In 1848, its population was around 500. In that year, gold was discovered at nearby Sutter’s Mill and by 1850, the village had exploded into a boom town of 30,000.
By 1853 the shantytown that made up San Francisco was one of the biggest cities in the country and it had 46 gambling casinos, 144 taverns and 537 other places that sold liquor.
Rowdy young men roamed the streets looking to spend their gold and the real fortunes were made by those who sold goods and services to the miners; eggs went for a dollar apiece, a pound of butter for six dollars and a pair of boots for a hundred.
Ninety-two percent of the population were men between the ages of fifteen and forty-four. The mere rumor of a female arriving in town could cause the saloons to empty and a crowd to form on the docks. With only one woman to every dozen men, brothels flourished; the going rate was 100 dollars a night, roughly the price of a house.
Although there were police, violence was rampant and disputes were often settled by force. Mob rule prevailed and vigilante groups intimidated, abducted and imprisoned public officials. The murder rate was about five every six days.
The locals made San Francisco a particularly dangerous place for new arrivals from Australia. The astonishing reason...they were viewed as rabble from a penal colony and were often falsely accused of crimes and lynched.
Amid all this there were chess players and in 1854, the Mechanics' Institute was organized. The club has a long and illustrious history and boasts being the oldest chess club in the United States.
Besides many, many prominent Masters and Grandmasters, the club has been visited by World Champions Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Fischer, Smyslov, Petrosian, Spassky and Karpov.
One of the club's most prominent members was Adolf J. Fink who was born on July 19, 1890 and died on December 15, 1956, at the age of 66. An internationally-known problem composer, Fink had more than a thousand problems published during his lifetime and won over one hundred prizes.
Fink was one of the top over-the-board players at the Institute until the last three or four years when he was inactive because of the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage.
He was a USCF Life Master. He won the Master title in the Chicago Masters' Tournament of 1922 and the California State Championship in 1922, 1928,1929 and was a co-champion with Herman Steiner) in 1945 and twice finished second behind Stash Mlotkowski.
In 1920, 11 contestants took part in an annual Major tournament at the Mechanics' Institute in which they played two games against each other.
The winner was Elmer W. Gruer, the California state champion in 1921, 1926 and 1927, who scored an incredible +17 -0 =3.
Today's game was played in that event and it won Charles Woskoff the First Brilliancy Prize.
Charles Woskoff–J.E. Ford1–0C10Mechanics' Institute Tmt, San Francisco1920Stockfish 15.1
French Defense 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 4.d3 dxe4 5.xe4 bd7 6.f3 e7 7.0-0 c6 7...c5 8.xc5 xc5 9.dxc5 a5 10.c6 bxc6 11.e1 a6
White is slightly better. Korchnoi,V (2645)-Gurevich,D (2535) Bern 1996 8.c3 8.c4 b6 9.f4 xe4 10.xe4 b7 11.a4 c8 12.fe1 0-0 13.ad1 White is
slightly better. Bernard,C (2405)-Claverie,C (2325) Candas open 1996. 8...0-0 9.e1 e8 Black's defensive maneuvering is not helping his cause any.
More aggressive, and better, was 9...c5 10.f4 f8 11.e5 d5 12.d2 c7
Black should have accepted the slight weakening of his K-side and played 12...
f6 to drive the N from its dominating position. 13.c4 Also good was the
immediate 13.Qh5 b6 Again, driving the N back with 13...f6 would have been
a better choice. 14.h5 g6 This looks like a solid defense, but as will be
seen, the N is not any help in defending the K. 14...g6 This is black's
best defense. 15.h6 f5 16.g5 f6 Whitr has a clear advantage, but no
forced win. 15.f4 d8 15...d7 was only somewhat better. 16.e3 f6 17.xf6+ xf6 18.f3 c5 White has a decisive advantage. For example... 19.d2 d8 20.g4 xd4 21.xf6+ gxf6 22.h3 f8 23.xh7+ xh7 24.xh7+ f8 16.e3 An instructive R-lift that enables the R to join the attack. d7 17.h3 f6 White is now ready to break through the mass of pieces defending
black's K. 17...df8 18.g5 xg5 19.xg5 xd4 20.xg6 fxg6 allows a
nice finish... 21.xg6 e7 22.xh7+ xh7 23.xh7+ f7 24.f3+ e8 25.h5+ d8 26.f7 and wins. 18.xf6+ xf6 19.xh7+ f8 20.xg6 xd4 21.xf7 xf4 22.h8+ White is going on a King hunt. e7 23.xe8+ d6 24.d1+ c7 25.g6 Let's not quibble over this, but 25.Re7+ was even stronger. 25.d7+ b6 25...xd7 26.xd7+ b6 27.b3+ a5 28.b5+ cxb5 29.xb5# 26.c5+ a5 27.a3+ b4 28.d3+ 25...xc4 26.e7 xe7 27.xe7+ White mates. b6 28.b3+ a5 29.a3+ a4 30.c5+ b5 31.a3 xa3 32.bxa3 b7 33.xe6 e8 34.xa7+ Black resigned; it's mate in 4 34.xa7+ a6 35.d4 b4 36.axb4+ b5 37.c5+ a4 38.a5# 1–0
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