The Second American Chess Congress was held in Cleveland in 1871, the beginning of the city’s Gilded Age of the 1870s. The years following the Civil War were a time of great growth and progress in Cleveland, a time when industry took root and immigrants began to build up the land Moses Cleaveland founded in 1796. With a population of about 93,000 it was the 15th largest city in the country. Today it ranks 54th.
Only nine players showed up to compete for what was even in 1871 a measly prize fund of $100, the equivalent in purchasing power of about $2,521.89 today,
The entrants were: George H. Mackenzi of New York City, Henry Hosmer of Chicago, Frederic Elder of Detroit, Max Judd of Cleveland, Preston Ware of Boston, H.D. Smith of Cassoplis, Michigan, Henry Harding of East Saginaw, Michigan, Arthur Johnston of Cincinnati, Ohio and W.B. Haughton of Chicago.
The following brevity from the event is quite entertaining. The player with the white pieces was Arthur Johnston (1841-1919) who was botn in London, England. He immigrated to the United States in 1861 and shortly thereafter fought in the Civil War as a member of Company A, Illinois 4th Cavalry.
After the war, he became court reporter for the Federal Court in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1865 he was secretary of the Cincinnati Chess Club.
By 1874, he was living in Santa Ana, California, where he engaged in farming and raised orchids commercially. Later he gave up those endeavors and returned to being a court reporter and public stenographer. He authored two or three books on the relations of Great Britain and the United States.
In 1894 he competed in the Southern California Correspondence Chess in which he finished second.
After his wife died in 1911, he began to travel, taking a pleasure trip to Canada and visiting Cincinnati. His remaining years were spent in Asheville, North Carolina and wintering in Jacksonville, Florida. Johnston died of cancer at a hotel in Jacksonville. His body was returned to Santa Ana where he was interred next to his wife.
Max Judd (18101906) was born in Poland and emigrated to the United States in 1862. Judd was founder and president of the Saint Louis Chess Club. He was appointed by President Cleveland as the U.S. Consul General to Austria. His brothers Maurice and Isidor were amateur players. It’s hard to say how strong Judd was, but Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have come in 1882 when his rating is estimated to have been 2610 ranking him at #9 in the world. The top players on that list were Zukertort, Steinitz, Mackenzie, Blackburne, Winawer, Mason, Englisch, Paulsen< Judd and Wittek.
Don’t be surprised if you never heard of Alexander Wittek (1852-1894) who was an Austrian-Hungarian architect and chess master.
As an architect, Wittek worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Austro-Hungarian Empire. His most well-known works in Sarajevo are the City Hall building which later became the National Library and the Sebilj public fountain.
As a chess master he tied for 5–6th at Berlin 1881, the 2nd DSB–Congress which was won by Blackburne. He finished 9th in Vienna 1882, which was won bySteinitz and Winawer won).
Wittek died in a lunatic asylum in Graz in 1894, having been diagnosed with a "paralytic mental disorder" the previous year. This is a disorder in which mental health issue disrupt how the brain works. It causes real, physical symptoms that a person can't control. Symptoms can include seizures, weakness or paralysis, or reduced input from one or more senses like sight, sound, etc. One source says that he committed suicide, but another cites tuberculosis.
[Event "2bd American Congress, Cleveland, Ohio"]
[Site "Cleveland, OH USA"]
[Date "1871.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Arthur Johnston"]
[Black "Max Judd"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "1871.12.??"]
{B21: Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. f4 {I am not sure what to call this
opening: the Grand Prix (2.f4), the Alapin (2.c3) or the Kopec System (2.Bd3),
It's probably a hybrid..Bd2} e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. c3 Be7 {After 4...Nf6 white has
tried 5.Bd3 and 5.e5, Black has also played 4...Nge7 and 4...h6. All are
reasonable moves, but 4...d5 seems the best move.} 5. Bd3 d5 6. e5 Qb6 7. Bc2
Nh6 {Thanks to his 4th move this rather poor position for the N is the only
reasonbale way to try and get it into play. ...Nf5 is a possibility, but it'
curious that the N remains here until it delivers mate!} 8. a3 {Rther than
stopping short white should have moved this P on square further, or he could
have castled.} O-O 9. d4 c4 {Closing the position was not the best idea
because now white's position is the more active. 9...f6 or even 9...cxd4 would
have been preferable.} 10. h4 (10. Nbd2 {was better.} f6 11. exf6 gxf6 12. Nf1
Bd7 13. Ne3 {with a promising position.}) 10... f6 11. exf6 Bxf6 12. Ng5 {
[%mdl 8192] This attacks h7, but it's premature. White should have castled.} e5
{A brilliant and surprising move that leaves white's K fatally explosed.} 13.
dxe5 (13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. O-O Bg4 15. Qc2 exd4 {rips the guts out of white's
position!} 16. cxd4 Nxd4 17. Qf2 Ne2+ 18. Kh1 Qxf2 19. Rxf2 Nxc1 20. Bg6 Bd4
21. Rd2 Nb3) 13... Bxe5 {[%mdl 512] There's no point in being picky and
pointing out that 13...Nxe5 was a wee bit better because in either case black
is winning.} 14. Qxd5+ Kh8 15. Qe4 {At least Johnston avoids the worst!} (15.
fxe5 {results in mate...} Qf2+ 16. Kd1 Bg4+ 17. Nf3 Rxf3 18. gxf3 Bxf3+ 19.
Qxf3 Qxf3+ 20. Kd2 Rd8+ 21. Ke1 Qxh1+ 22. Ke2 Qg2+ 23. Ke1 Ng4 24. Be3 Nxe3 25.
Bd3 Rxd3 26. Nd2 Qxd2#) (15. Nxh7 {is equally hopeless.} Bxf4 16. Bxf4 Rxf4 {
White's K is fatally caught in the center.} 17. Qd2 Bf5 18. Qxf4 Bxc2 19. Ng5
Re8+ {wraps it up.}) (15. b4 {is the best white has, For example...} Re8 16.
Kf1 Bf6 17. Qxc4 (17. Bd2 Bg4 18. Be4 Re7 19. Qc5 Qd8 20. Qxc4 Qe8 {Here, too,
white is in a lot of trouble.}) 17... Bg4 18. Be4 Rac8 19. Qc5 {Black is
clearly better, but he has no forced win.}) 15... Bf5 16. Qe3 Qxe3+ {Even the
trade of Qs can't stop Judd's attack.} (16... Bd4 17. cxd4 Rae8 {is also good})
17. Bxe3 Bxc2 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. Kd2 {Materially white is not too badly off as
he has a B+P vs a R, but he he has three undeveloped pieces and his K is
exposed. Judd's attack is merciless} Bd3 20. Bd4 Rf5 21. Re1 Nc6 {[%mdl 32]
Heading for b3. White can't do anything but wait.} 22. Nf3 (22. a4 {is met by}
Nxd4 23. cxd4 Rf2+ 24. Kc3 Rc2+ 25. Kb4 Rxb2+ 26. Ka3 Rb3+ 27. Ka2 {but this
position is equally hopeless.}) 22... Na5 {At least had white played 22.a4 his
K ended up on a square where is was sheltered from mate, but now it's driven
to it's doom.} 23. Ke3 {White commits suicide.} (23. Re3 Nb3+ 24. Kd1 Nxa1 {
with an easy win.}) 23... Nb3 24. Ra2 (24. Kf2 Nxa1 {...and wins.}) 24... Ng4#
{A fine attacking exhibition by Judd.} 0-1
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