Simpson's-in-the-Strand - Simpson's and Chess

Simpson's and Chess

Just as Wimbledon is considered the home of tennis and Lord's the home of cricket, Simpson's could, in the 19th century, justifiably claim the equivalent title for chess. Almost all the top players of the century played there at some stage, including Wilhelm Steinitz, Paul Morphy, Emmanuel Lasker, Johannes Zukertort (who had a fatal stroke while playing there), and Siegbert Tarrasch. It was in Simpson's in 1851 that one of the world's great games, the famous "Immortal Game", was played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. It also hosted the great tournaments of 1883 and 1899, and the first ever women's international in 1897.

When the refurbished Simpson's reopened under its new management in 1904, chess was no longer the principal feature. This alone was sufficient to shift the centre of the chess world away from London permanently, with similar clubs in Vienna and Berlin filling its role. Chess reappeared at Simpson's in 1980, when the finals of the National Chess Club Championship were held there. In September 2003 a small tournament was held there to celebrate the 175th anniversary of chess on the site, and named after the unofficial world champion during the 1840s and 50s, Howard Staunton. By 2006, the fourth Staunton Memorial was declared the strongest London all-play-all tournament since 1986, with high calibre grandmasters such as Michael Adams, Ivan Sokolov and Jan Timman competing. The fifth Staunton Memorial in 2007 featured a field of twelve players, six British and six Dutch.