Chess was a fairly popular pastime in the 1860s. In April the Richmond (Virginia) chess club, which was once visited by Paul Morphy as well as several confederate Generals, burned down.
Speaking of Morphy, the Richmond Dispatch reported that he was living in Illinois and was busying himself collecting claims in the Federal and State courts.
An article in the February 9, 1865, Brooklyn Eagle reported that. “Paul Morphu, when the rebellion broke out, joined the Confederate army at New Orleans, but subsequently retired and went to Paris, has lately changed his mind m and having taken the oath of allegiance, has commenced business in a town in Southern Illinois as Government Claim Agent. He has almost given up chess.”
Judge Alexander B. Meek (1814-1866, 51 years old), a noted plater and president of the1st American Chess Congress that was held in 1857, died on October 30th in Columbus, Mississippi.
Abraham Lincoln was a chess enthusiast who had a reputation as a defensive player unless aggressive play seemed justified. One of his chess sets is on display in the Smithsonian.
In spite of the tumult of the year people were still playing chess. The predominant playing style from the late 18th century to the 1880s was Romantic chess that emphasized quick, tactical maneuvers over long-term strategic planning.
One of the most interesting players in 1865 had to be Captain George Mackenzie (187-1891), a 1992 inductee into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.
Mackenzie was born in North Kessock, Scotland. In 1861, he resigned his army commission in the British King's Royal Rifle Corps to become a professional chessplayer.
In 1863, he emigrated to the United States and enlisted in the Union Army. After 15 weeks as a Private, he earned the rank of Captain and was placed in charge of a Black regiment. During the Civil War the Union Army had many regiments made up of Black soldiers known as the United States Colored Troops. Many of these soldiers served in the infantry and artillery, but racial practices often resulted in their being assigned to non-combat roles such cooking, laborers and teamsters.
Mackenzie later deserted and was separates from the Union Army. However, in 1864, he rejoined the Army and fought with distinction in three battles. Nevertheless, he was arrested on the previous desertion charges and imprisoned. He was released in May, 1865 and moved to New York where he resumed chess competition.
In 1865, a leading player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania named Gustave Reichhelm (1839-1905) defeated Mackenzie, who at the time was the strongest player in the country by a score of +4 -1 =1 in informal games. In years to come though Reichhelm was decisively beaten by Mackenzie in two formal matches.
Reichhelm, who in his early years was a piano tuner, was a chess editor, analyst, problem composer and player. He was chess editor of three Philadelphia newdpapers and was the Games Editor of Brentano's Chess Monthly (1881-1882). From 1895 to 1905, he was Secretary of the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia.
For many years, he was chess champion of Philadelphia. In 1886, he took 2nd place in the world championship problem solving tournament.
[Event "Philadelphia Chess Club, Casual game"]
[Site "Philadelphia,PA USA"]
[Date "1864.09.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gustave Reichhelm"]
[Black "George H. Mackenzie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1864.??.??"]
{[%evp 16,59,30,-9,-4,-57,-51,-87,14,-13,-13,-28,114,116,143,140,134,101,247,
260,250,269,490,338,320,329,320,287,273,264,291,123,132,116,100,112,485,492,
492,479,712,714,800,781,895,877] C51: Evans Gambit} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
Bc5 4. b4 {By playing the Evans Gambit is white offers a Pawn to divert the B
on c5. At the time it was fairly new having first been played om the game
Evans–McDonnell, London 1827 and analysis piblished in 1832.} Bxb4 {
Accepting the gambit allows white to play c3 and d4 gaoining space in the
center and, at the same tine, it opens the diagonals to play Ba3 or Qb3
putting pressure on f7 as wells as hoping to prevent black from castling.
Statistically black gets slightly better results by decling the gambit with 4..
.Bb6} 5. c3 Bc5 {Nowadays 5...Na5 is much more common, byt there is little
difference in the results.} 6. O-O d6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Bb2 (9. Qb3 {
is met by} Na5 {when} 10. Bxf7+ Kf8 {forces white to play} 11. Bxg8 Nxb3 12.
Bxb3 {and the two Ns are not enough compensation for the Q.}) 9... Nf6 {
Reichhelm believed that 9...Nge7 was better, but the text is actually
preferable.} 10. Qc2 {According to Reichhelm this move is, “One of the best
forms of attack in the Evans Gambit, bit the move has long disappeared in
favor of 10.d5, 10.Nbd2 and some have tried the questionable 10.e5. As for the
text, it appears to be satisfactory, but offers white no particular advantage.}
O-O 11. e5 {The othe roption was 11.d5. In either case black has at least
equality.} (11. d5 Na5 12. Bd3 Bg4 13. Nbd2) 11... Ne8 {Instead of this timid
retreat black would have done better with 10...Nh5} (11... Nh5 12. exd6 cxd6
13. d5 Na5 14. Bd3 {Black's two Ns on the edge of the board look suspect, but
white is unable to take advantage of it. After} Bg4 15. Bxh7+ Kh8 16. Bf5 Bxf3
17. gxf3 Qg5+ 18. Kh1 Nc4 19. Qxc4 Qxf5 {it's black who has the advantage.})
12. Nbd2 {[%mdl 1056]} d5 13. Bd3 h6 {13...g6 was safer.} 14. Ba3 {[%mdl 2048]
Threatens to win with Bh7+.} Ne7 (14... a6 {A pass to demonstrate white's
threat.} 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Bxf8 g6 17. Bxg6 fxg6 18. Qxg6 {White is winning.})
15. Nb3 {An important move to keep up the pressure.} c6 16. Nh4 Nc7 (16... g5
17. Bh7+ Kh8 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. Bxf5 Ng7 (19... Nxf5 20. Qxf5 Rg8 21. Qxf7) 20.
Bd3 {White stands well.}) 17. f4 {[%mdl 32] The start of a winning attack.} Ne6
18. Qf2 Qc7 {After this black is left with a lost position. His best chance
was 18...f6 although white still has a dangerous attack.} 19. f5 {This is not
as dangerous as it looks and it actually gives black good chances of defnding
himself.} (19. Bd6 {Plying this first makles a huge difference!} Qd8 20. f5 {
The difference between this position and the game continuation is that black
cannot capture ...Qxe5} Ng5 21. f6 {and white is winning.}) 19... Nxd4 20. Nxd4
Qxe5 21. Nhf3 Qf6 22. Rae1 Re8 23. Bxe7 Rxe7 $16 24. Rxe7 Qxe7 25. Re1 {
All of white's pieces are in play and actively placed, but even so, black can
probably survive with careful defense.} Qf6 {[%mdl 8192] ,,,but not after this
blunder! Defending the back rank with 25...Qd8 was a must.} 26. Re8+ {White is
clearly winning after this.} Kh7 27. Bc2 Bd8 {Played to drive the R away by ...
Bd7} 28. Ne5 {[%mdl 32] Closing in on the K.} Bc7 29. Ng6 {[%mdl 512]} Bxf5 30.
Nf8+ {Black resigned. the R on a8 is lost.} 1-0
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