1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress

The 1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress was the first major international chess tournament in America in the twentieth century. It featured the participation of World Champion Emanuel Lasker, who had not played a tournament since 1900 and would not play again until 1909. After the tournament Lasker moved to America and started publishing Lasker's Chess Magazine, which ran from 1904 to 1907. However, that was not the only chess magazine spawned by the tournament. The Daily Bulletins produced by Hermann Helms proved so popular that Helms started the American Chess Bulletin as a direct consequence of the tournament. Volume 1, Issue 1 of the magazine was devoted to Cambridge Springs. Helms was somewhat more successful than Lasker as a publisher and American Chess Bulletin would be edited and published by Helms from 1904 until his death in 1963. The surprising upset victory of Frank Marshall marked his rise to prominence in American chess and he would eventually reign as champion of the United States for twenty six years.

Cambridge Springs 1904 marked the end of Harry Nelson Pillsbury's chess career. He would not play another tournament before his death in 1906 at the age of 33.

A small town in northwestern Pennsylvania, Cambridge Springs seems like an unlikely location to hold an international chess tournament. However, back in the early 1900s Cambridge Springs was a flourishing resort town due to a couple geographic oddities. The primary factor was location. At first glance nothing seems remarkable about the town, but in fact it is located on the Erie Railroad line, halfway between New York and Chicago, which made it an ideal stopover location for railway patrons. The secondary factor was the local mineral springs which were visited by numerous people seeking to improve their health.

In 1895 William D. Rider Jr. started construction on what he hoped would be the greatest hotel between Chicago and New York City. The mammoth hotel was not completed until 1897. When finished, the hotel featured over five hundred rooms in a seven-story structure spanning five acres. Features included a theater for five hundred, where the chess tournament was held, a ballroom, a solarium, two gymnasiums, bowling alleys and an indoor pool. The hotel grounds were equally impressive, featuring a nine-hole golf course and a man-made lake.

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