The American Chess Congress was a series of chess tournaments held in the United States, a predecessor to the current U.S. Chess Championship. It had nine editions, the first played in October 1857 and the last in August 1923.
Shown on the right is lithograph of the First American Chess Congress 1857. All members of the Congress are shown, including those who did not play in the main tournament. Top row: Colonel Charles Mead (chairman), George Hammond, Frederic Perrin, Daniel Willard Fiske, Hiram Kennicott, and Hardman Philips Montgomery. Left column: Hubert Knott, Louis Paulsen, and William Allison. Bottom row: Theodore Lichtenhein, James Thompson, Charles Henry Stanley, Alexander Beaufort Meek, Samuel Robert Calthrop, and Napoleon Marache. Right column: William James Fuller, Paul Morphy, and Benjamin Raphael.
The second American Chess Congress was held in Cleveland on December 4–15, 1871 and won by George Henry Mackenzie. The first prize was $100 (~$1,500 today) and the total prize fund was $290 (~$5,000 today). The entry fee was $10 ($150 today). It was a double round robin tournament with a time limit of 12 moves an hour. Draw games were replayed. There were nine players (George Henry Mackenzie, Henry Hosmer, Frederick Elder, Max Judd, Preston Ware, Harsen Darwin Smith, Henry Harding, A. Johnston, and William Houghton). With the retirement of Morphy, this tournament was generally intended to recognize the best player in the United States.
The third American Chess Congress was held in Chicago on July 7–16, 1874 and won by Mackenzie. There were eight players (Mackenzie, Hosmer, Judd, Bock, Elder, Perrin, Congdon, and Kennicott) and they had to pay a $20 entry fee. first place prize was $225. The tournament was again round robin, but for the first time draws were not replayed. The time control was 15 moves per hour. Elder and Kennicott withdraw before completing half their games, but their scores still counted.
The fourth American Chess Congress (called the American Centennial Championship) was held in Philadelphia on August 17–31, 1876 and won by James Mason. There were nine players (Mason, Judd, Davidson, Henry Bird, Elson, Roberts, Ware, Barbour, and Martinez). The entry fee was $20. First place was $300. Never intended to recognize the best player in America, this tournament was geared towards attracting foreign masters, and to awarding the Governor Garland Silver Cup, as well as celebrating the American Centennial.
The fifth American Chess Congress was held in New York on January 6–26, 1880 and won by Mackenzie (he beat James Grundy on tiebreak, 2–0). There were 10 players: Cohnfeld, Congdon, Eugene Delmar, Grundy, Judd, Mackenzie, Mohle, Ryan, Sellman, and Ware.
The sixth American Chess Congress was held in New York in 1889 (a 20-man double round-robin tournament; one of the longest tournaments in history). The event was won by Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss. Both finished with a score of 29 but Chigorin defeated Weiss in their individual game. The top American finisher was S. Lipschütz, who took sixth place (his supporters in the Eastern US tried to push his claim to being US Champion as a result of this tournament; however, Lipschütz's claim was not accepted by all). Under rules that reigning World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz helped to develop, the winner was to be regarded as World Champion for the time being, but must be prepared to face a challenge from the second- or third-placed competitor within a month.[4] Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss tied for first, and remained tied after drawing all four games of a playoff. Weiss was not interested in playing a championship match, but Isidor Gunsberg, the third-place finisher, exercised his right and challenged Chigorin to a World Championship match. In 1890, he drew a first-to-10-wins match against Chigorin (9-9 with five draws). These were the same terms (9-9 draw clause) as the first World Championship match between Steinitz and Zukertort in 1886. They were also the same match terms that Bobby Fischer would insist on for his title defense in 1975.
The seventh American Chess Congress was held in St. Louis in 1904. With US Champion Harry Nelson Pillsbury ill and dying, Max Judd tried to arrange the seventh ACC, with the stipulation that the US title be awarded to the winner. Judd disputed Pillsbury's ownership of the title by challenging the legitimacy of the whole succession since the time of Mackenzie, disputing Lipschutz's claim to have acquired the title at New York 1889, and everything that had happened since then. Pillsbury, from bed objected to Judd's plans, and prevailed on his friend, the lawyer Walter Penn Shipley, to intercede. Judd's tournament was held anyway, and said to be for "The United States Tourney Championship", a title explicitly said to have no relation to the United States Championship title held by Pillsbury. The tournament was won by Frank James Marshall, ahead of Judd. There were 10 players: Louis Eisenberg, Charles Jaffe, Judd, Kemeny, Marshall, Stasch Mlotkowski, Edward F. Schrader, Eugene Wesley Schrader, Schwietzer, and Louis Uedemann. The winner was actually named U.S. Champion at the conclusion of this tournament.
Office of the American Chess Journal (1876) The Third American Chess Congress Held at Chicago, Ill., 1874, Hannibal, Missouri.
Sayen, Henry W. (1876), The Grand International Centennial Chess Congress, held in Philadelphia in August, 1876, Philadelphia
These three books were reprinted in one volume as The second, third and fourth American Chess Congress, Cleveland 1871, Chicago 1874, Philadelphia 1876., Edition Olms, 1985, ISBN3-283-00089-1
This book was reprinted as: Wilhelm Steinitz ; with a foreword by Christiaan M. Bijl. (1982), The book of the Sixth American Chess Congress, Edition Olms, ISBN3-283-00152-9((citation)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
It was recently reprinted as: Wilhelm Steinitz ; Introduction by Sam Sloan (1982), Sixth American Chess Congress, New York 1889, Ishi Press, ISBN978-4-87187-847-0((citation)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Paul Morphy (United States)
George Henry Mackenzie (United States)
James Mason (Ireland)
George Henry Mackenzie (United States)
Mikhail Chigorin (Russia)
Max Weiss (Austria)
Frank James Marshall (United States)
Dawid Janowski (France)
Frank James Marshall (United States) 
