Chicago Chess Club (I)

The Chicago Chess Club was Chicago's first metropolitan chess club. It lasted 32 years from its formation in 1857 to its dissolution in 1889.

"The Game of Chess," a regular column in the Chicago Daily Tribune from 1875 to 1877, published the address of the club at the top of each column.

On March 24, 1870, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported the results of a game by telegraph between the Chicago Chess Club and a club in Jackson, Mich., which Chicago won.

Johannes Zukertort visited the club in January 1884 during a tour of the United States. The Tribune reported, "The champion has found that there are some very good players in this city, whom it takes all his skill to overcome."

In 1887, an anonymous letter was published in the Tribune condemning the Chicago Chess Club as an ill-lit dungeon "redolent of the odor of damp sawdust and beer" and urging that chess be severed from the saloon environment it was connected with. Two years later, the club's obituary was pronounced when a correspondent to the Tribune, inquiring about chess clubs in Chicago, was tersely told, "We know of none."

Locations
The Chicago Chess Club originally met at 14 Dearborn St. (pre-1911 numbering, now 220 N. Dearborn St.), moving to "elegant rooms in Portland Block" in February 1859. The club went on hiatus at the outbreak of the Civil War and resumed activities at new quarters "in Rice's block on Dearborn street" in December 1862. The club's activity was disrupted by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but by 1873 it had re-formed and occupied a room at 113 Randolph St. In 1874 and 1875, the club had a "chess-room" at the Chicago Athenaeum, 114 Madison St. (now 75-77 W. Madison St.). From December 1875 to the club's dissolution, the club met regularly at 63-65 Dearborn St., between Washington and Randolph streets.

Notable Players

 * John A. Adair
 * William Goggin
 * Henry Hosmer
 * James H. Morgan
 * Louis Uedemann

Notable Games
J. Zukertort–J.H. Morgan Four Knights Game, Spanish Variation (C48) Chicago Chess Club, Dec. 9, 1884 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bb5 d6 5.d4 a6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.dxe5 Ng4 8.Bf4 Be6 9.h3 dxe5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Qxd8+ Rxd8 12.Bxe5 f6 13.Bxc7 Rd7 14.Ba5 Rb7 15.b3 Bc5 16.Rd1 0-0 17.0-0 f5 18.Na4 Ba7 19.Rd6 Bc8 20.Rxc6 fxe4 21.Rxa6 Rc7 22.Rxa7 Rxa7 23.Bb6 Re7 24.Be3 Rf6 25.Nc5 Re8 26.a4 Rg6 27.Kh2 Re5 28.c4 Rc6 29.b4 g5 30.a5 g4 31.hxg4 Bxg4 32.a6 Be2 33.a7 Rc8 34.Rc1 Kf7 35.Bf4 Rh5+ 36.Kg1 Rg8 37.Nxe4 Rh4 38.Nc3 1-0