San Francisco Mechanics' Institute
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San Francisco Mechanics' Institute
The Mechanics' Institute is a historic membership library, cultural event center, and chess club at 57 Post Street, San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1854, as a mechanics' institute, an educational and cultural institution, to serve the vocational needs of out-of-work gold miners. The institute today serves readers, writers, downtown employees, students, film lovers, chess players, and others. History In 1848, the discovery of gold lured people from all over the world to California. By 1853 most surface gold was mined out, pushing the town of San Francisco into economic decline. A flood of former miners had no jobs, skills, or prospects. The Mechanics' Institute began in 1854, with four books, a chess room, and a mission to start a vocational school. At this time, California had no colleges or universities, and no public libraries. (The San Francisco Public Library did not open until 1879.) In March 1857, Mechanics' Institute at San Francisco, elected the following o ...
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Financial District, San Francisco
The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States, that serves as its main central business district and had 372,829 jobs according to U.S. census tracts as of 2012-2016. It is home to the city's largest concentration of corporate headquarters, law firms, insurance companies, real estate firms, savings and loan banks, and other financial institutions. Multiple Fortune 500 companies headquartered in San Francisco have their offices in the Financial District, including Wells Fargo, Salesforce, PG&E, Uber, Gap, and Williams-Sonoma. Since the 1980s, restrictions on high-rise construction have shifted new development to the adjacent South of Market area surrounding the Transbay Transit Center. This area is sometimes called the South Financial District by real estate developers, or simply included as part of the Financial District itself. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has accelerated the exodus of business from the downtown core ...
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Mechanical Arts
''Artes mechanicae'' (mechanical arts) are a medieval concept of ordered practices or skills, often juxtaposed to the traditional seven liberal arts (''artes liberales''). Also called "servile" and "vulgar", from antiquity they had been deemed unbecoming for a free man, as ministering to baser needs. Overview Johannes Scotus Eriugena (9th century) divides them into seven parts: * (tailoring, weaving) * (agriculture) * (architecture, masonry) * and (warfare and hunting, military education, "martial arts") * (trade) * (cooking) * ( blacksmithing, metallurgy) In his '' Didascalicon'', Hugh of St Victor (12th century) includes navigation, medicine and theatrical arts instead of commerce, agriculture and cooking. Hugh's treatment somewhat elevates the mechanical arts as ordained to the improvement of humanity, a promotion which was to represent a growing trend among late medievals.See Georges Legoff, ''Time, Work and Culture in the Middle Ages'', (Chicago, University of Ch ...
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List Of San Francisco Designated Landmarks
This is a list of San Francisco Designated Landmarks. In 1967, the city of San Francisco, California adopted Article 10 of the Planning Code, providing the city with the authority to designate and protect landmarks from inappropriate alterations. As of February 2019, the city has designated 288 structures or other properties as San Francisco Designated Landmarks. Many of the properties have also received recognition at the federal level by inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places or by designation as National Historic Landmarks. Color markings (highest noted listing) San Francisco Designated Landmarks San Francisco Landmark Districts Since 1972, the City of San Francisco has designated thirteen local landmark districts ranging in size from a handful of buildings to several hundred properties. Landmark districts are regulated by Article 10 of the Planning Code. See also * California Historical Landmarks in San Francisco County, California * National Regist ...
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World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cadets Chess Championship" (categories U8, U10 and U12) and "World Youth Chess Championship" (categories U14, U16 and U18). Under-18 winners Cadets and Under-16 winners Unofficial U18 Cadets : Official U17 Cadets : Under-16 : :(†) The girls tournament was held separately, in Westergate, England. Under-14 winners World Infant Cup : Boys & Girls : Under-12 winners : Under-10 winners : Under-8 winners : See also * World Junior Chess Championship * European Junior Chess Championship * European Youth Chess Championship Notes :''The main source of reference is indicated beneath each year's entry.'' Tournament history The first predecessor of the youth championship was the Cadet Championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in F ...
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Daniel Naroditsky
Daniel Naroditsky (born ), also known as Danya, is an American chess grandmaster, author, and commentator. He published his first chess book at age 14. Chess career Born in San Mateo, California, Naroditsky learned chess at age six from his father, Vladimir. He was soon taking serious chess lessons. In May 2007, he won the Northern California K–12 Chess Championship, the youngest player ever to do so. Later that year, Naroditsky won the Under-12 division of the World Youth Chess Championship with 9½/11. In May 2008, he won the Northern California 9–12 Chess Championship. At the 2010 U.S. Open Chess Championship, Naroditsky scored 7½/9 to share second through fifth places, behind grandmaster Alejandro Ramírez and tied with grandmasters Alexander Shabalov and Varuzhan Akobian. Naroditsky played in the 2011 U.S. Chess Championship, but finished with more losses than wins. In July 2011, he earned his first grandmaster norm. Naroditsky earned his second grandmaster no ...
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Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigran Petrosian in 1966; defeated Petrosian in 1969 to become world champion; then lost to Bobby Fischer in a famous match in 1972. Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice lost in playoffs (1956, 1963), after tying for first place during the event proper. He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980 and 1985). In addition to his candidates wins in 1965 and 1968, Spassky reached the semi-final stage in 1974 and the final stage in 1977. Spassky immigrated to France in 1976, becoming a French citizen in 1978. He continued to compete in tournaments but was no longer a major ...
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Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players in history. His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew contemporary analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods. Lasker made contributions to the developm ...
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Mechanics' Institute Chess Club
The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club is a chess club in San Francisco, California, United States. Hosted at the Mechanics' Institute, it is the oldest-continuously operating chess club in the United States. History The first meeting of the Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco was held on December 11, 1854, and it was incorporated on April 24, 1855. At the time, San Francisco was a frontier city that had grown from the California Gold Rush. Today the Mechanics' Institute hosts national and international chess tournaments, offers virtual and onsite classes, and provides scholastic chess classes in partnership with local schools. The first world-class player to visit San Francisco was Johann Zukertort, who spent nearly a month in the city in July 1884. George H. D. Gossip visited the city and the club in 1888, writing an account of chess in San Francisco for the June 1888 ''International Chess Magazine''. Many other leading players have given exhibitions or played at the Instit ...
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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 than play on internet chess servers or computer chess. Organization Clubs are mainly attached to a national federation, either directly or through membership of a regional chess association. The national federation in turn is a member of FIDE, the international governing body of chess. The global aegis helps to establish uniformity of rules and playing conditions internationally, though some countries such as the United States use their own official set of rules with minor differences from FIDE rules. The United States has many chess clubs affiliated with the United States Chess Federation (USCF). A club's affiliation with its national chess federation helps to standardize chess tournament rules. Club facilities Chess clubs typically provi ...
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Subscription Libraries
A subscription library (also membership library or independent library) is a library that is financed by private funds either from membership fees or endowments. Unlike a public library, access is often restricted to members, but access rights can also be given to non-members, such as students. Origins In the 18th century, there were virtually no public libraries in the sense in which we now understand the term i.e. libraries provided from public funds and freely accessible to all.Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 185 Only one important library in Britain, Chetham's Library in Manchester, was fully and freely accessible to the public. However, during the century, there came into being a whole network of library provision on a private or institutional basis. The increase in secular literature at this time encouraged the establishment of commercial subscription libraries. Many small, private book clubs evolved into subscription libraries, charging high annual fees or requiring subscribing ...
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Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "the 14th of July"). The French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution, as well as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790. Celebrations are held throughout France. One that has been reported as "the oldest and largest military parade in Europe" is held on 14 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, along with other French officials and foreign guests. History In 1789, tensions rose in France between reformist and conservative factions as the country struggled to resolve an economic crisis. In May, the Estates General legislative assembly was revived, but members of th ...
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