New York 1860 (1)




Results
 
Match scores
Name   Edo    Dev.   Score  /  Games 
Julien, Denis    1 /
Paterson (2)    0 /
  Julien, Denis gave odds of a knight
 
Stanley, Charles    2346 (47) 1 /
Johnston, William (1)    0 /
  Stanley, Charles gave odds of a knight
 
Stanley, Charles    2346 (47) 0 /
Napoleão dos Santos, Arthur    2035 (134) 1 /
  Stanley, Charles gave odds of a knight
 
Delmar, Eugene    2140 (92) 0 /
McLean, John    1869 (118) 1 /
  Delmar, Eugene gave odds of a rook
 
Delmar, Eugene    2140 (92) 3 /
McLean, John    1869 (118) 3 /
  Delmar, Eugene gave odds of a knight
 
Michaelis, Otho    2121 (96) 0 /
McLean, John    1869 (118) 1 /
  Michaelis, Otho gave odds of pawn and two moves
 
Ballantine, William    3 /
McLean, John    1869 (118) 0 /
 

Event table notes

Event data
Name: 1st Free Tournament
Place: New York
Start date: Dec. 1859
End date: Feb. 1860
 
Notes:
Partial results available. 32-player knockout handicap tournament. Odds were agreed by the players before each match. Each match was for the first to win two games in the first two rounds, and for the first to win 3 games in subsequent rounds. The New York Times of 9 Dec. 1859 (p.1) gives the first round pairings for all 32 players, but does not indicate the odds given. It has 'Rulien' instead of 'Julien', 'Branzinger' instead of 'Brenzinger', 'Kersheedt' instead of 'Kirschfield', and 'Ottolengin' instead of 'Ottolengui'. The New York Clipper of 24 Dec. 1859 gives the pairings for the second round, thus telling us who won each first round match, but without the odds, I cannot include them. It does say that Stanley and Julien both gave Knight odds in the first round, however, so we can include their matches against 'Johnston' and 'Paterson', respectively, as 1-0 results to be conservative, but the identity of these players is difficult to determine. 'Johnston' might, for example, have been W.S. Johnston, who was active in New York in 1866. The New York Clipper of 31 Dec. 1859 gives the pairings for the third round, which tells us who won each 2nd round pairing, but again without knowing the odds, we cannot include them. However, Revista da Semana of 6 Jan. 1901 (supplement, p.2) says that Napoleão beat Stanley receiving Knight odds, without giving the exact score, so we use a 1-0 result here again. Hilbert and the New York Clipper of 14 Jan. 1860 give the score of the third round Delmar-McLean match. Delmar gave McLean rook odds in the first game but this was reduced to knight odds for the other 6 games. In the semi-finals, Michaelis gave McLean odds of Pawn and Two Moves, and McLean won. A win by McLean over Michaelis is given in the 11 Feb. 1860 New York Clipper. I don't know the final score between them, though, so I record it as 1-0 for McLean. William A. Ballantine won the event, beating McLean in the final 3-0, and without any odds being given. The final is reported in the New York Clipper of 3 Mar. 1860, so I am guessing that the tournament was completed late in February 1860.
 
References
Books
   Hilbert, Tragic Life of Leonard, page 20
Periodicals
   [NYC], 3 Dec. 1859
   [NYC], 17 Dec. 1859
   [NYC], 24 Dec. 1859
   [NYC], 31 Dec. 1859
   [NYC], 7 Jan. 1860
   [NYC], 14 Jan. 1860
   [NYC], 11 Feb. 1860
   [NYC], 3 Mar. 1860
   [NYTi], vol. 9, no. 2565, 9 Dec. 1859, page 1
   [SoT], 11 Aug. 1860

Tournament information updated: 6 May 2022