Ellen Gilbert, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Ellen Gilbert

American chess player

Date of Birth: 30-Apr-1837

Place of Birth: Leverett, Massachusetts, United States

Date of Death: 12-Feb-1900

Profession: chess player, correspondence chess player

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Taurus


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About Ellen Gilbert

  • Ellen E.
  • Gilbert (nÊe Strong) (April 30, 1837 – February 12, 1900) was a strong 19th century correspondence chess player, and one of the first significant women players in chess history.
  • She became famous for her match victory against George H.
  • D.
  • Gossip.
  • Gossip, who had won the 1873–74 correspondence chess tournament of the Chess-Players Chronicle, "was thought by some to be the strongest correspondence player known".
  • Gilbert, playing first board for the United States in an 1879 correspondence chess match against England, won all four of her games against Gossip.
  • This enabled the American team to win the match 27–23.
  • Her victories, combined with her announcing mate in 21 moves in one game, and mate in 35 moves in another, "caused a sensation in the chess world".
  • She was hailed as "The Queen of Chess", and poems and at least one chess problem (with the pieces in the shape of a "Q") were composed in her honor.
  • Her games were analyzed by Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Champion, who confirmed the accuracy of her analyses.
  • Gossip responded gallantly, dedicating his book Theory of the Chess Openings to her.Unfortunately, this proved to be not only the high point of her chess career, but almost its end.
  • Apart from playing one move in a "circulating game" in 1883, her victory against Gossip is the last known event in her career.
  • Her obituary mentions "loss of sight" in "late years", and her vision may have already been declining when she played Gossip.She died on February 12, 1900, in Hartford, Connecticut.

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