Dr. Benjamin I. Raphael (November 8, 1818 – March 17, 1880) was born in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
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, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
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. He graduated from the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
with a medical degree. His father taught him the game of
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
. He would later visit New York and went to the New York Chess Club, held in Carlton House, and it was here that he was able to strengthen his game by playing more formidable opponents such as Col. Charles D. Mead,
Charles Stanley
Charles Frazier Stanley (born 1932) is Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, after serving as senior pastor for 49 years. He is the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through te ...
, and
James Thompson, who at first gave him the odds of a
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
.
Career
After three years' attendance at
New York Hospital
Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University.
...
, having completed his medical studies there, he traveled to Europe where he practiced medicine at the
La Charite hospital in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. While in Paris he frequented the
Café de la Régence
The Café de la Régence in Paris was an important European centre of chess in the 18th and 19th centuries. All important chess masters of the time played there.
The Café's masters included, but are not limited to:
* Paul Morphy
* François- ...
where he often had games with
Pierre Saint-Amant and
Lionel Kieseritzky
Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky (russian: Лионель Адальберт Багратион Феликс Кизерицкий; – ) was a Baltic Germans, Baltic German chess master and Chess theoretician, theoretician, famous for ...
.
After returning to the United States he established himself in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, where he was a medical practitioner and lecturer at the
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...
.
Chess organizer
In 1845 he took part in forming a chess club, which soon thereafter, together with the clubs of
Lexington and
Frankfort, had the merit of instituting the well-known tournaments which took place every year in Kentucky. He played two games by correspondence, alongside a Mr. Ballard, with the Lexington club, as well as several matches via
electric telegraph
Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...
with Frankfort, Cincinnati, Nashville, and other towns. In the spring of 1857 he moved to New York, where he enjoyed an extensive medical practice. That same year he played a casual game against the legendary
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was ca ...
, albeit a losing effort.
Death and legacy
Dr. Raphael died in 1880. He was one of the participants in the
1st American Chess Congress played in 1857. He made it into the semi-finals, losing to
Louis Paulsen
Louis Paulsen (15 January 1833 in Gut Nassengrund near Blomberg, Principality of Lippe – 18 August 1891) was a German chess player. In the 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Pa ...
. In a match for third place he then lost to
Theodor Lichtenhein Theodor (Theodore) Lichtenhein (January 1829 – 19 May 1874) was an American chess master.
Born at Königsberg, in East Prussia, he learned chess at the age of 12, and six years afterwards, he was president of the Königsberg Chess Club. He stud ...
, eventually finishing in the fourth position in the tournament.
See also
The games of Raphael as listed on
ChessGames.com
Chessgames.com is an Internet chess community with over 224,000 members. The site maintains a large database of chess games, where each game has its own discussion page for comments and analysis. Limited primarily to games where at least one pla ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, Benjamin
American physicians
19th-century chess players
1818 births
1880 deaths