Chess Master
Selim Franklin was a world-ranked chess player from the renowned chess clubs in London, especially the Westminster Chess Club and Simpson's Divan Chess Room. In 1857 he was on the Planning & Rules Committee for the first American Chess Congress held in New York, which propelled 20-year old American Paul Morphy into an international chess celebrity overnight. Franklin was President of the California Chess Congress that established San Francisco as a world chess center. The event began on March 22, 1858, at the Hall in Hunt's Building, San Francisco (three San Francisco chess clubs joined together to host the Congress: the Mechanic's Institute, the German Chess Club of San Francisco, and the Pioneer Chess Club). Franklin won the tournament and the first prize "of a costly gold watch". After this victory one system of rating historical chess players ranks him as 108th in the world.
Franklin participated in several London chess matches from 1868–1871. His last high-profile match was against chess master Johannes Zukertort in San Francisco at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Room in 1884. Zukertort played Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886.
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