1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress

The surprising upset victory of Frank Marshall marked his rise to prominence in American chess.

Cambridge Springs 1904 marked the end of Harry Nelson Pillsbury's chess career.

A small town in northwestern Pennsylvania, Cambridge Springs seems like an unlikely location to hold an international chess tournament.

However, in the early 1900s Cambridge Springs was a flourishing resort town due to a couple of geographic oddities.

The secondary factor was the local mineral springs, which were visited by many people seeking to improve their health.

In 1895 William D. Rider Jr. started construction on what he hoped would be the greatest hotel between Chicago and New York City, which was completed in 1897.

Features included a theater for five hundred, where the chess tournament was held, a ballroom, a solarium, two gymnasiums, bowling alleys and an indoor pool.

[1] Rider was a successful publicist for his hotel, and the chess tournament of 1904 was an outgrowth of those efforts.

Financed primarily by Rider and the Erie Railroad Company, the tournament received additional support from Professor Isaac Leopold Rice and from selling tournament bulletins to chess clubs around the country.

Chess Championship returned to Cambridge Springs and the tournament was held in one of the few hotels remaining from the railroad resort era, the Riverside Inn.

Géza Maróczy was unable to attend due to his duties as a mathematics teacher.

[9] Marshall and Janowski continued their torrid pace through the ninth round where they both had eight points, followed by Lasker in third with 6½.

In the tenth round however, Janowski started to falter and lost two games in a row, including one to Fox.

Janowski, with a one-point lead, only needed a draw with the white pieces to clinch the second prize.

Janowski launched a very spirited attack against Lasker's king, which was stuck in the center of the board.

Lasker was up to the challenge though, and built a defense that turned back Janowski's attack and eventually won the game.

[11] Marshall finished first, undefeated with 13/15, and with his last round victory Lasker tied Janowski for second place with 11/15.

In addition $700 was distributed among the non-prize winners, in accordance with the number of points scored by each player.

The story starts in St. Petersburg, 1896 when Lasker beat Pillsbury in a magnificent game which won the brilliancy prize.

During the next weeks and months he burned a good deal more midnight oil in the privacy of his room, analysing his new variation as thoroughly as he knew how; but he did not tell anybody about it.

Since the opening concerned was a variation of the Queen's Gambit very popular in those days, Pillsbury had countless opportunities to give his new line the practical test; but he would not waste his precious discovery on any of the small fry, thereby divulging his great secret; he would spring that surprise on no one less than Lasker.Finally, eight years after his initial defeat, Pillsbury has the opportunity to unveil his improvement against Lasker.

The Cambridge Springs Defense of the Queen's Gambit Declined takes its name from this 1904 tournament.