DTFC Correspondence Chess

The Daily Tournaments Fans Club (DTFC) dedicates this tournament to the origins of daily chess we all love and play. Correspondence chess is chess played by any form of long-distance correspondence, as opposed to over-the-board (OTB) chess. Historically moves have been delivered by couriers, mail, homing pigeons, telex, phone, fax, email, and Internet chess server. Some fun facts follow.

The first correspondence game in space came in 1970. Played as a consultation game in July, 1970, Vitaly Sevestianov and Adrian Nikolayev played chess from their Soviet Soyuz 9 spacecraft against two other cosmonauts at the Center of Flight Operations in Moscow. The game lasted 6 hours.

A correspondence chess game was played between Roman Emperor Nicephorus (760-811) and the Caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid (763-809) in the 9th century.

A correspondence chess game was played in 1119 by King Henry I (1068-1135) of England and King Louis VI (1081-1137) of France. Moves were dispatched through the use of couriers.

In the 1600s, Venetian and Croatian merchants played correspondence chess (CC). A letter was written for every move.

In 1673, Thomas Hyde (1634-1703) wrote De Ludis Orientalibus (the Book of Oriental Games). This book, first published in 1694, documented correspondence games between Venetian and Croatian merchants as early as 1650.

Chess games have been conducted by move-carrying messengers since at least the 17th century, but the introduction of low-cost mail service created a small boom for postal chess in the early 19th century.

By 1824, when a well-publicized five-game match between clubs in London and Edinburgh began, postal chess had become the best-known form of chess competition.

In 1804, the earliest known postal game was between a Prussian army lieutenant colonel named Freidrich Wilhelm von Mauvillon (1774-1851) stationed at Breda, Netherlands, and one of his friends stationed at The Hague (Den Haag), Netherlands.  The two cities were about 40 miles apart. Mauvillon's chess games (winning two and drawing one) were published in his chess book in 1827. 

In the 18th century, Frederick the Great (1712-1786) played a correspondence game with Voltaire (1694-1778) by royal courier between Potsdam and Paris (530 miles).

Katherine the Great is also said to have been one of Voltaire's correspondence chess partners.

The first well-known correspondence challenge was the Edinburgh — London chess club match, from April 24, 1824, to July 31, 1828.  The match was scheduled to continue until two decisive games were completed.  Draws did not count (there were 2 draws — games 1 and 3).  Edinburgh (headed by John Donaldson) made the first move on 4 of the 5 games. Edinburgh won, 2-1.  Several newspapers published the moves and for the first time, a wide readership could study the games of contemporary players. The letters were carried a distance of nearly 400 miles by mail coach traveling day and night. The letters and moves were delivered within two days. Each letter from London to Edinburgh cost 1 shilling 1 penny (over $4 in today's currency).

In early 1845, Howard Staunton (1810-1874) was proposing playing correspondence chess by telegraph and brought up the idea to Professor Wheatstone.

In 1846, William Cooke, Charles Wheatstone, and John Ricardo founded the Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company. When operators were bored, they played correspondence chess by telegraph.

In December 1851, "Sybil" became the first known woman to play correspondence chess. She played a postal game against George Fraser of Dundee as part of the Home Circle family weekly magazine challenge. She won her game, checkmating Fraser on the 51st move.

In 1853, two ships, the Barham and the Wellesley, played a correspondence game while sailing on their last homeward voyage from Calcutta to London. They used optical signaling systems between them to make their moves.

In 1870, the halfpenny postcard was introduced. This made it cheaper for correspondence chess players to send their moves through the mail. There was a marked increase in playing postal chess.

In 1877, chess was first played using the telephone. The first documented telephone chess game is from Dr. White and Mr. Treadwell of New York playing A. Douglas. The players were about a mile apart.

In 1883-84, the Cambridge University Chess Club played a postal game with patients at the Bethlehem (Bedlam) Hospital (a famous mental hospital!) and lost.

In 1890, Wilhelm Steinitz was arrested, charged as a spy. Police authorities assumed the moves made by Steinitz in playing his correspondence games with Mikhail Chigorin were part of a code by means of which important war secrets could be communicated.

In November 1905, a German ambassador on his way home from New York was detained in Finland by Russia for cabling chess moves. He was part of the opening proceedings in Manhattan when the Berlin Chess Club played the Manhattan Chess Club in a cable match.

In 1906, Alexander Alekhine won the 16th Correspondence Gambit Tournament of the chess magazine Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie, which took place during 1905-1906. Alekhine considered this his first serious tournament. He won 10, drew 3, and lost 1 game.

In 1910, a wireless telegraph match between ocean-going ships was played. Passengers of the King Friedrich August steamer played a match against passengers of the Principessa Mafalda. The game was drawn after 31 moves. The increasing distance between the ships made the continuation of the game too difficult.

In 1918, Lorenz Hansen was arrested by federal authorities in Germantown, Maryland, believing that he had a secret code, was spying and was communicating with someone at Grand Rapids, Michigan. The secret code was a chess notation sent on a postcard. Once it was realized that it was chess notation in a correspondence chess game, he was released.

In May 1927, a 12,000-mile wireless radio match was played between the London House of Commons and the Australian Parliamentarians in Canberra, Australia.  The match ended in a draw.  The Duke of York made the opening move in Canberra and Prime Minister Baldwin made the first move in London.

In 1941, the first USSR correspondence chess championship was abandoned after the German invasion.

During World War II, no postal chess play was allowed between civilians and servicemen in the United States and Canada.  Soldiers overseas were not allowed to play postal chess due to censorship restrictions. In 1943, Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) was also playing correspondence chess with several GIs overseas until he was visited by the FBI and was told not to play any more correspondence chess with military members for the duration of the war. The FBI was reading his mail and thought that the chess notation he was sending to Europe were secret codes.

In 1945, the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA) was formed. The ICCA was later reconstituted as ICCF. Sir Robert Robinson (1947 Nobel winner for chemistry) was offered the presidency of the ICCA, but he declined. B. H. Wood then became its president.

In 1945, the first International Radio Chess Match was held.  From September 1 to September 4, 1945 one of the most historic chess matches took place. It was the USA vs USSR radio chess match. The 10 leading masters of the United States played the 10 leading masters of the USSR for chess supremacy.   The match was announced in August 1945 for the benefit of Russian war relief.  It was to be a four days' radio match between 10 selected chess players in the United States and the Soviet Union.  The US team played in the ballroom of the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York, using giant wallboards to reproduce the play for the spectators. The Soviet team met at the Central Club of Art Masters in Moscow, 5000 miles away. Mayor LaGuardia made the opening move for the USA team. US Ambassador Averill Harriman officiated at the Moscow end. Fred Reinfeld and Edward Lasker announced the moves to the audiences. The match was historic in that it was the first international sports event since the outbreak of World War II. Also, never before had teams representing the USA and the USSR competed against each other. It was the first match to be played by radiotelegraphy. Up to that time, it was the most widely publicized event and the greatest spectacle in the chess history of the United States. This was also the debut of the USSR in a sport. Never before had the USSR played another country in any form of sport.   All records for attendance were broken by both sides. In the US, over 1000 spectators watched the match from the Grand Ballroom of the Henry Hudson Hotel.  The spectators were also entertained with exhibition games, lectures, demonstrations, and other features.  The same number of spectators watched the match in Moscow. Movie audiences in every theater of the Soviet Union saw films of the match.   During the match, 2,163 messages were sent by radiotelegraphy.   USSR won the match by the overwhelming score of 15 1/2 points to 4 1/2 points.   All the proceeds of the event went for therapy equipment used in the treatment of wounded Russian and American soldiers.

The first world correspondence championship was delayed by the outbreak of World War II. In 1947, the preliminaries for the world corr. Championship started. There were 78 participants from 22 countries. The tournament ended on March 31, 1953. The winner was Cecil John Seddon Purdy of Australia.

In 1948, Robert Wyller played 1,001 correspondence games at once.

In 1949, the first Correspondence Chess Olympiad began. In 1952, it was won by the Hungarian team, which took the gold medal.

In 1951, the ICCA became the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF). It now has over 100,000 members. Its motto is "Amici Sumus" — We Are Friends.

In 1951, the price of an American postcard went from 1 cent to 2 cents, affecting many correspondence chess players.

In 1968, Hans Berliner (1929-2017) became the first American grandmaster in correspondence chess. It took 15 years before the USA had another GM in correspondence chess. In 1968, Berliner was the winner of the 5th world correspondence championship (1965-68). His 3-point margin of victory (14-2) was the greatest margin of victory ever achieved in a World Championship final round, and his winning percentage was also the greatest of any World Champion. His game with Yakov Estrin was voted the best game in the history of correspondence chess.

His lifetime score in correspondence chess was 91 wins, 10 draws, and only 1 loss. Up until 2004, ICCF correspondence chess was played only via email and postal mail.

Famous GMs, who played both OTB and correspondence chess were Paul Keres, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Chigorin, Viacheslav Ragozin, Igor Bondarevsky, Rafael Leitao, Hans Berliner, Yakov Estrin, C.J.S. Purdy.

In terms of country power, similar to OTB chess, USSR dominated both in World Championships and Chess Olympiads.

As a finale, I would highly recommend the incomparable Woody Allen's view on correspondence chess (click on the link): 
https://maxxwolf.tripod.com/woody.html