Chess Before the Internet

by Bill Wall

Before there was an Internet,

chessplayers at great distances played
chess by postal correspondence, optical
signaling, telegraph, telegram,
megaphone, wireless telegraphy,
telephone, radiotelegraphy,
radiotelephony, shortwave, radio,
amateur radio, CB radio, teletype, email,
and telnet. Here are some of the facts
about chess before the Internet.

In the 1600s, Venetian and Croatian Bill Wall

merchants played correspondence chess.

The earliest known postal game was

between a Dutch army officer named
Freidrich Wilhelm von Mauvillon (1774-
1851) stationed at Breda, Netherlands, In blitz, the knight is stronger
and one of his friends stationed at The than the bishop. —Vlastimil
Hague (Den Haag), Netherlands in 1804. Hort
Mauvillon's three correspondence chess
games (winning two and drawing one)
were published in his chess book in
1827.

In late 1823, Le Cercle du Philidor chess

club in Paris 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 as the London team
was too slow to accept.

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 made the first move on 4 of
the 5 games. Edinburgh won, 2-1.

Soon after the Edinburgh-London

correspondence match, a correspondence
chess match was played between the
chess clubs of Amsterdam and
Rotterdam.

In 1825, the next British correspondence

match after Edinburgh-London took
place. This was a match between the
chess clubs of Liverpool and Leeds.
Leeds won.

In 1825-1826, the Manchester Guardian

sponsored a correspondence match
between the Manchester Chess Club and
the Liverpool Chess Club. This was the
first time that a newspaper sponsored a
correspondence match. Manchester
won.

In 1828, the first correspondence match

outside Europe took place in India. The
Madras Chess Club beat the Hderabad
Chess Club 2-0.

In 1828-1829, the first known private

correspondence match occurred between
E. Houlston, Jr. (London) and his father,
H. Houlston (Wellington). H. Houlston
won.

In 1832, Baron Paul L. Schilling von

Canstatt (1786-1837) in Russia created
the first electromagnetic telegraph. He
had a transmitting device which
consisted of a keyboard with 16 keys.
These served for switching the electric
current. He was one of the first to put in
practices the idea of binary (on-off or
dot-dash) system of signal transmission.
An English student, William Fothergill
Cooke (1806-1879), took the model of
the telegraph to England, declared that
this model was constructed by him and
got a patent for it. The telegraph was
soon after used by the English railway.
The original telegraph used two wires
between two stations to form a complete
electrical circuit or "loop."

By 1835, a telegraph line was installed

along the first German railroad and a
telegraph network was built in Munich,
Germany.

In 1836, Dr. David Alter (1807-1881)

invented the first known American
electric telegraph in Elderton,
Pennsylvania. He rigged the telegraph
between his house and his barn.

Also in 1836, Samuel Morse (1791-

1872), an art and portrait painter,
independently developed an electrical
telegraph and replaced the letters by
points and lines (...---...). His assistant,
Alfred Vail (1807-1859), developed the
Morse code signaling alphabet with
Morse. Morse code was designed so that
the most frequently used letters required
the least effort. Morse was also a chess
player who followed the career of Paul
Morphy (1837-1884). There is even an
1848 daguerreotype of his wife and
daughter playing chess.

In 1837, and Charles Wheatstone (1802-

1875) and William Cooke developed the
first commercial electro-magnetic
telegraph. It displayed 20 letters, but
need five wires to connect the sending
and receiving stations. It was soon
replaced by the Morse Telegraph when it
was found that telegraph messages could
be received by sound alone, and only
needed one or two wires.

In 1837, Carl August von Steinheil of

Munich, Germany, found that by
connecting one leg of the apparatus at
each station to metal plates buried in the
ground, he could eliminate one wire and
use a single wire for telegraphic
communication. This led to speculation
that it might be possible to eliminate
both wires and therefore transmit
telegraph signals through the ground
without any wires connecting the
stations.

In January 1838, Morse first successfully

tested his telegraph in New Jersey.
Without a repeater, the range of his
telegraph was limited to 2 miles.

In 1838, the first American

correspondence chess match was played
between players in Washington, D.C.
and players at the Bassford's Chess
Room in New York. Play was interrupted
in 1839 and there was no official result.

In July 1839, the telegraph entered

commercial use over the 13 miles of the
Great Western Railway, from Paddington
station to West Drayton.

Samuel Morse (a chess enthusiast) wrote

a letter to Louis McLane (1786-1857),
an American lawyer and politician,
claiming that he played a game of chess
by telegraph on April 9 and 10, 1844.

On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse sent

the first Morse code message ("What
Hath God Wrought?") by telegraph from
Washington to Baltimore.
On November 16, 1844, the first game of
checkers (draughts) was played by
telegraph between a player in Baltimore
and the assistant telegraph
superintendent in Washington, D.C.

On November 23-25, 1844, a telegraph

match was played between the chess
clubs of Baltimore, Maryland and
Washington, DC (38 miles apart). The
two cities were the first to be linked by
an American telegraph. Seven games
were played by telegraph. The games
were played to test the accuracy of the
telegraph as well as for the players own
amusement. A numerical notation was
used (the White pieces were on numbers
57 through 64). The 686 moves which
made up the match were transmitted
without a single mistake or interruption.
The first chess game was played by Mr.
Greene in Baltimore against Dr. Jones in
Washington. Mr. Greene won.

Soon, the telegraph and Morse code was

being used by the telegraphers and chess
enthusiasts to play long-distance chess.
It took over 50 years for a telegraph
match to be played between a chess club
in the United States against a chess club
in Britain.

The telegraph was used much more for

commercial than social purposes. The
telegraph companies advertised chess
matches to show the practical
applications of the telegraph in its speed
and accuracy and long distance. To call
attention to its interactive potential, early
demonstrations of the telegraph included
long-distance chess games.

In early 1845, Howard Staunton (1810-

1874) was proposing playing 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
88 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 9 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 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
chess by telegraph.

In 1846, only 146 miles of telegraph

lines existed. By 1850, there were
10,000 miles of telegraph lines.

In 1847-48, the first known

correspondence chess match between
universities occurred. It was a match
between the Hermes Club at Oxford
University and Trinity College
Cambridge. Oxford won.

In 1851, during the London International

Tournament, a telegraph match 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 1852, "Sybil" became the first known

woman to play correspondence chess.
She played a postal game against George
Fraser as part of the Home Circle
magazine challenge. She won her game.
In 1853, two ships, the Barham and the
Wellesley, played a correspondence
game while sailing from Calcutta to
London. They used optical signaling
systems between them to make their
moves.

In April 1853, the first postal chess

tournament was organized by Henry
Mott (1818-1875) and the Home Circle
newspaper. The newspaper was later
discontinued, but the games continued to
be published in Cassell's Illustrated
Family Paper. The tournament was won
by C.F. Smith after three years of play.

In August 1854, a demonstration was

made to send an electric current through
bodies of water without the use of wires.
James Lindsay of Great Britain was able
to demonstrate transmission across a mill
dam at a distance of 500 years.

Howard Staunton discussed his early

telegraph games in the Illustrated
London News on April 4, 1856. He also
reported on a telegraph contest between
the Liverpool Chess Club and the
Manchester Chess Club, 30 miles apart.
The game lasted eight hours.

By the mid-1850s, people regularly

exchanged greetings and news by
telegram. Some wealthy player even had
a telegraph machine installed at home so
that they could play long-distance chess.

On March 28, 1856, the first chess game

by telegraph between Liverpool and
Manchester was played. After 8 hours of
play, the clubs agreed to a draw. (source:
London Times, March 31, 1856) On July
19, 1858, the first Australian telegraph
match was played, between the Hobart
Town chess club and George Town chess
club.

On August 16, 1858, the first

transatlantic telegraph cable was laid
across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
from western Ireland to eastern
Newfoundland (1,600 miles). Messages
could now be sent in a matter of minutes
instead of 10 days — the time it took to
deliver a message by ship. The first cable
was a telegram from Queen Victoria to
President James Buchanan,
congratulating him on such a cable. The
first cable on worked for three weeks
($100 per message), until someone
applied too much voltage to it trying to
achieve faster operating.

In late 1858, after the first cable was laid

across the Atlantic, Howard Staunton
(1810-1874) of London offered to play
Paul Morphy (1837-1884) in New York
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 New York Chess

Club played a telegraph match 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, Samuel Morse was in Europe

and watched Paul Morphy play chess.
When Paul Morphy returned to New
York, the New York Chess Club had a
testimonial dinner for Paul Morphy on
his return. Samuel Morse was invited to
sit at the head table with Morphy, but
Morse wrote back to the Testimonial
Committee, regretting he had a previous
engagement, but wished Morphy well.

In 1859, a telegraph match was played

by chess clubs in Quincy, Illinois and
Saint Louis, Missouri.

In 1859, the Morphy Chess Club of

Wilmington, Delaware defeated the
Philadelphia Amateur Chess Club by
telegraph. (source: The Bloomington
Pantagraph, Feb 11, 1859)

In March 1859, the Detroit Chess Club

defeated the Cleveland Chess Club in a
match by telegraph.

On October 26, 1861, the first telegraph

match played by submarine cable
(moves transmitted by telegraph) took
place between Liverpool and Dublin.
The final result of the match is unknown.
The match was played courtesy of the
Magnetic Telegraph Company. (source:
Chess Player's Chronicle, Vol. 20, 1861,
p. 354)

In 1861, the first transcontinental

telegraph system was established from
the eastern United States to California.

In 1862, perhaps the first international

telegraph chess game was played
between Hugh Kennedy in England and
Serafino Dubois in Italy. Dubois won the
game.

In May 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 January 1864, the Philadelphia Chess

Club defeated the Paulsen Chess Club in
New York in a one game match by
telegraph.

In February 1865, an electric telegraph

match was played between London,
England, and Dublin, Ireland. It was
arranged by the Electric Telegraph
Company, the world's first public
telegraph company. It took 2 minutes for
a move to be made from one location in
London to the other location in Dublin.

In 1865, a second transatlantic cable was

successfully laid (an earlier cable
snapped) and first became operational on
July 28, 1866. By the end of the 19th
century, there were about a dozen
transatlantic cables between the United
States and Europe. Nowadays, all
transatlantic cables use fiber optic
technology.

In 1866, D.A. Gringmuth, a leading

Russian problem composer, invented a
telegraphic code where files were
designated with one of two letters,
depending on whether it was on White'
side or Black's side. For White, P-K4
would be gego. For Black, P-K4 would
be seso.

In 1866, the Christchurch Chess Club in

New Zealand was formed for a telegraph
match against the Nelson Chess Club.

On June 24, 1867, a telegraphic match

between New York and Detroit was held.
Their first game was drawn. Detroit won
the second game.

In 1867, the Detroit Chess Club defeated

the Muskegon Chess Club in a telegraph
match.

In 1869, 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 September 1869, the Melbourne

Chess Club defeated the Adelaide Chess
Club in a telegraphic match (+5-1=1).

In 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 1870 the first correspondence chess

club, the Caissa Correspondence Club,
was founded. 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 1870, a telegraph chess match was

played between a team from Hartford,
Connecticut and a team from
Springfield, Massachusetts.

In June 1870, a game of chess was

played by telegraph between four players
of New Orleans against 4 players in
three Mississippi towns, the latter also
consulting by telegraph. The Mississippi
party were all practical telegraph
operators. The main New Orleans
chessplayer was John Galbreath. He was
secretary of the New Orleans Chess and
Checker Club and night wire chief of the
New Orleans Western Union office.

On November 9, 1870, the first interstate

match by telegraphy in Australia was
played, Victoria vs. N.S. Wales.

In 1871, a seven-board chess match was

played between teams in Sydney,
Australia and Melbourne, Australia.
Sydney won with 5 wins, 1 draw, and
one loss.

In the 1870s, the Chess Players'

Quarterly Chronicle was the first chess
magazine to organize postal chess
tournaments.

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 1, 1872.

In 1874, the City of London Chess Club

defeated the Vienna Chess Club in a
telegraph match, scoring 1.5 to 0.5. The
consultation match played by telegraph
was the first of its kind in Europe.

In 1874, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-

1922), a chess enthusiast, invented the
telephone at the age of 27. He said he
was inspired the speaking machines of
Wolfgang von Kempelen, who created
the chess-playing automaton "The Turk."
Bell later wrote a book on what he
thought how The Turk played chess.

In 1875, George Black of Hamilton,

Canada, and his friends T.C. Mewburn
and C.D. Cory, were in the habit of
playing chess using the telegraph wires
existing between their houses.

In 1875, the first correspondence match

in Italy took place between the chess
clubs of Ferrara and Livorno.

In December 1875, the first international

correspondence chess match began
between the USA and Canada. It lasted
until 1877. The USA won 26 to 11.

In 1876, the first correspondence all-

play-all tournament was organized by
Rev. T. Archdall. There were 17 entries.
The winner was John Crum.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the

first to be granted a U.S. patent for a
device that produced clear intelligible
replication of the human voice. He had
patented the telephone and soon chess
was being played over the telephone.

In July 1877, the first intercontinental

correspondence chess match, the
International Postal Card Match, began
between the USA and the UK. 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.

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.
Treadwell won.
On June 20, 1877, the first telephone
exchange was opened for the express
reason of playing chess. Hugh Cossart
Baker, Jr, (1846-1931) of Hamilton,
Canada wanted to play long distance
chess with his friends. He leased four
telephones so that he and his friends
could contact each other directly about
their chess moves. Melville Bell (1819-
1905), father of Alexander Graham Bell,
came to Hamilton and installed three
telephones on Baker's private telegraph
line, and in the house of his friend, J. R.
Thompson. This was the first telephone
transmission between more than two
telephones on one circuit.

In October 1877, chess was being played

by telephone in Washington, DC.

In January 1878, a chess game was

played in Hartford, Connecticut by
telephone between John G. Belden and
Ellen Gilbert (lady champion of
America) on one side, and Mr. C.G.
Lincoln and Mr. A. E. Olmsted on the
other side, a distance of several miles.
The game was left unfinished, due to the
lateness of the hour. Belden was chess
editor of the Hartford Times.

On January 25, 1878, the first known

telephone chess game (a single game and
not a match) played in England was
played by F. Thompson and John
Cooper, separated by three miles in
Derbyshire, England. Thompson was
chess editor of the Derbyshire
Advertiser.

In 1879, there was a demonstration of

wireless transmission via conduction in
Amos Dolbear's magneto electric
telephone that used ground conduction to
transmit over a distance of a quarter of a
mile. Telegraphic communication using
earth conductivity was eventually found
to be limited to impractically short
distances, as was communication
conducted through water, or between
trenches during World War I.

In 1880, a consultation chess game was

played by telephone between the chess
clubs of Brighton and Chichester.

In 1880, Sir William Watson Rutherford

(1853-1927), a British politician who
was a member of the Liverpool Chess
Club, invented a chess code for
telegrams. At the time, the British Post
Office did not allow digits or ciphers
(series or groups of figures or letters, or
words not found in a standard
dictionary) in telegrams, but they did
allow Latin words. This method also
allowed moves for two games to be
transmitted at the same time. In this
method, the legal moves in the position
were counted using a system until the
move being made was reached. This was
done for both games. The move number
of the first game was multiplied by 60
and added to the move number of the
second game. Leading zeros were added
as necessary to give a four-digit number.
The first two digits would be 00 through
39, which corresponded to a table of 40
Latin roots. The third digit corresponded
to a list of 10 Latin prefixes and the last
digit corresponded to a list of 10 Latin
suffixes. The resulting word was
transmitted. This code later fell out of
favor when the rules were changed so
that ciphers were allowed in telegrams.

In November 1880, the Liverpool Chess

Club played the Calcutta Chess Club via
telegraph using the Rutherford code.
This was the first intercontinental
telegraph chess match. The match lasted
four months and was won by Liverpool.

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 1883-84, the Cambridge University

Chess Club played a postal game with
patients at the Bethlehem (Bedlam)
Hospital and lost.

In the mid-1880s, Thomas Edison

patented an electromagnetic induction
system which allowed telegraph signals
to jump the short distance between a
running train and telegraph wires
running parallel to the tracks. He also
helped patent a ship-ti-shore
communications system based on
electrostatic induction.

In 1884, the French chess magazine La

Strategie organized an international
chess tournament, open to subscribers in
Europe and Algeria. There were 11
players from France, Belgium, England,
Greece, and Hungary. The winner was
Laquiere, a Frenchman living in
Algeria.

In 1884, the first telephone chess match

between chess clubs was played between
the Cardiff Chess Club and the Swansea
Chess Club in England.

In September 1884, a telephone match

was played between the Bradford Chess
Club and the Wakefield Chess Club, with
8 players on each team.
In the 1880s, Louis Uedemann (1854-
1912) developed a notation code for
telegraphs. It was first used in the 1886
telegraph match between London and St.
Petersburg. He used a two-letter label for
each square and transmitted four letters
— two letters for the origin square
followed by two letters for the
destination square.

In November 1886, the St. Petersburg

chess club defeated the London chess
club in the telegraph match. The St.
Petersburg Chess Club also defeated a
chess club in Siberia by telegraph.

In 1887, Heinrich Hertz demonstrated

electromagnet waves by experimentally
generating radio waves in his laboratory.
Radio waves were originally called
"Hertzian waves." The modern term
"radio wave" replaced the original
"Hertzian wave" in 1912.

In 1887, an international correspondence

tournament was held, sponsored by the
French weekly Le Monde Illustre.

In 1889, W. W. Morgan, Jr, invented a

new type of telegraphic chess code that
was supposed to replace the Rutherford
code.

In 1890, Edwyn Anthony (1843-1932), a

lawyer and a member of the London
Mathematical Society, wrote a book
called Chess Telegraph Codes. He
invented a telegraphic chess code to ease
move transmission. He devised a way of
telegraphing two chess moves at the cost
of one word by using compass notation.
So, 1. P-K4 P-K4 2.P-KB4 PxP would
be written 1. KPN2 (the king pawn
going north 2 moves) KPN2 (Black also
plays the king pawn going north 2)
2.KBPN2 (King Bishop Pawn north two
moves) KBPNE1 (pawn goes northeast 1
move). This is converted to numeric
code 87842 for the first two moves and
61817 for the next two moves. This
doesn't look easy.

In 1891, Mikhail Chigorin defeated

William Steinitz with two wins in a
telegraph match.

On December 12, 1891, the first long

distance telephone match in Great
Britain took place between London and
Liverpool. Liverpool won one game and
the second games was drawn.

On January 16, 1892, a match of two

games was played by telephone between
the Liverpool Chess Club and the
Birmingham Chess Club. Each side
scored a game.

In March 1892, a telegraph match was

played between the Manhattan Chess
Club and the New Orleans Chess,
Checker, and Whist Club.

In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi (1874-

1937) worked on adapting the newly
discovered radio waves to
communications. He built the first
wireless telegraphy system using them.
He made the remark that if sufficient
power were obtainable and a large
enough antenna erected, it might be
possible to transmit messages a distance
of 20 miles through the air. Little did he
know that in a few years, messages
could be sent hundreds or thousands of
miles away.
On March 9, 1895, the Manhattan Chess
Club in New York played the British
Chess Club by cable. 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 the new world chess
champion, Emanuel Lasker (1868-
1941).

In May 1895, a two-game telegraph

match was started between Victoria,
Canada and San Francisco.

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 1895, a telegraphic chess code was

invented by Frederick Startin Pilleau
called "Dynamic Chess Notation." The
moves 1. P-K4 P-K4 would be sent as
MDMD. The moves 2.N-KB3 N-QB3
would be sent GDBE.

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. The Anglo-American cable matches
lasted from 1895 through 1911.

The second cable match was played on

February 12-13, 1897. There were now
10 players per side. UK won, 5.5 to 4.5.
The format from 8 players to 10 players
favored the British side, as their 1-point
victory was due to the bottom 3 boards
winning.

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.

On May 31st to June 1st, 1897, a cable

match by telegraph (a Wheatstone
Duplex machine) was arranged between
five members of the U.S. House of
Representatives (3 Democrats, 1
Republican, and 1 Populist) 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 (1852-1923), U.S.
Representative of North Carolina and Sir
John Heaton (1848-1914), a British
Conservative Member of Parliament. 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 14
seconds. The signals were carried by the
Anglo American Telegraph Company
and the Western Union Telegraph
Company. The match was designed to
interest Congress in ways to speed and
cheapen communications.

The third Anglo-American cable match

began on March 18, 1898 between the
British Chess Club and the Brooklyn
Chess Club. The signals were carried by
the Commercial Cable Company. The
British Chess Club won, 5.5 to 4.5.

The fourth cable match began on March

10, 1899 between the Brooklyn Chess
Club and the British Chess Club. USA
won 6 to 4.

In March 1899, the British universities

of 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 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. The stakes were
1,000 francs a side.

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.

The fifth cable match was played on

March 23-24, 1900. USA won 6 to 4.
The USA had had two victories in a row.
One more and they would take
permanent possession of the Newnes
trophy. Pillsbury remained winless in 5
cable games against Blackburne.
Showalter had won his first 4 cable
matches, but drew his game in the 5th
cable match. John Barry was now
victorious in 5 cable matches. Ed Hymes
drew in all of his 5 matches.

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 November 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.

The 6th cable match began on April 19,

1901. UK and USA tied 5-5. Pillsbury
finally defeated Blackburne on board
one. Showalter lost his first cable match
game. Barry, who had 5 straight
victories, drew his 6th match game.
Hymes, after 5 draws, finally won a
game.

In December 1901, Guglielmo Marconi

sent the first wireless message (the letter
"S") across the Atlantic using radio
waves (then called Hertzian waves).
Soon, the system was being used for
regular communications and chess was
soon being played by wireless
communication using Morse code.

The first radio transmitters, which were

spark gap transmitters, could not
transmit voice (audio signals). Instead,
the operator would tap out the chess
moves on a telegraph key, which turned
the transmitter on and off, producing
short ("dot") and long ("dash") pulses of
radio waves.

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 March 15, 1902, USA won the 7th

cable match with a 5.5 to 4.5 score. The
Americans played at the Brooklyn Chess
Club and the English team played at the
International Hall, Cafe Monaco in
London. The telegraphic communication
was provided by the Commercial Cable
Company.

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)

In August 1902, a game was played by

wireless radio between the S.S.
Philadelphia and the S.S. Campania in
the Atlantic Ocean.

In January 1903, a team of chess players

on the American liner SS Philadelphia
defeated a team of chess players on the
liner.

On March 27-28, 1903, the British

universities defeated the American
universities in their 5th annual cable
match by the score of 3.5 to 2.5.

In April 1903, USA won the 8th cable

match with a 5.5 to 4.5 score. The USA
was represented by Pillsbury, Barry,
Hodges, Marshall, Hymes, Voigt,
Newman, Delmar, Howell, and Hellms.
The UK was represented by Lawrence,
Blackburne, Mills, Atkins, Bellingham,
Trenchard, Michell, Jacobs, Gunston,
and Hooke.

From 1904 to 1906, cable matches were

halted due to the Russo-Japanese war,
which made arrangements for the
cabling too difficult.

In July 1904, Honolulu played a wireless

chess match with Hilo. (source:
Honolulu Evening Bulletin, July 21,
1904)

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 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.

By 1905, telegraph cable companies

refused to handle and sponsor chess
games over cable, giving the reason that
their services were always rendered as a
loss. In the early days of cable matches,
the telegraph companies were very glad
to avail themselves of the means of
advertising that these chess matches
afforded. The rates were not considered
important, and there was always room
for chess matches on days like Friday
and Saturday. The hope of future
matches relied on Deforest or Marconi
wireless telegraphy.

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 1906, the British Correspondence

Chess Association 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.

From 1906 to 1910, a series of Anglo-

American University matches were held
and played by cable.

In 1907, UK won the 9th cable match

with a 5.5 to 4.5 score.

In 1908, USA won the 10th cable match

with a 6.5 to 3.5 score.

In 1909, Princeton played a wireless

chess match with players at the Brooklyn
navy yard. (source: New York Tribune,
March 14, 1909)

In 1909, Great Britain won the 11th

cable match with a 6 to 4 score.

In 1909, the Correspondence Chess

League of Greater New York was
formed. The Correspondence Chess
League of America (CCLA) was
founded in 1917 with the merger of other
correspondence leagues.

In 1910, Princeton played Penn State in

a wireless chess match, which may be
the first intercollegiate wireless chess
match.

In 1910, Great Britain won the 12th

cable match with a 6.5 to 3.5 score.

In 1910, the first 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, 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)

After 1910, communications by what

had been called "Hertzian waves" was
being referred to as "radio," and the term
wireless telegraphy was replaced by
"radiotelegraphy."

In 1911, UK won the 13th cable match

with a 6 to 4 score. Britain, having won
three matches in succession, took
permanent possession of the silver
Newnes Cup, offered in competition by
Sir George Newnes (1851-1910) several
years earlier. The cable matches ended
after this match.

From 1899 to 1903, there were Anglo-

American University cable matches
between Oxford and Cambridge and
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia
University. A second series of University
matches was held from 1906 to 1910.
The last in a series of cable matches
between the universities occurred in
1924. In 11 matches, the British
universities won 4, the American
universities won 4, and they drew 3
times. In 1907, Capablanca played for
Columbia University and drew his game
on board 1 against H. Rose of Oxford.

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 1912, the vacuum tube oscillator

(Armstrong or Meissner oscillator) radio
transmitter was invented, which made
radiotelephone (sound) transmission
possible.

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 1915, chess was being played between
French and German soldiers in their
trenches. The moves were announced by
megaphone.

In 1917, when the United States entered

World War I, private radiotelegraphy
stations were prohibited and chess could
not be played over these private
stations.

In 1919, a telegraph match was played

between the Manhattan Chess Club in
New York and the Capital City Chess
Club in Washington, DC. On hand in
New York was New York Mayor John
Hylan. For Washington DC, Supreme
Court Justice Mahlon Piney served as
referee. Direct telegraphic
communication had been established
between the two clubs, with two
operators at each end, so there might be
no clogging of the wires between the
incoming out outgoing messages. The
Manhattan CC won the match, scoring 6-
4, after 12 hours.

On April 14, 1920, a shortwave 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).

By the 1920s, there was a worldwide

network of radiotelegraphic stations,
plus extensive use of radiotelegraphy for
playing chess around the world. The
transmission of sound (radiotelephony)
began to displace wireless telegraphy,
making possible of playing chess
through radio broadcasting. Wireless
telegraphy was still popular for chess
enthusiasts.

In the 1920s, Maurice Kuhns (1859-

1949) devised a special cable code for
the transmission of chess moves. It was
called the Kuhns Cable Chess Code and
was used in the 1926 London-Chicago
Inter-city cable match and the 1927
London-New York cable match.

In the 1920s, amateur radio (commonly

called "ham") operators communicated
their chess moves through Morse Code.

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 February 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 1922, a radio chess match between a

group of players in Wisconsin and a
group of players in Minnesota was held.

In the May 1922 issue of Illustrated

World, there appears an article called
"Playing Games by Radio" by Windsor
Kay. It mentions how you can test your
skill at chess with your opponent miles
away. The article describes how you can
use the radiophone or the usual spark
transmitter of dots and dashes (Morse
code). The article had a picture of a lady,
Miss Rosaline Kendall of New York,
playing chess by radio. She was one of
the contestants in a chess game between
New York and Chicago (source:
Vancouver Daily World, mar 28, 1922).

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)

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 1923, Mr. B.G. Laws (1861-1931)

used the British Broadcasting Company
(BBC) to broadcast a lecture on chess.
His lecture was entitled "The Art of
Chess Problem." This may be the first
time that radio was used to popularize
chess.

In April 1923, the moves of the Frank

Marshall vs. Edward Lasker US
championship match were broadcasted
by radio. It was the first time that a
serious chess match was broadcasted by
radio.

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 December 1923, a Minneapolis radio

station broadcasted a talk on chess by E.
E. Munns. He gave a short discussion on
the theory of the game.

In 1924, the Haverford College Radio

Club (1150 WABQ-AM) in
Pennsylvania played a wireless chess
match with the College of the City of
New York (CCNY). (source:
http://spinningindie.blogspot.ae/2009/08/
haverford-college-radios-heyday-
in.html)

In March 1924, the Western Union

Telegraph Company opened the first
direct cable between London and
Chicago.

The August 1924 issue of Popular

Mechanics described a radio match at
sea.

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, there were at least two stations

in Germany (North German Radio) that
were giving chess talks and lessons over
the radio. In one broadcast,
commentators debated whether chess
was an art, a science, or a game. They
also broadcasted classes for beginners as
well as general news about chess.

In 1925, Vera Menchik and Mr. Samuel

Tinsley of the Times gave lectures on
chess over the BBC.

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)

In 1926, Vera Menchik won a girls'

tournament at the Imperial Chess Club
and gave the results in a 10:30 pm BBC
broadcast.

On November 6, 1926, a cable chess

match between London and Chicago was
held.

Between 1926 and 1931, London played

5 cable matches against 4 US cities. This
series of cable matches was known as
the Insull Trophy series.

In 1926, London beat Chicago in a

telegraph match, scoring 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 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 1927, London beat New York by 4-2

in a telegraph match.

In 1928, London was leading

Washington, DC by 3-2 in a telegraph
match, but there was a dispute about the
bottom board. The matter was referred to
FIDE and the match was annulled.

In 1928, the National Chess Federation

organized a Radio Chess League.

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 1930, London drew with Washington

DC in a cable telegraph match, with the
score of 3-3.

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, 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)

By the 1930s, the teleprinter was being

used as an electromechanical typewriter.
Soon, there was a global teleprinter
network, called the "Telex network,"
using radio signals. Routing and
encoding messages, including chess
moves, was done by short wave
transmissions. Radio waves in the
shortwave band can be reflected or
refracted from a layer of electrically
charged atoms in the ionosphere. Using
shortwave radio meant transmission to
great distances around the globe.

In 1931, London beat Philadelphia in a

cable telegraph match by 3.5 to 2.5.

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 March 1934, Alekhine was

interviewed on a radio in Holland, just
before he was to give a simultaneous
blindfold exhibition.

In 1934, the first chess match ever

staged in Ohio over a shortwave radio
set was played by Victor Alderson and
Homer Lawrence. (source: Mansfield
News-Journal, Mar 2, 1937)

In 1935, Alexander Alekhine gave a

radio broadcast a day before his world
championship match with Max Euwe.

In 1936, several broadcasters in

Nottingham, England arranged to
interview Max Euwe, Jose Capablanca,
and other chess players during the
Nottingham International tournament.

In 1936, Ajeeb, the automaton, owned by

Jess Hanson and Frank Frain, toured the
United States to sponsor a radio set, one
to be given free to any winner against
Ajeeb. Ajeeb never lost a chess or
checkers game during that tour. (source:
article on Ajeeb in The Oxford
Companion to Chess).

In 1937, the Palestine chess

championship results were announced on
the radio. It may be the first radio
broadcast about chess in Israel or
Palestine.

In 1937, radio station KQV, an AM

station in Pittsburgh, broadcasted the
Radio Chess Club in the evenings.

In the late 1930s, Hermann Helms was

the first to broadcast chess games and
matches over the radio (WNYC).

In 1938, Alekhine was interviewed by

the BBC (see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=QrH-tcDTU48&NR=1)

In 1938, the Dutch radio broadcasting

company AVRO (Algemene Vereniging
Radio Omroep) sponsored AVRO 1938,
in which the world's best eight chess
players competed. It was the strongest
chess tournament held up to that time.
The joint winners were Paul Keres and
Reuben Fine, followed by Botvinnik,
Alekhine, Euwe, and Reshevsky.

In 1938, the BBC challenged its listeners

to a game of chess.

In 1938, the BBC did a brief interview

with Alekhine. He said that he never
looked back on a game or a match, but
was trying all the time to see how he
could improve his play.

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)

On February 23, 1941 a radio broadcast

called "The Chess Club Murders" was
aired. A triple murder occurs at the chess
club and The Shadow checkmates the
killer.

In March 1941, the first radio match of

any consequence was played between
the chess clubs of Moscow and
Leningrad.

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.

Capablanca gave chess lectures over the

radio during World War II.
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, 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 telegraphy chess
match. The 10 leading masters of the
United States played the 10 leading
masters 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 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.

In other radio matches in 1946, Australia

beat France (5.5-4.5), and Spain beat
Argentina (8-7).

In June 1947, Australia defeated Canada

in a radio match. (source: Sydney
Morning Herald, Jul 8, 1947)

In July 1947, Britain won a radio match

(played by Morse code) against the
Pakies Chess Club of 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)

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 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 1949, the subject of chess sometimes

was broadcasted by Kol Israel (Voice of
Israel) radio station.

In the 1950s, George Koltanowski made

radio broadcasts featuring chess.

In 1952, Ernest Klein of the BBC played

a chess game with Olaf Barda of NRK.

In 1952, an article called "Calling All

Chess Players" appeared in CQ: the
Radio Amateur's Journal. The article
pointed out a conspicuous absence of
chess players among ham operators, and
that chess seemed to have disappeared
from the amateur radio world.

In the autumn of 1958, the BBC started a

half-hour program on chess. The BBC
ran a series called Network Three (now
Radio 3) with consultation games that
included Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal,
Max Euwe, Abrahams, Hugh Alexander,
Barden, Broadbent, Bruce, Clarke,
Fraenkel, Golombek, Haygarth,
Kottnauer, Pritchard, Rhoden, Sunnucks,
and Wade. All the top English players of
the time appeared on the program,
playing consultation games and often
describing their favorite chess game. The
program ran until the summer of 1964.

In 1959, C.H.O'D. Alexander played a

game of chess with some listeners over
the BBC.

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, Bobby Fischer played chess and

chatted on the BBC Network Three
broadcast. He teamed up with Leonard
Barden and played against Penrose and
Clarke. When the studio time ran out,
position of the game was given to Max
Euwe for adjudication. Euwe declared
the game as drawn, but Fischer said it
was a win for his team.

In 1962, Bobby Fischer gave an

interview over Radio Liberty before
departing for the Candidates
Tournament. He said that the USA will
have a better chess team than the Soviet
Union within 5 to 10 years. (source:
Chess Review, Aug 1962, p. 227)

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, Bobby Fischer participated in

the Capablanca Memorial in Havana by
way of teletype from the Marshall Chess
Club in New York.

On November 22, 1966 a USSR chess

program began a correspondence match
by telegraph 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 1968, Lawrence Krakauer was

perhaps the first person to use amateur
radio ("ham radio) to play a chess game
between two computers. (source:
Computer chess via ham radio).

In June 1970, ground control played

chess with the crew members of Soyuz 9
(Vitali Sevastyanov and Andrean
Nikolayev). It was the first chess game
played across space.

In the 1970s, one could play

correspondence chess in PLATO System
program called ‘chess3.'

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, Radio Atlantis, a Belgium-

owned offshore pirated station, was
supposed to go on the air on July 15.
However, it was discovered that the 773
kHz transmitter crystal had gone
missing. It turned out that the crystal was
being used as a replacement pawn for the
ship's chessboard, and the piece was
apparently thrown overboard when a
new chess set was delivered, replacing
the old chess set. (source: Wikipedia
article on Radio Atlantis)

In 1974, an article in Chess Life &

Review stated that "...this year, radio
matches have really arrived on the
campus."

In 1976, London and Belgrade played a

chess match by telex.

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. It was won by the USSR, which
beat West Germany in the final round,
scoring 5-3.

In the 1980s, Vince Luciani of Cologne,

New Jersey founded the Chess &
Amateur Radio International (CARI) for
ham radio enthusiasts (source: The
Deseret News, Jan 3, 1983). There were
about 200 members around the world. In
1983, he published the bi-monthly
magazine CARI News. An article on
CARI was written in Monitoring Times,
November, 1985. A ham radio chess net
was formed in September, 1985 on
14.267 MHz (source: net.chess forum)

In amateur radio, the terms "CW"

(continuous waveform) and :Morse
code" are often interchangeably.
Amateur radio players prefer to play
chess on CW, citing the efficiency of the
mode and the ability to stay in contact
for long periods. The challenge to
playing on CW is to avoid mistakes. The
CARI members used the letter "R" to
distinguish the moves. To send a move,
you send RRR, then the move (twice),
then another R. To send the first move,
such as P-K4 or e4 in algebraic, you
would send R R R E4 E4 R. If the
opponent hears it correctly, he sends
back RR, then the move, then another R.
So his confirmation of the moves would
be R R E4 R. Finally, if the original
sender agrees with the move, he sends
another R.

In the 1980s, chess was played by

email.

In 1982, the CBS Radio Mystery Theater

broadcasted an episode called The Chess
Master. An uneventful game of chess
with a stranger in the park leads to a
world of adventure for an out-of-work
advertising agent. The actors included
Fred Gwynne, Paul Hecht, and Russell
Horton.

In 1985, chess was being played on the

ARPANET. I was playing chess by
correspondence (email chess) on the
ARPANET at nas.nasa.gov from 1985 to
1991.

In 1987, the Usenet newsgroup

rec.chess.games (tgc) was created. I was
active on the rec.games.chess Usenet
newsgroup and email chess. Other
newsgroups were
rec.games.chess.analysis,
rec.games.chess.computer, and
rec.games.chess.politics.

In 1987, Leisure Linc was an early on-

line "internet" company. It had the first
national online chess bulletin board
system (BBS). The cost was $5 an hour
to be online. I was an early member of
Leisure Linc.

On January 15, 1992, the first Internet

Chess Server (ICS) was set up by
Michael Moore of the University of
Utah, and Richard Nash. The host,
lark.utah.edu, was accessible through
telnet.

In 1990, "The Chess Show" began

appearing on public television in
Portland, Oregon. Players called in to
make chess moves.

In 1993, the BBC covered that

Kasparov-Short world championship
match at the Savoy Theatre in London.

In 2002, Terence Tiller published Chess

Treasury of the Air. The book is a written
record of the BBC broadcast programs
on chess that ran from 1958 to 1964.

In 2006, Western Union discontinued all

telegram and commercial messaging
services, thus ending the telegraph era.

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 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 2011, astronauts Greg Johnson and

Greg Chamitoff , aboard the ISS, played
chess by ham radio against members of
the United States Chess Federation.

In 2013, the BBC Radio 4 started a chess

series called Across the Board with
interviews and a chess game. Former
Sunday Telegraph editor Dominic
Lawson, president of the English Chess
Federation, conducts a series of
interviews over a game of chess. Guests
have included Garry Kasparov, Magnus
Carlsen, Hou Yifan, snooker player
Steve Davis, boxer Lennox Lewis,
philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, military
historian Antony Beevor, journalist and
broadcaster Piers Morgan, former Soviet
dissident and Israeli politician Natan
Sharansky.

Ham operators have volunteered and

have been playing opponents who are
have multiple sclerosis and confined to a
wheel chair to keep them mentally
occupied.

Chess.com has an International Amateur

Radio group, formed in 2010.
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