James Thompson (chess player)

Chess master James Thompson, circa 1857

James Thompson (23 September 1804, London – 2 December 1870, New York) was an American chess master.

Early life

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Born in London, he arrived in New York,[1] where formed the New York Chess Club in 1839.[2]

Chess career

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He participated in the First American Chess Congress at New York 1857, and lost a match to Paul Morphy (0 : 3) in the first round.[3] He also lost other matches to him; casual (0 : 5) in 1857, two formal (3.5 : 5.5) in May/June 1859 and (6 : 10) in October 1859, and casual (1 : 3) in 1860 (Morphy gave odds of a knight in three latter matches). He drew a match with Charles D. Mead (1.5 : 1.5) in 1857, and played several times in New York Chess Club tournaments, losing to Frederick Perrin in 1854, 1857, and 1859, and James A. Leonard in 1860/61.[4]

Death

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Thompson died in 1870 in New York City.

References

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  1. ^ "Chess Archeology – Gallery of Chess Portraits". Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  2. ^ "Brief notes on the history, 1800 to 1850". Archived from the original on 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  3. ^ New York 1857 Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Edo Historical Chess Ratings - Thompson, James
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