Manhattan Chess Club
In 1877 chess players met at the
Cafe Logeling, 49 Bowery Street in lower Manhattan.
Mr. Logeling was a chess enthusiast and eventually
built a room in the back of the cafe for chess.
On November 24, 1877, it was decided
to form a chess club. There was discussion to name it the Metropolitan, Morphy, or Manhattan Chess Club.
On December 1, 1877, 37 members
showed up for the first meeting. The entrance fee was $1 per person and dues
were $4 per year.
On October 2, 1879, the Constitution
of the Manhattan Chess Club was adopted.
On May 7, 1883, the Manhattan Chess
Club of the City of New York was incorporated in the State of New York. Its board of directors included Leopold Hellwitz, George T. Green, Roscow
Channing, Louis Cohn, L.D. Cohn, F.M. Teed, William M. De Visser,
J.D. Peters, Charles Saulson, Isaac Rice, and Charles
M. Harris. An initiation fee was $10,
and the annual dues were $16.
In 1883, Johannes Zukertort was made an honorary member.
In May 1884, the group moved to 22
East 17th Street.
In 1884, George T. Green was elected
President of the Manhattan CC. He served
as President until 1887.
The club hosted the 1886 world
championship (Steinitz-Zukertort) and the 1890-91
world chess championship (Steinitz-Gunsberg).
In May 1889, the club moved to 22
West 27th Street.
In 1890-91 Steinitz played Gunsberg in a world championship match at the Manhattan
Chess Club. The President of the Manhattan Chess Club was Isaac Rice.
In May 1892, the club moved to 105
East 22nd Street in the United Charities Building.
In October-November 1892, Emanuel Lasker defeated the top 8 players of the Manhattan CC in a
series of matches. He defeated Hanham, D. Baird, J. Baird, Ryan, and Isaacson, all 3-0. He also defeated Simonson, Hodges, and
Delmar.
In 1894, the President of the
Manhattan CC was A. Foster Higgins.
There were 124 members.
In 1894 Steinitz and Lasker met at the Manhattan Chess Club to negotiate thier proposed world championship chess match. The club
hosted the first 8 games of the Lasker-Steinitz world
championship match.
In 1895, Emanuel Lasker
joined the Manhattan Chess Club. In 1895, the first cable match was played
between the Manhattan Chess Club and the British Chess Club.
In 1899, William Steinitz resigned
as an honorary member from the Manhattan Chess Club.
In 1901, members of the Manhattan
Chess Club defeated the Franklin Chess Club of Philadelphia.
In 1903, Julius Finn won the Manhattan
CC Rice Gambit tournament.
In 1903, Aristidez
Martinez was the President of the Manhattan CC.
In 1905, the Manhattan CC defeated
the Berlin CC in a cable match, with the score of 4-2. The trophy was an autograph portrait of
President Theodore Roosevelt.
From 1905 to 1910 the Club was
located at the Carnegie Hall Building on 56th Street.
In 1905 Jose Capablanca
joined the Manhattan Chess Club and beat its champion.
From 1910 to 1923 the Club was
located at the Sherman Square Hotel, then to Beacon Hotel.
In 1905, Capablanca,
at the age of 17, visited the Manhattan Chess Club and beat its champion.
In 1908, Otto Roething
won the Manhattan CC rapid knockout tournament, knocking out Jose Capablanca on a coin toss.
In 1909, the Manhattan CC organized
a chess match between Frank Marshall and Jose Capablanca. Capablanca won with
8 wins, 1 loss, and 14 draws.
In October-November 1918, the
Manhattan CC sponsored an international chess tournament. It was held at the club’s parlor in the
Sherman Square Hotel. Five countries
were represented including the United States, Cuba, Canada, France, and
Serbia. The event was won by Capablanca.
The club organized the New York
international tournaments of 1924 (won by Emanuel Lasker)
and 1927 (won by Jose Capablanca).
During the Depression, the Club
moved to a basement on Broadway and 73rd Street.
In the 1930s, Harold Phillips was
President of the Manhattan CC.
In 1932 to 1941, the Club was
located at the Alamac Hotel.
In 1934, the Manhattan CC won the
Metropolitan Chess League.
In 1938, women were finally allowed
to join the club.
In 1941 to 1956 the Club was located
at 100 Central Park South. Maurice Wertheim helped move the chess club to
better quarters.
On March 7, 1942, Capablanca suffered a stroke at the Manhattan Chess Club
while analyzing a chess game. He died the next day at the age of 53.
In 1945, the Manhattan CC was the
site of the American team in the USA vs USSR radio
match. The USSR won 11 out of 20.
In 1947, the Manhattan CC lost to
the Club of La Plata in Argentina in a radio chess match by the score of 3.5 to
6.5. The Manhattan CC team included Reshevsky, Kashdan, Denker, Horowitz, Kevitz, Pinkus, Pavey, Kramer, Shainswit, and
Donald Byrne. Only Reshevsky was able to win. .
Maurice Wertheim (1886-1950) was
president of the Manhattan Chess Club in the 1940s. He was an American
investment banker and philanthropist. He was the father of American historian
Barbara Tuchman.
In the
late 1940s and early 1950s.
Sidney F. Kenton was the club's director of activities. Junior members were not
welcomed under Kenton's tenure. He did, however, allow
Robert and Donald Byrne join the club.
In 1948, Arthur Bisquier
won the Manhattan Chess Club championship at the age of 18, the youngest player
up to that time. He won 7 and drew 2 games. Also in 1948, George Kramer, age
18, won the Manhattan CC Masters Tourney.
In 1951, the Manhattan CC hosted the
Wertheim Memorial, won by Reshevsky.
In the 1950s Maurice Kasper, a
wealthy New York textile manufacturer, was the president of the Manhattan Chess
Club. He later became an officer of the American Chess Foundation. Morris
Steinberg was the vice president of the Manhattan Chess Club.
In 1952, William Lombardy joined the
Manhattan CC.
Gisela Kahn Gresser
(1906-2000) was a regular at the Manhattan CC, always taking lessons from Hans Kmoch. She won the U.S. women's championship 9 times and
was the first woman to become a U.S. master. She died in 2000 at the age of 94.
In June 1955, Bobby Fischer joined
the Manahttan Chess Club. He soon won the 'C'
section, then the 'B' section.
In 1956 the Club moved to the Hotel
Woodrow.
In April 1956, Bobby Fischer won the
Manhattan Chess Club 'A' Reserve championship.
In 1956, Fischer won the Manhattan
Chess Club Rapid Transit with the score of 10 out of 10.
In the 1950s and 1960s the Club's
secretary by Hans Kmoch and the club was located in
the Henry Hudson Hotel on West 59th St.
In 1969, the Manhattan Chess Club,
with Bobby Fischer playing board 1, defeated the Marshall Chess Club 8 to 4.
In 1971, the Club moved from the
Henry Hudson Hotel to East 60th St off Fifth Avenue.
In 1971, Bobby Fischer won the
Manhattan Chess Club 5-minute championship.
In 1973, there were over 400 members
of the Manhattan Chess Club.
In 1974, the Club moved to 155 E. 55th
St.
In 1976, the Club sponsored the
first New York International since 1951.
The winners were Norman Weinstein, Anatoly Lein,
and Leonid Shamkovich.
In 1984, the club moved to Carnegie
Hall at West 57th Street and 7th, 10th floor.
The Club later moved to 353 West
46th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue on "Restaurant Row."
Traditionally, the club was supported by the patronage of Wall Street executives.
When they passed away, the American Chess Foundation, which owns the building,
fell into the hands of non-chessplayers. They ordered
the Manhattan Chess Club to move.
In 1985, Josh Waitzkin
joined the Manhattan Chess Club.
In 1992, the Club and the American
Chess Foundation purchased a building at 353 W. 46th St.
In 2001, the Club moved to the New
Yorker Hotel, Suite 1521, 481 8th Avenue. It was open
on weekdays from 6 pm to midnight and on weekends from 11am to 11pm.
On February 1, 2002, the Manhattan
Chess Club closed. It existed for 124 years, the second-oldest chess club in
the United States (next to the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club in San
Francisco). Its last president was Jeff Kossak.
YEAR WINNER
1879 not
known
1880 not
known
1881 Frank
Melville Teed (1856-1929)
1882 not
known
1883 Dr.
Gustave Simonson (1864-1935)
1884 John
S. Ryan (1849-1914)
1885 Eugene Delmar (1841-1909)
1886 John
S. Ryan
1887 Samuel
(Simon) Lipschuetz (1863-1905)
1888 David
Graham Baird (1854-1913)
1889 Samuel
Lipschuetz
1890 D.
G. Baird
1891 D.
G. Baird
1892 James
Moore Hanham (1840-1923)
1893 Albert
Beauregard Hodges (1861-1944)
1894 not
known
1895 D.
G. Baird
1896 Louis
Schmidt, Jr. (1855-1938)
1897 not
known
1898 D.G.
Baird and Gustave H. Koehler
1898-1899 Albert B. Hodges
1899 James
Hanham
1900 Samuel
Lipschuetz
1900-1901 Frank J.
Marshall (1877-1944)
1901 Frank
Marshall
1903 J.M.
Hanham, Jacob Halper,
Harold Phillips (1874-1967)
1904 D.G.
Baird
1905 Gustave Koehler
1905-1906 Albert W. Fox
(1881-1964)
1907 Paul
F. Johner (1887-1938)
1908 Albert
Pulvermacher
1909 Manuel
Ayala, Otto Roething (1865-1915), Leon Rosen
(1869-1942)
1909-1910 Frank J.
Marshall
1911 Jacob
Rosenthal (1881-1954)
1912 Magnus
Smith (1869-1934)
1913 Magnus
Smith
1913-1914 Abraham Kupchik (1892-1970)
1915 Abraham
Kupchik
1916 Abraham
Kupchik
1917 Abraham
Kupchik
1918 Jose
Capablanca (1888-1942)
1918-1919 Abraham Kupchik
1919-1920 Abraham Kupchik, Oscar Chajes (1873-1928)
1920-1921 Dawid
Janowski (1868-1927) in play-off over Roy T. Black
(1888-1962)
1921-1922 Morris A.
Schapiro (1903-1996)
1922-1923 Morris A.
Schapiro
1923-1924 Oscar Chajes
1924-1925 Abraham Kupchik
1925-1926 Abraham Kupchik
1926-1927 Geza
Maroczy (1870-1951)
1927-1928 Abraham Kupchik
1928-1929 Alexander Kevitz (1902-1981)
1929-1930 Isaac Kashdan (1905-1985)
1931 Isaac
Kashdan
1932-1933 A. Kevitz on tiebreak over Robert Willman
(1908-1977).
1933-1934 Robert Willman
1934-1935 A. Kevitz after playoff with Isaac Kashdan
1935 Abraham
Kupchik on play-off against Isaac Kashdan
1936 Alexander
Kevitz on tiebreak over Albert C. Simonson
(1914-1965)
1937 Isaac
Kashdan after playoff with Albert C. Simonson
1938 Isaac
Kashdan
1939 Jack
Moskowitz (1912-2004)
1940 Arnold
Denker (1914-1978)
1941 Albert
S. Pinkus (1903-1984)
1942 Fred
Reinfeld (1910-1964) and Sidney N. Bernstein
(1911-1992) tie
1943 not
known
1944 Arnold
Denker after playoff with Willman
1945 Albert
Pinkus
1946 Alexander
Kevitz
1947 Alexander
Kevitz (another source says Arnold Denker)
1948 Arthur
B. Bisguier (1929- )
1949 Arthur
B. Bisguier
1950 Arnold
Denker, George Shainswit
(1918-1997).
1950-1951 Arnold Denker
1951-1952 George Kramer
(1929- )
1952-1953 Max Pavey (1918-1957)
1954 Arnold
Denker
1954-1955 Alexander Kevitz and James Sherwin (1933- )
1955-1956 Max Pavey
1956-1957 Abe Turner
(1924-1962)
1957-1958 Arthur B. Bisguier
1958-1959 Arthur B. Bisguier
1959-1960 Pal C. Benko (1928- )
1961 Pal
C. Benko
1961-1962 Paul Brandts
1963 Bernard
Zuckerman
1964 Bernard
Zuckerman
1965 Pal
C. Benko
1966 Pal
C. Benko
1967 Pal
C. Benko
1967-1968 Arthur B. Bisguier
1968-1969 Arthur B. Bisguier
1969 Arthur
Bisguier
1969-1970 Arnold Denker
1971 Arthur
Feurstein
1972 Walter
Shipman
1973 George
Kramer
1974 Alexander
Kevitz, George Kramer, Walter Shipman
1975 Neil
McKelvie
1976 Milorad Boskovic
1977 Alexander
Kevitz
1978 Joel
Benjamin
1979 Jorge
Massana, Neil McKelvie
1980 Jeffrey
Kastner
1981 John
Fedorowicz
1982 Joel
Benjamin, Vitaly Zaltsman
1983 Joel
Benjamin
1984 Walter
Shipman
1985 Walter
Shipman
1986 Jonathan
Schroer
1987 Ronald
M. Young, Bernard Zuckerman
1988 Mark
Ginsburg
1989 Michael
Rohde
1990 Mark
Ginsburg
1991 Kamran Shirazi and Zaltsman win the
114th annual Manhattan CC Ch.
1992 Joel
Benjamin
1993 Jay
Bonin
1994 Jay
Bonin, Walter Shipman
1995 Walter
Shipman
1996 John
Fedorowicz, Alexander Wojtkiewiez
1997 Jay
Bonin
1998 Joel
Benjamin
1999 Joel
Benjamin (wins for the 6th time)
2001 Leonid
Yudasin