CABLE CHESS

Long distance games or matches played between two or more players. The first chess cable match (moves transmitted by telegraph) occurred between Dublin and Liverpool in 1861. The most famous were the thirteen Anglo-American matches which were organized between 1896 and 1911. Each country won six matches and the final score was 39 victories, 39 losses, and 50 draws. Britain, having won three matches in succession, took permanent possession of the trophy. There were also two series of Anglo-American University matches between teams from Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia. The first series took place between 1899 and 1903 and was ended by the Russo-Japanese war, which made arrangements for the cabling too difficult. A second series of University matches was held from 1906 to 1910.