Isaac Rice

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Isaac Leopold Rice (February 22, 1850 in Wachenheim, Bavaria – November 2, 1915) was a U.S. inventor and a chess patron and author.

Born in Germany he emigrated to the United States in the second half of the 19th century to the USA. He was educated at the Central High School in Philadelphia. He graduated in 1880 from the Columbia Law School with the degree of LL.B. In 1902 he received from Bates College the degree of LL.D.^[1] He attended Columbia University and practiced as an attorney specializing in corporate law and patents.

In 1899 he founded the Electric Boat Company in order to build to completion John Philip Holland's designs for the first United States Navy submarine, the "Holland VI". The Holland VI was commissioned for Navy service on 11 April 1900 with the initial designation of USS Holland and the subsequent designation of SS-1. During World War I, Rice's company and its subsidiaries built 85 Navy submarines and 722 submarine chasers.

An enthusiastic chess player, Rice invented the Rice Gambit and sponsored tournaments where the opening became the starting point of each game. Emanuel Lasker and Mikhail Chigorin were two of many players who contested these tournaments, with bonus prizes for white wins. In 1904 he formed the Rice Gambit Association which published a detailed analysis of the effects of the move.

[edit] References

• Adler, Cyrus & Porter, A. (1901–1906), “Rice, Isaac Leopold”, in Singer, Isidore, Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10, pp. 405–6 

[edit] External links

• Short biography
• [1] Isaac Leopold Rice is acknowledged at this site as a key player instrumental in the founding of John Philip Holland's company.