Of Simpsons, Steinitz and chess

Simpson's-in-the-Strand one of London's

most historic landmark restaurants

Hello Everyone!

Here is an extract from a nice piece written by - guess who?

"In 1866, Simpson, the headwaiter bought the place and opened a restaurant in the building. The Chess Club, which used the place already in the 1840s, had used a large room between the ground floor, badly lighted, too much perfumed with odors of gas, coal and pipe, and furnished with sofas of a very curious shape. The chess boards were of pasteboard and the bottom of the chess pieces were wrapped in cloth in order to lessen the noise of their movements.

"Also the 37 players formed the Manhattan Chess Club, which still exists today, the club but not the restaurant. The Sun, then a known newspaper, reported that Steinitz, my great-great-uncle who lived in Montclair around 1892, and Professor Brodsky, a famous violinist, attended the Great Masters chess tournament held in the rooms of the Cafe Manhattan. University students from Columbia, Barnard, Yale and Princeton would visit various chess clubs. The New Orleans Chess, Checker and Whist club was located at the corner of Baronne and Canal Street in a building, still standing the last time I was there. But no longer a chess club.

Indeed! A nice article. You can read it in full here.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com