[blind-chess] US Chess History Article 3
- From: Roderick Macdonald <rmacd@xxxxxxxx>
- To: Blind Chess Mailing List <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 20:09:28 -1000 (HST)
US Chess History Article 3
EARLY WOMEN IN AMERICAN CHESS
by Robert John McCrary
Today only a small percentage of organized chess players are women. So it
may seem surprising that the history of women players in the United States
can be traced almost as far back as that of male players.
In fact, women chess players in the US have been found as early as the
first decade of the nineteenth century. (Note that Benjamin Franklin's
female opponents were European, so do not count.) According to The Book of
The First American Chess Congress,(p. 346) one of these early women
players was a Mrs. Gaines, the wife of the commandant of Fort Stoddard,
where Aaron Burr was detained upon his arrest. Burr reportedly played
chess with her during his detainment. Four other women players are also
known in that same decade of 1800-1810. They were all residents of
Charleston, SC, where they had their own little playing circle.
Interestingly, Paul Morphy's father and grandfather lived in Charleston at
that same time, but there is no direct evidence of a connection between
the Morphy family and those early women players.
Perhaps the first published game by an American woman player appeared in
an 8-page brochure published in 1830. The title of that brochure stated
that it included a "game played by a Lady of Philadelphia with Maelzel's
Automaton." This author has not seen either the brochure or the game, but
the bibliographical description of the brochure implies that the game was
printed in it.
The first unofficial US women's champion may have been found in 1857. In
The Book of The First American Chess Congress (pp.85-86) is the following
tantalizing description of a lady who visited that congress, where the
best American players of 1857 were gathered:
"In the evening [of October 20, 1857] an event occurred, which was watched
with much interest by the members of the congress. Mr. Paulsen's sister,
the wife of a physician practicing in New York, played two games of chess,
first with Mr. Perrin and afterwards with Judge Meek, losing the former
and winning the latter. This lady is believed to be the strongest amateur
of her sex in the country, and would certainly be ranked as a first-rate
in any club."
The lady's brother was Louis Paulsen, who became a world-famous player
after finishing second to Paul Morphy in that First American Chess
Congress. Unfortunately, her name was not given, but it would appear that
any listing of US women's champions should contain at least an allusion to
Louis Paulsen's sister and her 1-1 record at the First American Chess
Congress.
Interestingly, a lady on an early westbound wagon train noted in her diary
that she passed time on the journey by playing chess. There were at least
a couple of lady problem composers in the 1850's, including a Charleston,
SC lady pseudonymed "Coquette." In the 1880's, a Miss Ella M. Blake was
the "reputed lady chess champion of the south." In 1885, a Mr. Thompson of
Waco, Texas offered to bet $100 that his wife could beat any man in Texas
in chess (unfortunately no follow-up story about that offer is known to
this author.) An American correspondence player, Mrs. J.W. Gilbert, won
two games against the noted British player G.W. Gossip around the 1870's.
The first American woman chess author may have been Eliza C. Foot of New
York City, who in 1909 "placed on the market a series of chess puzzles."
There is no bibliographical entry for that, however, so it is unclear how
those "puzzles" were marketed. The first woman chess author anywhere was
apparently a Britisher named H.I. Cooke, who published The ABC of Chess,
by a Lady around 1860. Frideswide F. Rowland (maiden name Beechey), was a
columnist and composer who authored the book Chess Blossoms in 1883. Then
in 1884 she co-authored a book called Chess Fruits with her husband Thomas
(also a composer). Rowland was Irish, however, and Edith Winter-Wood, who
published a chess book in 1886, was British. Ms.Winter-Wood, by the way,
was a highly prolific problem composer.
A possible hidden problem for women of that period is indicated in the May
1886 issue of Steinitz's The International Chess Magazine. Steinitz noted
that the chess society of Turin, Italy had started permitting the wives
and daughters of members to visit the club and to participate in
tournaments. Steinitz proceeded to recommend that American chess clubs
also allow wives and daughters to play. Could it be that women were
sometimes excluded from chess clubs and tournaments at that time?
Apparently so, for Steinitz in the August 1886 issue encourages the
organizers of the next American chess congress to allow women to play.
Maybe that is why Louis Paulsen's sister did not enter the First American
Chess Congress; perhaps she was not permitted to!
If there was a rule against women playing against men in
nineteenth-century tournaments, it must have been an "unwritten rule" and
not consistently enforced. Steinitz had in April 1885 noted that three
women had entered a British team match. None of the tournament regulations
seen by this author have referred to that topic. In any event, it is
gratifying to know that Steinitz was on the right side of the issue. In
commenting on the Turin group's decision to admit women, he said: "This is
as it should be, and we hope that this example will be followed by other
chess societies, it being evident that, if we engage the queens of our
hearts for the queens of our boards and if we can enlist the interest of
our connubial mates for our chessical mates our intellectual pastime will
be immensely benefited and will pass into universal favor."
In the 1890's attempts were made to establish segregated competitions for
women. In 1897, The American Chess Magazine had this comment: "Ladies'
chess clubs are quite the fashion now and have successfully launched
recently both in London and New York." (Earlier women's clubs had existed
in great Britain.)
On June 22, 1897 the first ladies' international chess tournament was held
in London as part of the Queen's Jubilee. (Queen Victoria was a chess
player.) Twenty-two players were invited from a group of thirty-two
applicants. The US had three representatives, one of them identified as
"Mrs. Showalter." One assumes that she may have been the wife of sometime
US champion Jackson Showalter, but the tourney description does not say.
Interestingly, the tournament "referee" was Harry Nelson Pillsbury. There
had been women's tournaments elsewhere as early as the 1880's, including a
British Women's Championship in 1887.
In 1938 Caroline Marshall, wife of long-time US Champion Frank Marshall,
organized a US Women's Chess Championship at the Rockefeller Center in New
York City. That event became a regular thing, and over the years the title
was won nine times by Gisela Gresser. Ms. Gresser, whose son helped
discover the benefits of interferon, was inducted into the US Chess Hall
of Fame in 1992. She blazed trails and broke barriers for women, becoming
one of the first two American women to become rated masters.
Now, of course, we live in the era of the Polgar sisters when the top
women are rapidly gaining in strength. But it was not that long ago that
women were not even allowed to enter chess clubs! So history should always
have a special place for the pioneering efforts of our first women
players.
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