Mechanics' Institute Chess Club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco is the oldest chess club in the United States. The first meeting of the Mechanics' Institute was held on December 11, 1854 and it was incorporated on April 24, 1855. At the time, San Francisco was a frontier city which had grown from the California Gold Rush.

The first world class player to visit San Francisco was Johann Zukertort who spent nearly a month in the city in July of 1884. Many masters have given exhibitions or played at the Institute including Harry Pillsbury, Geza Maroczy, Frank Marshall (1913 and 1915), Borislav Kostić (1915), Samuel Reshevsky (1921 and 1956), Arthur Dake (1937 among many others), Georges Koltanowski (1939), Svetozar Gligorić, and Tony Miles. The Institute has also been visited by many world champions, including Emanuel Lasker (1902 and 1926), José Capablanca (1916), Alexander Alekhine (1924 and 1929), Max Euwe (1947 or 1949?), Bobby Fischer (1964), Vasily Smyslov (1976), Tigran Petrosian (1978), and Anatoly Karpov (1999).