Philadelphia 1875




Results
 
Crosstable scores
Name   Edo    Dev.   Score  /  Games    Class 
Neill, Benjamin    2447 (46) 40 / 52 
Roberts, James    2319 (57) 38.5 / 52 
Elson, Jacob    2380 (39) 37.5 / 52 
Kaiser, Julius    2122 (123) 37 / 52 
Davidson, Harry    2410 (50) 35 / 52 
Fisher, H.A.    2058 (142) 34.5 / 52 
Savage, F.S.    2047 (142) 33.5 / 52 
Roberts, Albert    2321 (59) 32 / 52 
Stout, George    2047 (129) 30.5 / 52 
Russell, S.F.    30 / 52 
Sayen, William    2194 (73) 29 / 52 
Barbour, Lorenzo    2273 (55) 29 / 52 
Hewes, G.W.    1977 (143) 27 / 52 
Helmbold, W.H.    26 / 52 
Fisher, James    24.5 / 52 
 
  Odds for class difference of 1: pawn and move
  Odds for class difference of 2: pawn and two moves
  Odds for class difference of 3: a knight
  Odds for class difference of 4: a rook
  Odds for class difference of 5: rook and knight
 

Event table notes

Event data
Name: Philadelphia Chess Club Tournament
Place: Philadelphia
Start date: 1875
End date: 10 May 1875
 
Notes:
Partial results available. Reichhelm gives only total scores and handicap classes for 14 of the players, but lists all 27 players in the tournament. Reichhelm's scores are consistent with a 27-player, double-round all-play-all, which I will assume. The Dubuque Chess Journal of Jun. 1875 (p.292) gives the final scores of 7 players, six of them out of 50 games played, and one (Kaiser) out of 51 games played. So we suppose that one or more players withdrew at some stage and there were unplayed games. Reichhelm and the Maryland Chess Review give A. Roberts a score of 32, while the Dubuque Chess Journal gives him a score of 32.5. The players for whom Reichhelm lists information fall into classes A, B, D and E, with class B players receiving odds of Pawn and 2 moves from class A, class D receiving Rook odds. Two class E players are listed, one (S.F. Russell) receiving Rook and move odds (from class A), the other (W.H. Helmbold) receiving Rook and Knight odds. The Maryland Chess Review of Mar. 1875 (pp.112-113) gives more complete information on the classes of all 27 players, making it clearer that Reichhelm's class B was actually the third class, while no players at all were assigned to the second class. Reichhelm's classes A, B, C, D, and E are therefore acutally classes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The Maryland Chess Review says that Russell was placed in an intermediate class between the fifth and sixth. This all makes it unclear what odds the lower classes received from each other class, aside from the first. We can guess that a difference of one class was associated with Pawn and Move odds, which would be typical, and the information given suggests that differences of 2, 3, 4, and 5 classes were associated with odds of Pawn and 2 moves, Knight, Rook, and Rook and Knight, respectively. Russell received Rook and Move from the first class, only sligthly more than the other fifth class players, who received the Rook. Other fifth class players would likely have received Pawn and Two Moves from the third class and Pawn and Move from the fourth. What Russell received is not clear, but if we place him in the fifth class, the error should not be great, since he received only slightly higher odds than others in class 5. Dates are not given by Reichhelm, but the Maryland Chess Review of Mar. 1875 has results to date, so it began in Feb. 1875 or earlier, and the American Chess Magazine of May 1875 (p.28) says that it was scheduled to finish on the 10th of that month.
 
References
Books
   Reichhelm and Shipley, Chess in Philadelphia, page 32
Periodicals
   [ACMa], vol. 1, no. 2, May 1875, page 28
   [DCJ], vol. 8, no. 64, June 1875, page 292
   [HWT], 29 May 1875
   [ILN], vol. 66, no. 1870, 12 June 1875, page 571
   [MCR], vol. 2, no. 15, Mar. 1875, page 112
   [MCR], vol. 2, no. 16, Apr. 1875, page 155
   [MCR], vol. 2, no. 18, June 1875, page 206
   [WP], vol. 7, no. 12, 1 Apr. 1875, page 239

Tournament information updated: 22 Jul. 2022