In New York, Donald McKay launched the Great Republic; at 400 feet long, it was the largest wooden ship in the world, but it got off to a bad start. Just as it was completing loading for its first commercial trip, it caught fire and was scuttled to try to save the hull, with only limited success.
McKay abandoned the wreck to his insurers, who sold the hull to new owners, who rebuilt it and used it on trans-Atlantic and California routes. Even though the rebuilt version was smaller (3 decks instead of 4) than the original, the ship had difficulty accessing many ports when fully loaded due to its great size. Speaking of ships, 1853 was the year that for the first time a chess game was played using signals between ships at sea.
Down in La Paz in Baja California the troops of William Walker captured the city and declared the Republic of Lower California, but it didn't last long.
William Walker (May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) was an American physician, lawyer, journalist and advocate of slavery who organized several private military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of occupying the local nations and establishing slave colonies, an enterprise then known as "filibustering".
Walker took over as president of Nicaragua in July 1856. Upon his takeover of the government Cornelius Garrison and Charles Morgan, officers of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Accessory Transit Company, gave Walker financial aid in a plot to gain control of the company. In return, Walker seized the company’s property on the pretext of a charter violation and turned it over to the two thieving rapscallions.
Walker ruled until May 1, 1857, when he was forced out by a coalition of Central American armies. In order to avoid capture, he surrendered to the United States Navy and returned to the United States. 
Not one to learn his lesson, by November of 1857, Walker was back, but was arrested and returned to the United States as a prisoner on parole.
He still hadn't learned anything and on his third foray into Central America in 1860, he landed in Honduras where things quickly went badly.
He turned himself in to the British Navy who turned him over to Honduran authorities. Having had enough of Walker, the Hondurans tried him and on September 12, 1860, they shot him.
In 1853 Staunton went to Brussels to meet with von der Lasa, the leading German player, to standardize the rules of chess. Staunton then lost a match to von der Lasa (+4 -5 =3). The match was cut short when Staunton started having heart palpitations and returned home.
The first unofficial Berlin Championship was won by Jean Dufresne ahead of Max Lange and Karl Mayet (12 players). An 8-player knockout tournament in New York Chess Club was won by James Thompson.
On May 18, 1853, Lionel Kieseritzky died in a mental institution in Paris at the age of 47. He was buried in a pauper's grave, but the exact location of his plot is unknown.
Also in 1853, a chess club was formed in St. Petersburg and one of the top players was Ilya Stepanovich Shumov (June 28, 1819 - July 1881). Shumov was born into nobility and graduated from the Naval College in St. Petersburg and did service in the Baltic Sea. After retiring he worked as a civil servant in St. Petersburg and devoted himself to chess.
Along with Alexander Petrov and Carl Jaenisch he was invited to participate in the London 1851 tournament but he didn't take part. It's hard to say how strong he really was, but he played several matches in St. Petersburg and he won the first known organized Russian chess tournament there in 1859.
Matches:
1853: lost to Dmitry Urusov (4–7)
1854: lost (3-5) and won (7-5) against Jaenisch (3–5 and 7–5)
1862: lost to Kolisch (2–6) and Alexander Petrov (2–4)
1875: lost to Winawer (2–5)
There is a fine article on the Urusov brothers on chess.com HERE
After Petrov's death in 1867 Shumov was probably the best player in Russia. In 1869 he was co-founder of the St. Petersburg Chess Society and the same year he started a chess column in the Wsemirnaja Illjustrazija which was taken over by Chigorin after Shumov's death.
Among Shumov's pupils were the Russian champions Emanuel Schiffers and Adolf Albin. Shumov composed about 200 chess problems and in 1867 he published a collection of 84 of them.
His death occurred in Sebastopol where he had gone in the summer of 1880 for health reasons. In private life he was loved for his friendly manners, his cheerfulness and his wit. He was fond of showing his games and problems. The solutions to the problems were given poetry.
Ilya Shumov - Dmitri Urusov
Result: 1-0
Site: Match, St Petersburg
Date: 1853
Scotch Gambit
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 exd4 4.♗c4 The Scotch Gambit was recommended by Lev Alburt in his book Chess Openings for White, Explained. Black can transpose into the Two Knights Defense with 4...Nf6 or he can continue with 4...Bc5. Then after 5.c3 Nf6 the opening has transposed into a safe variation of the Giuoco Piano. 4...♗c5 5.♘g5 This is how they played chess in those days which in this case just happens to be white's best move.
5.c3 is the enterprising Goring Gambit. With 5...Nf6 black gets a solid game. 5...dxc3 6.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 7.♕d5+ is good for white.
5.O-O is best because black rarely accepts the offered P. 5...♘f6 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.♖e1+ ♗e6 9.♘g5 ♕d5 10.♘c3 ♕f5 11.♘ce4 White has a promising position.
5...♘h6 6.♘xf7 ♘xf7 7.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 8.♕h5+ g6 9.♕xc5 d5 10.O-O dxe4 11.c3 At this point Stockfish evaluates the position at 0.00. Black should now play either 11... Qd6 or 11...Bf5 . 11...♖e8
11...♗e6 12.♗f4 ♕d5 13.cxd4 ♕xd4 14.♕c1 ♗c4 15.♖e1 ♗d3 16.♘c3 ♖he8 17.♗xc7 ♖ac8 18.♗g3 White's position is considered slightly better, but the game Grischuk,A (2766)-Karjakin,S (2773) Saint Louis USA 2018 was eventually drawn after a long battle.
12.cxd4⩲12...♕xd4 13.♕g5 ♗f5
13...♔g8 and white is slightly better after 14.♘c3 ♗f5 15.♗f4 ♕g7 16.♘d5
13...♕f6 14.♕g3 ♘d4 15.♘c3 Now 15...Qc6 equalizes, but not 15...c6 16.♗g5 ♕e5 17.♖ae1 ♗f5 18.♕h4 h5 19.♘xe4 ♕xe4 20.♖xe4 ♖xe4 and white is better. Samsonkin,A (2419)-Harutyunian,T (2532) Moscow 2019
14.♗d2 ♘e5 15.♗c3 ♕d6 16.♕h6 After this black could have seized the initiative with 16... g5. Instead, white should have developed with 16.Nd2 16...♘g4 This caveman move leaves black wide open to attack.
16...g5 stays ahead. 17.♕h5+ (17.♕xg5 runs into 17...♘f3+ 18.gxf3 ♖g8) 17...♕g6 18.♕d1 White cannot afford to exchange Qs, but after 18...♘d3 black stands better.
17.♕xh7+ ♔e6 18.♘a3 ♖e7 19.♕h4 Black is under strong pressure. 19...♖d8 This reasonable looking move loses instantly! The hard to find 19...g5 would have allowed black to play on.
19...g5 Of course the P can't be taken because of mate on h2. 20.♕g3 ♕xg3 The exchange of Qs eases black's defense...plus, the routine capture towards the center allows black to equalize. 21.fxg3 (21.hxg3 ♖ae8 22.♘c4 ♔f7 23.♖ad1 ♗e6 24.♘e3 ♘xe3 25.fxe3+ ♔g6) 21...♘e5 22.♘c2 c5 23.♘e3 ♖f7 24.♗xe5 ♔xe5 25.♘c4+ ♔e6 26.♖ad1 White has a highly favorable ending. In Shootouts he scored +4 -0 =1
20.♘c4 White is clearly winning...why? White has a piece trapped. 20...♕c5 21.h3 ♘xf2
21...♕xc4 won't do because of 22.hxg4 and now the B is trapped.
22.♖xf2 ♖d5 23.g4 Winning the B. 23...♖f7
23...♕xc4 24.gxf5+ gxf5 25.♖af1 ♕c5 is hopeless for black. 26.♔h1
(23...♗xg4 24.♕xg4+ ♖f5 25.♘e3) 24.gxf5+ ♖fxf5 25.♕xe4+ ♔f7 26.♘e3 ♖xf2 27.♕xd5+ ♕xd5 28.♘xd5 Black resigned. The auto-annotation with Fritz 17 notes that the "accuracy" score for the players is: White = 75%, Black = 46%. Powered by Aquarium
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