1856 New York City Chess Club Championship

    This knock-out tournament charges a $3.00 entry fee which made up the prize fund. The entry fee in 1856 was equivalent to about $108.0 today. The competitors were paired by lot. The winner of a match was the player who scored three wins. Draws had to be replayed and the second result stood. There was the stipulation that in the last match the winner had to win five games. The games were played at the chess club and at least one game per week had to be played. Unless a player could prove he was sick, not showing up for a game meant a forfeit. 

    The eight participants were: C.E. Anderson, William J.A. Fuller, Albert R. Gallantin, Adelmour W. King, Thomas Loyd, Napoleon Marache, Frederick Perrin, and W.S. Wheelwright. 

    The tournament took months. In April of 1856, Marache and Perrin were the finlist, but the match was not concluded until August of1856, Marache won a silver cup. 

 

    Frederick Perrin (December 5,1815 – January 27m 1889) was born in London; he moved to the United States in 1845. He played in the American Chess Congress at New York 1857 (Morphy won) and om Chicago in 1874 (George H. Mackenzie won). He participated several times in the New York Chess Club tournament, winning in 1859. 

    Perrin, who was fluent in English, French and German ,was a professor of languages at Princeton College. In the 1850s he was president of the New York Chess Club and in his later years he was an honorary member of the Brooklyn Chess Club. 

Location of Perrin's home today

    He died of pneumonia at home in Brooklyn after having been ill for three weeks. 

    Napoleon Marache (June 15, 1818 – May 11, 1875) was a player, problem composer and journalist. He was born in France and moved to the United States at around age of 12. 

    He learned to ply chess around the late age of 26. It was said his progress was so rapid that within 3 weeks he was giving his tutor odds of a Rook! Within a year began composing problems and writing about the game the following year. 

    In 1866, he published Marache's Manual of Chess, which was one of the country's first chess books; it also had a section on backgammon making it one of the country’s first books on that game also. 

    In 1846, he started publishing the periodical The Chess Palladium and Mathematical Sphinx. At approximately the same time, Charles Stanley started publishing The American Chess Magazine. 

    A brazen feud erupted between the two. Stanley called the rival magazine, "a most ridiculous jumble of unintelligible nonsense" and "sixteen pages of soiled waste-paper." He might have been right; only three issues of Marache's magazine were published (October, November, and December 1846). Stanley’s magazine did better; it ceased publication in 1847. 

    In the 1850s and 1860s, Marache was the chess editor and chess columnist for several newspapers. In 1865, he wrote the chess section for a Hoyle's guide to games. 

    After the end of the Civil War, Morphy went to New York to work on a collection of his games and was assisted by Marache and Charles A. Gilberg, but the book was never published owing to a dispute between Morphy and the publishers. 

[Event "New York City CC Champ (Finals)"] [Site "?"] [Date "1856.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Frederick Perrin"] [Black "Napoleon Marache"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C40"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1856.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.01.24"] {Latvian Gambit} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 {Marache played this (the Latvian Gambit) several times in this match. Im the old daysit was known as the Greco Countergambit. While aggressive, it has long been condemned by authorities as weak and unsound. However, it's one of the oldest openings, having been analysed in the 16th century by Polerio and then the 17th century Greco. Dutch GM Paul van der Sterren observed that what is needed to play the Latvian is a sharp eye for tactics and a mental attitude of total contempt for whatever theory has to say about it. The main, and best, line is 3,Nxe5} 3. exf5 Qf6 { While this move is frequently played here in the main line, in this variation it is a very poor choice.} (3... Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxd4 6. Qxd4 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Bc4+ Kh8 10. O-O-O c6 11. Rhe1 {1/2-1/2 (30) Mayet,C-Von Heydebrand und der Lasa,T Berlin 1839}) (3... e4 {is black's best response.} 4. Nd4 Qf6 {Goos now ...it attacks the N/} 5. Qh5+ {This should favor black. 5. Nb5 leaves white with a slight edge.} g6 6. fxg6 hxg6 7. Qd5 Ne7 8. Qxe4 Rh4 { Black went on to lose even at this point he has a significant advantage. Larry Evans-Kon Grivainis, Munich 1958}) 4. Qe2 d6 5. d4 Nc6 6. dxe5 dxe5 (6... Nxe5 {was of about equal value.} 7. g4 (7. Bg5 Qxf5 {with only a slight edge for white.}) 7... Ne7 8. Nc3 Nxf3+ 9. Qxf3 h5 10. h3 g6 {and white's advantage is practically decisive.}) 7. g4 h5 {Slightly better would have been 7...h6} 8. Bg5 Qd6 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Nb5 {There can be little doubt that black's opening strategy has been a total bust.} Qe7 11. Nh4 {Well played; after this move, we cannot say much in favor of Black's game.} Nd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Qxe7+ Bxe7 14. Ng6 Rh7 15. O-O-O Bd6 16. Bxf6 (16. Bb5+ {was an even more solid blow} Bd7 17. Rhe1+ Kd8 18. Bxd7 Kxd7 19. Ne5+ Kc8 20. Nc4 Bb4 21. c3 b5 (21... dxc3 22. Re8+ Nxe8 23. Rd8#) 22. cxb4 bxc4 23. Rxd4 {with a winning position.}) 16... gxf6 { Now practically any reasonable move leaves white with a won position.} 17. f3 { [%mdl 32]} hxg4 18. fxg4 Bd7 {As is often the case, white's ganme will ot win itself and care must be taken. For example, the good looking 19.Rxd4 would be horrible!} 19. Bg2 (19. Rxd4 Bc6 20. Rg1 Bxh2 {wins the exchange and leaves black better.}) 19... O-O-O 20. h4 {[%mdl 32]} (20. Rxd4 {is not as bad as it would have been last move, but it would diminish white's advantage.} Rxh2 21. Rxh2 Bxh2 {White has an endgame advantage, but black is far from being ready to resign.}) 20... Bc5 21. h5 Bb5 22. Rhe1 d3 23. cxd3 Bxd3 24. Nf4 Rhd7 25. Ne6 {The knockout punch.} (25. Nxd3 {is much less strong.} Rxd3 26. Rxd3 Rxd3 $16 27. g5 fxg5 28. f6 Re3 29. Rh1 Re8 30. h6 Rh8 31. h7 g4 {and black can hold out for a long time. In Shoorouts white scored +4 -0 =1, but the games were long (some well over 100 moves) and arduous.}) 25... Bf8 26. Nxf8 (26. Nxd8 {As mentioned previouisly, having a winning position does mean one can relax!} Bh6+ 27. Rd2 Bxf5 {and black has equalized after either 28.Red1 or 28. Ree2. But he must not play...} 28. gxf5 Bxd2+ 29. Kd1 Bxe1+ 30. Kxe1 Rxd8 { and black should win.}) 26... Rxf8 27. Re3 Bc4 {Another oversight...not that it matters because after 27...Rfd8 he is still lost.} 28. Bxb7+ Kd8 29. Rxd7+ Kxd7 30. Bg2 Rg8 31. Bf3 Bxa2 {Trapping his own B...not that it matters.} 32. b3 Bxb3 33. Rxb3 Ke7 34. Rb7 Kd6 35. Rxa7 Rg7 36. Kd2 {Black resigned. It will take a while, but the ending is hopeless.} (36. Kd2 Kc5 37. Ra6 Kd4 38. Re6 Rf7 39. Re4+ Kc5 40. Ke3 Kb5 41. Be2+ Ka5 42. Kd4 Kb4 43. Kd5+ Kc3 44. Ke6 Rf8 45. Ke7 Rb8 46. Kxf6 {etc.}) 1-0