The Marshall Chess Club, in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

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, is one of the oldest

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs host over the board, face to face chess more ...

s in the

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. The club was formed in 1915 by a group of players led by Frank Marshall. It is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

and a gold affiliate of the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

History

The Marshall Chess Club was a long-time rival of the Manhattan Chess Club, a club which existed from 1877 to 2002. The Marshall Chess Club met in several temporary homes until it moved permanently to 23 West Tenth Street in 1931. The club occupies two floors of a townhouse at that address and owns the building. Marshall was the leader of the club until his death in 1944, when his wife Caroline took over its leadership. Frank Brady was elected president in 2007, and , the current president is Sarathi Ray. Some notable members of the club have been

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United St ...

Arthur Dake Arthur William Dake (April 8, 1910 – April 28, 2000) was an American chess player. He was born in Portland, Oregon and died in Reno, Nevada. He was born into a Polish farmer family ( Edward Winter has quoted a mistaken statement with Dake's ...

, Larry Evans,

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

Edmar Mednis Edmar John Mednis ( lv, Edmārs Džons Mednis; March 22, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was a Latvian-American chess player and writer of Latvian people, Latvian origin. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster by FIDE in 198 ...

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraFred Reinfeld Fred Reinfeld (January 27, 1910 – May 29, 1964) was an American writer on chess and many other subjects. He was also a strong chess master, often among the top ten American players from the early 1930s to the early 1940s, as well as a college ...

, Anthony Santasiere, Herbert Seidman,

James Sherwin James Terry Sherwin (born October 25, 1933) is a corporate executive and International Master in chess. Born in New York City in 1933, Sherwin attended Stuyvesant High School, Columbia College (Phi Beta Kappa) and Columbia Law School. He graduat ...

Albert Simonson Albert Charles Simonson (December 26, 1914 in New York City – November 16, 1965 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) was an American chess master. He was one of the strongest American players of the 1930s, and was part of the American team which won the g ...

, Andy Soltis,

Sam Sloan Samuel Howard Sloan (born September 7, 1944) is an American perennial candidate and former broker-dealer. In 1978, he won a case ''pro se'' before the United States Supreme Court, becoming the last non-lawyer to argue a case in front of the cour ...

, and

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, '' The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terr ...

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, a modern artist associated with the

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

and

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

movements, played for the club after moving to Greenwich Village in the 1940s; his photograph hangs on a wall of the club.

Tournaments

The club has been the site of several rounds of the

U.S. Chess Championship The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the United States chess champion. Begun as a challenge match in 1845, the U.S. Championship has been decided by tournament play for most of its long history. Since 1936, i ...

played in the 1965 Capablanca Memorial Tournament being held in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

via

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from the club with the board being there as well. The Game of the Century also was played there, in 1956 between Bobby Fischer and

Donald Byrne Donald Byrne (June 12, 1930 – April 8, 1976) was an American university professor and chess player. He held the title International Master, and competed for his country in the Chess Olympiad on several occasions. Biography Born in New York Cit ...

. The chess table used for the 2016 World Chess Championship is also in the club and is used as the "top board" in many tournaments. Daily tournaments are run at the club for both nonmembers and members ranging from weekly blitz tournaments to regular play where games are usually held once a week or over a weekend. These events range from beginner events to

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

titled events with several titled players. Club members can attend lectures, movie nights, members only tournaments, and a variety of other activities. They also pay less for other events and are entitled to stay at the club when tournaments are not happening on free nights. Notable events yearly include the Marshall International where Grandmaster and International Master norms can be obtained as well as their local club championship with both a titled section and an under 2300 section for untitled players. More recently, the Marshall has switched to an online interface used for tournament registration and for entering results with a small fee for registering late.

References

External links

Marshall Chess Club website
{{Authority control Chess clubs in the United States 1915 in chess Sports clubs established in 1915 Sports in Manhattan Greenwich Village 1915 establishments in New York City