio was jamming their frequency.  (source: Holland, Michigan Evening Sentinel, Sep 8, 1964, p. 3) In 1965, Vladimir Zagorovsky (1925-1994) won the 4th World Correspondence Chess Championship (1962-1965). In the 5th World Correspondence Championship, he finished in 4th place. In the 6th World Correspondence Championship, he finished 2nd. In the 7th World Correspondence Championship, he finished 3rd. In the 8th World Correspondence Championship, he tied for 1st place with Sloth from Denmark. In the 11th World Correspondence Championship, he finished 5th. He holds the record for the most appearances (6) in World Correspondence Chess Championships. In 1965, Romanas Arlauskas (1917-2009) was awarded the title of International Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess. He earned the title by his performance in the 4th 4th World Correspondence Chess Championship (1962-1965), in which he came 3rd after Vladimir Zagorovsky and Georgy Borisenko. In 1965, John F. Cleve (1926-1995) was elected president of the Canadian Correspondence Chess Association. In 1965, Count Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (1911-1980) won the 3rd World Correspondence Championship (1962-1965). In 1965, William "Bill" Gerrard Robertie (1946- ) tied for first in the USCF Golden Knights Correspondence Chess Championship, but lost in a playoff to Brian Owens. In 1965, Nicholas Preo, age 65, was awarded the title of international correspondence chess master, the first U.S. player so honored. (source: Chess Life, Apr 1983, p. 65) In 1966, Egbert Meissenburg compiled the first international bibliography of correspondence chess. In 1966, Mikhail M. Yudovich Sr. (1911-1987) won the 7th USSR Correspondence Chess Championship. On November 22, 1966 a USSR chess program began a correspondence match with the Kotok-McCarthy MIT chess program. The match lasted 9 months and was won by the Soviet computer, with 3 wins and 1 loss. In 1967, Folke Ekstrom (1906-2000) won the European chess correspondence championship. In 1967, Fedor Bohatirchuk (1892-1984) was awarded the title of International Correspondence Master at the age of 75. In 1968, Hans Berliner (1929-2017) became the first American grandmaster in correspondence chess. It took 15 years before the USA had another GM in correspondence chess. In 1968, Berliner was the winner of the 5th world correspondence championship (1965-68). His 3-point margin of victory (14-2) was the greatest margin of victory ever achieved in a World Championship final round, and his winning percentage was also the greatest of any World Champion. His game with Yakov Estrin was voted the best game in the history of correspondence chess. His lifetime score in correspondence chess was 91 wins, 10 draws, and only 1 loss. In 1968, Sverre Aarseth (1934- ) participated in the 6th World Correspondence Chess Championship (1968-1971). He lost one of his games in 14 moves. He later finished 14th out of 15 players. Aarseth — Rittner, 6th World Correspondence Championship 1968 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 Ne7 6.dxc5 Nbc6 7.Nf3 d4 8.Bb5 Qa5 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.Qxg7 (10.Qxd4) 10...Rg8 11.Qxh7 Ba6 12.Ng5 Bxc3+ 13.Kd1 O-O-O 14.Nxf7 d3! (15.Nxd8 Qa4 16.b3 Qg4+ 17.f3 Qxg2 18.cxd3 Qxh1+ 19.Kc2 Rg2+ 20.Kxc3 Nd5+ 21.Kd4 Qg1+ 22.Ke4 Re2+ 23.Be3 Qxe3 mate) 0-1 In 1969, Jack Straley Battell (1909-1985) became the USCF correspondence chess director, He held that position until 1978. In 1970, Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander (1909-1974) was awarded the title of International Correspondence Chess Master at the age of 61. In 1971, Horst Robert Rittner (1930- ) won the 6th World Correspondence Chess Championship (1968-1971). In 1971, Sando (Alex) Siklos (1935-2000) won the Canadian correspondence chess championship. Between 1946 and 1972, Henri Grob (1904-1974) played 3,614 correspondence chess games. He won 2,703, lost 430, and drew 481 games. All of the games were played against readers of Neuern Zurcher Zeitung, a Zurich newspaper. Many of the games started out with 1.g4 — Grob's Opening. Grob — W. Fischer, Postal 1966, 1.g4 d5 2.Bg2 e5 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Qb3 Ne7 6.Nc3 e4 7.d3 exd3 8.Bf4 a6 9.Rd1 dxe2 10.Ngxe2 Nbc6 11.Bxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Na5 13.Qe3+ Be6 14.Nc7+ Qxc7 15.Bxc7 1-0 On March 23, 1973, Texas A&M and the University of Texas competed in a game of chess over amateur radio.  The chess clubs of each school communicated their moves via amateur radio (3.950 MHz SSB and two meter AM).  Texas A&M won the match.  (source: WSAC Texas A&M Amateur Radio Club). In 1973, Frank Niro (1948- ) won the American Postal Chess Tournament (APCT) League championship. In 1974, the first Ladies Correspondence Chess Olympiad began. In 1979, it was won by the Soviet Union team, which took the gold medal. West Germany took the silver medal and Czechoslovakia took the bronze medal. In 1975, Yakov Estrin (1923-1987) won the 7th Correspondence Chess World Championship (1972-1975). He played in the World Correspondence Championship finals five times. In 1975, Keith Bevan Richardson (1942-2017) was awarded the title of International Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess. He became the first British player to be awarded the title of Grandmaster for chess playing. He took 3rd place in the 7th and 10th World and 13th World Correspondence Championship Final. In 1975, Sando (Alex) Siklos (1935-2000) was the first Canadian to participate in the finals of the World Correspondence Championship. In 1976, Aurel Anton (1928-2015) won the European correspondence chess championship. In 1976, John Peter Kalish (1937-2001) and Victor Palciauskas tied for 1st in the 2nd North American Invitational Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1977, Peter Hugh Clarke (1933-2014) won the British Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1977, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) organized the first Telechess Olympiad where the game of chess can be played over amateur radio, telephone, or telex. In 1977, Lora Yakovleva (1932- ) won the 2nd Women's World Correspondence Championship (1972-1977). In 1978, Jonathan Berry (1943- ) won the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1978, Robert W. Smith (1956- ) won the New Zealand Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1978, Mikhail Umnsky (1952-2010) won the USSR Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1978, the Third North American Invitational correspondence chess tournament began. It was won by Jonathan Berry in 1982, winning 10, drawing 3, and losing 1 (to Alex Dunne). (source: Chess Life, Dec 1982, p. 43) In 1980, Jorn Sloth (1944- ) won the 8th World Correspondence Championship (1975-1980) on tiebreaks. At age 36, he was the youngest player ever to win the Correspondence World Champion title. In 1981, Dr. Volf Bergraser (1904-1986) became a Correspondence Chess Grandmaster at the age of 77. In 1982, Jonathan Berry (1943- ) won the North American Correspondence Chess Championship. In 1982, GM Duncan Suttles (1945- ) became Canada's first correspondence Grandmaster. In 1982, Tonu Oim (1941- ) won the 9th World Correspondence Chess Championship (1977-1983). He won 10, drew 6, and lost none. In 1983, Dr. Victor Palciauskas (1941- ) became a GM in correspondence chess. He was the second American to earn that title since Hans Berliner in 1968. In 1984, Ljuba Kristol (1944- ) won the 3rd women's world correspondence chess championship (1978-1984). In 1984, Dr. Victor Palciauskas (1941- ) won the 10th World Correspondence Chess Championship. President Ronald Reagan sent him a note of congratulations. In 1985, Nicholas Down, a former British Junior Correspondence chess champion and Cambridge graduate, entered the British Ladies Correspondence Chess Championship as Miss Leigh Strange. He (she) won the event (he won all the games but one) and 15 British pounds. He was later caught (a friend turned him in) and admitted his deception was a prank that got out of hand. He also signed up for the Ladies Postal Olympiad and started to play before being caught. He was later banned from the British Correspondence Chess Association for two years. The title went to the runner-up, Doreen Helbig. In 1987, Hermann Heemsoth (1909-2006) became a grandmaster of Correspondence Chess in 1987 at the age of 77. In 1988, Stan Vaughan played 1,124 correspondence games at once, a new world record. In 1989, Dr. Friedrich Baumbach (1935- ) won the 11th World Correspondence Championship, which began in 1983. In 1990, Dr. Christine Rosenfeld (1936- ) was the first U.S. correspondence International Woman Master. In 1990, Dr. Peter Millican, a Correspondence Master, won the British correspondence chess championship.  In 1990, John Penquite (1935-2007) had a USCF correspondence rating was 2939 with a perfect 58-0-0 score from correspondence play. (source: Chess Life, April 1993, p. 36) In 1991, Grigory Sanakoev (1935- ) won the 12th World Correspondence Championship (1984-1991). In 1992, Liudmila Belavenets (1940- ) won the 4th Women's World Correspondence Chess Championship (1984-1992). In 1993, Stephen L. Jones (1942- ) won the 9th U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship (1991-1993). In 1994, The International Email Chess Club (IECC) was formed by Lisa Powell of Canada. I was games editor for the IECC newsletter, Chess Bits & Pieces. Jared Moore (1893-1995) was a chess player who lived to the age of 101.  He was the oldest player to play correspondence chess.  He was active in postal chess until he was 100 years old. In 1996, GM Ulf Andersson (1951- ) was awarded the Grandmaster in Correspondence Chess title. In 1997, Stephen L. Jones (1942- ) won the 11th U.S. Correspondence Chess Championship (1995-1997). In 1997, Walter Muir (1905-1999) wrote his autobiography, My 75 Year Chess Career. He was considered the Dean of American Correspondence Chess. In 1925 he began to play correspondence chess and was an active player all his life. In 1971 he was awarded the International Correspondence Chess Master (ICCM) title. He was the first American correspondence player to defeat a Soviet correspondence player in international competition. In 1998, Mikhail Umnsky (1952-2010) won the 13th ICCF World Champion in correspondence chess (1989-1998). In 1998, Ljuba Kristol (1944- ) won the 5th women's world correspondence championship (1993-1998). Dr. Reinhart Straszacker and Dr. Hendrick van Huyssteen, both of South Africa, played their first game of correspondence chess in 1946.  They played for over 53 years, until Straszacker died in 1999.  The played 112 games, with both men winning 56 games each.  In 1999, Garry Kasparov played a chess game "Kasparov versus the World" over the Internet, hosted by the Microsoft MSN Gaming Zone. The "World Team" included participation of over 50,000 people from more than 75 countries, deciding their moves by plurality vote. The game lasted four months, with Kasparov playing "g7" on his 62nd move and announcing a forced checkmate in 28 moves. The World Team voters resigned on October 22, 1999. After the game Kasparov said "It is the greatest game in the history of chess. The sheer number of ideas, the complexity, and the contribution it has made to chess make it the most important game ever played." In 2002, Gert Jan Timmerman (1956- ) won the 15th World Correspondence Chess Championship (1996-2002). Up until 2004, ICCF correspondence chess was played only via email and postal mail. In 2004, Tunc Hamarat (1946- ) won the 16th International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) World Championship, played from 1999 to 2004. In February 2005, Joop van Oosterom (1937-2016) was declared the winner of the 18th World Correspondence Chess Championship (which began in June 2003), though the winner of the 17th World Correspondence Chess Championship (which began in March 2002) had not yet been determined. In 2005, Alessandra Riegler (1961- ) won the 6th Women's Correspondence Championship (2000-2005). In 2006, Olga Sukhareva (1963- ) won the 7th women's world correspondence championship (2002-2006). In 2007, Ivar Bern (1967- ) won the 17th World Correspondence Chess Championship (2002-2007). In 2008, British Antarctic Survey scientist Ian MacNab, stationed on Adelaide Island, Antarctica, played Boris Spassky, who was in Wales, in a simultaneous exhibition.  It was the first time a chess match has been played against the outside world from the region.  (source: BBC News, May 26, 2008) In 2008, Joop van Oosterom (1937-2016) won the 21st Correspondence Chess World Championship (2005-2008). In 2008, Correspondence Chess was named Magazine of the Year by the English Chess Federation. In August 2008, astronaut Greg Chamitoff, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), played against a variety of ground stations by ham radio.  Chamitoff won his game. In 2009, Timothy Harding (1948- ) was awarded a PhD in history. His dissertation was on the history of correspondence chess in Britain and Ireland from 1824 to 1914. In 2010, Olga Sukhareva (1963- ) won the 8th women's world correspondence championship (2007-2010). In 2011, astronauts Greg Johnson and Greg Chamitoff, aboard the ISS, played chess by ham radio against members of the United States Chess Federation. In 2014, Irina Perevertkina (1967- ) won the 9th world women's correspondence championship (2011-2014). In 2015, the first World Correspondence Chess Server Team Championship was won by Best Logic. In 2017, Irina Perevertkina (1967- ) won the 10th world women's correspondence championship (2014-2017).       Over-the-board (OTB) Grandmasters that are also Correspondence Grandmasters include Ulf Andersson, Igor Bondarevsky, Aivrars Gipslis, Curt Hansen, Jonny Hector, Janis Klovans, Jonathan Penrose, Lothar Schmid, and Duncan Suttles.     There have been 26 world correspondence champions.     There are a number of organizations devoted to organizing email chess play, such as the International Email Chess Group (IECG), the International E-mail Chess Club (IECC), and the Free Internet Correspondence Games Server (FICGS). Postal (traditional mail) correspondence chess has been superseded by server-based correspondence chess. Men's Chess Correspondence World Champions have included: I 1950-1953 — Cecil Purdy (Australia) II 1956-1959 — Viacheslav Ragozin (USSR) III 1959-1962 — Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (Belgium) IV 1962-1965 — Vladimir Zagorovsky (USSR) V 1965-1968 — Hans Berliner (USA) VI 1968-1971 — Horst Rittner (Germany) VII 1972-1976 — Yakov Estrin (USSR) VIII 1975-1980 — Jorn Sloth (Denmark) IX 1977-1983 — Tonu Oim (USSR) X 1978-1984 — Victor (Vytas) Palciuskas (USA) XI 1981-1987 — Friedrich Baumbach (Germany) XII 1984-1990 — Grigory Sanakoev (USSR) XIII 1989-1998 — Mikhail Umansky (Russia) XIV 1994-1999 — Tonu Oim (Estonia) XV 1996-2002 — Gert Jan Timmerman (Netherlands) XVI 1999-2004 — Tunc Hamarat (Turkey/Austria) XVII 2002 — Ivar Bern (Norway) XVIII 2003-2005 — Joop van Oosterom (Netherlands) XIX 2004-2007 — Christophe Leotard (France) XX 2004-2011 — Pertti Lehikoinen (Finland) XXI 2005-2008 — Joop van Oosterom (Netherlands) XXII 2007-2010 — Aleksandr Dronov (Russia) XXIII 2007-2010 — Ulrich Stephan (Germany) XXIV 2009-2011 — Marjan Semri (Slovenia) XXV 2009-2013 — Fabio Finocchiaro (Italy) XXVI 2010-2014 — Ron Langeveld (Netherlands) XXVII 2011-2014 — Aleksandr Dronov (Russia) XXVIII 2013-2016 — Ing. Leonardo Ljubicic (Croatia) Women's Chess Correspondence World Champions have included: I 1968-1972 — Olga Rubtsova (USSR) II 1972-1977 — Lora Yakovleva (USSR) III 1978-1984 — Ljuba Kristol (Israel) IV 1984-1992 — Liudmila Belavenets (Russia) V 1993-1998 — Ljuba Kristol (Israel) VI 2000-2005 — Alessandra Riegler (Italy) VII 2002-2006 — Olga Sukhareva (Russia) VIII 2007-2010 — Olga Sukhareva (Russia) IX 2011-214 — Irina Perevertkina (Russia) X 2014-2017 — Irina Perevertkina (Russia) The Chess Correspondence Olympiad Champions have included: I 1949-1952 — Hungary II 1952-1955 — Czechoslovakia III 1958-1961 — USSR IV 1962-1964 — USSR V 1965-1968 — Czechoslovakia VI 1968-1972 — USSR VII 1972-1976 — USSR VIII 1977-1982 — USSR IX 1982-1987 — Great Britain X 1987-1995 — USSR XI 1995-1999 — Czechoslovakia and Germany XII 1998-2004 — Germany XIII 2004-2009 — Germany XIV 2002-2006 — Germany XV 2006-2009 — Norway XVI 2010-2016 — Czech Republic XVII 2009-2012 — Germany XVIII 2012-2016 — Germany People who have played correspondence chess include Alexander Alekhine, Ulf Andersson, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Browne, Amos Burn, Mikhail Chigorin, John Cornworth (Nobel Prize winner in chemistry), Max Euwe, Reuben Fine, Bobby Fischer (briefly), Errol Flynn, Glenn Ford, Frederick the Great, Dizzie Gillespie, William Golding, Warren Harding, Paul Keres, Lord Lyttelton, Mitzi Mayfair, Ray Milland, Samuel Reshevsky, Sir Robert Robinson (Nobel Prize winner in chemistry), Lothat Schmid, Dr. Louis Statham, William Steinitz, Voltaire. References: Avery, Bryce, Correspondence Chess in America, 2012 Bassi, Bruno, "Early Correspondence Chess in the U.S.A.," Chess Life, Jun 5, 1951, p. 3 Bassi, Bruno, The History of Correspondence Chess up to 1839, 1965 Baumbach & Smith, Who is the Champion of Champions — Correspondence Chess, 2008 Berliner, Hans, and Ken Messere, The Fifth Correspondence Chess World Championship, 1971 Berry, Jonathan, Diamond Dust, 1991 Carter, Maurice, ASPC's Guide to Correspondence Chess, 1981 Dunne, Alex, The Absolute Correspondence Championship of the USCF, 1976-2010, 2012 Dunne, Alex, The Complete Guide to Correspondence Chess, 1991 Grivainis, Winning Correspondence Chess: How to Beat the Databases, 1997 Grodzensky, S., and Tim Harding, Red Letters: the Correspondence Chess Championship of the Soviet Union, 2003 Harding, Tim, 50 Golden Chess Games: More Masterpieces of Correspondence Chess, 2004 Harding, Tim, 'Battle at long range': Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1014, A Social and Cultural History, 2009 Harding, Tim, Correspondence Chess in Britain & Ireland 1824-1987 Harding, Tim, Startling Correspondence Chess Miniatures, 2000 Harding, Tim, The Development of Correspondence Chess in the United Kingdom in the 19th Century, lecture, 2005 Harding, Tim, The Games of the World Correspondence Chess Championships, I-VII, 1979 Harding, Tim, The Write Move: An Anthology of the Best Writing on Correspondence Chess, 2005 Harding, Tim, Winning at Correspondence Chess, 1996 MacDonald, J., and L. Zehr, The History of Correspondence Chess in Canada, 2006 Pagni, Correspondence Chess Matches Between Clubs, 1996, 2006 Purdy, Cecil, How Purdy Won: The Correspondence Chess Career of a World Champion, 1998 Rogers, D.J., The Official History of the British Correspondence Chess Association 1906-2006 Sanakoev, Grigory, World Champion at the Third Attempt, 1999         Return to Main Page Please report broken or duplicate links to the Webmaster. Official Website Copyright 2017, 2018 by William D. Wall All Rights Reserved

Bill Wall