Hermann Helms

Hermann Helms (1870, Brooklyn, New York, USA – 1963, Brooklyn) was an American chess player, writer, and promoter. He is a member of the United States Chess Hall of Fame, organized as part of the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Helms was born in Brooklyn, but spent much of his childhood in Hamburg, Germany and in Halifax, Canada, where a schoolmate taught him chess. He returned to live in Brooklyn at age 17, and settled there. His first notable chess achievement was as a member of the Brooklyn Chess Club team which won the New York Metropolitan League of 1894-95, with Harry Nelson Pillsbury as captain. As a player, Helms twice won the New York State Championship, in 1906 and 1925, and was of national Master strength, with an emphasis on sharp attacking play. During his chess career, he defeated such powers as Pillsbury and Frank Marshall. Helms also represented the United States in five cable matches against England, in the early part of the 20th century. He retired from most serious chess competition while in his forties, but remained active in blitz tournaments at the Marshall Chess Club until his late eighties.

Helms served as the chess reporter for The New York Times for over fifty years, until 1962. Helms founded the American Chess Bulletin in 1904, and would publish and edit this journal until his death in 1963. Helms wrote chess columns for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper from 1893 until the paper folded in 1955. Helms also wrote chess columns for the New York World for 15 years, for the New York Post for ten years, and for the New York World-Telegram for ten years.

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