The chess club was started in the institute's early days. It is one of the best appointed clubs in the nation, and occupies spacious quarters on the fourth floor of the Mechanics' Institute Building. The club has a long and glorious history. Among the great masters who have given exhibitions at the institute are J. H. Zukertort, Harry N. Pillsbury, Dr. Emmanuel Lasker, Geza Maroczy, Frank J. Marshall, J. R. Capablanca, Dr. Alexander Alekhine, Dr. Max Euwe and Svetozar Gligoric. Among the notable institute club masters in the past were A. J. Fink, who is an internationally known problemist and who has been State Champion several times. Dr. W. R. Lovegrove, a keen amateur with some experience against masters during his student days in Europe, caused quite a stir in the clubrooms one day in the 1900s when he won a match from H. N. Pillsbury. Pillsbury thought the doctor was lucky, and analyzed all night. The next day Lovegrove demolished the analysis. Pillsbury analyzed all that afternoon and that night Lovegrove again overcame his anaylsis!
In 1929 Alexander Alekhine suffered an unheard-of number of reverses in a simultaneous exhibition; at the conclusion of his tour, a European journalist asked him where he found the strongest opposition. "In San Francisco, in a place called the Mechanics' Institute," replied Alekhine.
The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco, where I am a life member has had a special place in my life. I'll never forget those who played chess there before the Second World War, among them Dr. W. R. Lovegrove, A. J. Fink (with whom I had played five Tournament games each ending in a draw.), Charles Bagby, Henry Gross, etc. I have put together from memory a list of the strongest players in Northern and Southern California in the period 1930 - 1960: W. Adams, J. Alexander, S. Almgren, C. Bagby, W. Barlow, H. Borochow, P. Smith, L. Boyette, H. Bullwinkel, B. Burger, F. Byron, C. Capps, Dr. K. Colby, J. Cross, R. Currie, A. Stamer, P. Elliott, two brothers: Dr. H. Epstein, Dr. A. Epstein, N. Falconer, A. Fink, J. Gee, M. Gordon, H. Gross, Mrs. L. Grumette, R. Guneo, C. Howland, R. Jacobs, Dr. A. Janushkovski, L. Joyner, Imre Konig, P. Lapiken, I. Kashdan, E. Levin, A. Linklater, Dr. W. Lovegrove, R. Martin, S. Mazner, G. McClain, M. Meyer, J. Moskowitz, V. Pafnutieff, H. Rosenbaum, D. Poliakoff, N. Preobrajenski, E. Pruner, R. Smook, A. Bourke, H. Edelstein, N. Quillen, Dr. H. Ralston, G. Ramirez, I. Rivies, A. Spiller, A. Stecker, H. Steiner, J. Tippin, D. Vedenski, Mrs. N. Roos, M. Wilkerson, S. Yarmak, Dr. M. Zelick, V. Zemitis.
Dr. W. R. Lovegrove
In his first days as a member of the Mechanics' Institute, Vladimir met one of the pre-eminent players there, Dr. W. R. Lovegrove, arguably one of the strongest non-tournament chess players in the world at the time. Vladimir was fortunate to have been able to play the Doctor on a regular basis. Tournaments in those days were very rare and these games gave Vladimir a chance to polish his game, especially his endgame. Dr. Walter Romain Lovegrove, master emeritus of the U. S. Chess Federation, died in San Francisco on July 18, 1956, at 86 years of age. The following excerpt from the California Chess Reporter (by Dr. H. J. Ralston) gives a clear idea of how strong he was.
For over 60 years Dr. Lovegrove was one of San Francisco' leading players. Born October 24, 1869, he learned the game of chess at the age of 16 by studying the article on chess in the Encyclopedia Britannica. During the period 1886-1890 he strengthened his game by playing at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco, finally becoming so strong that in one tournament he gave odds to all the other contestants, and still won the tournament.
Dr. Lovegrove was the winner of the final Pillsbury National Correspondence Tournament. In 1891 he won a match from Joseph Redding, who claimed the Championship of the Pacific Coast, by a score of 7-1.
At the same time, another prominent player named Max Judd visited San Francisco and lost to Dr. Lovegrove in six out of seven games.
The American champion J. W. Showalter, also visited San Francisco, and although he had the edge over Dr. Lovegrove in casual play, lost no less than 12 games to him out of about 30 played.
In 1893 Dr. Lovegrove visited Los Angeles where he met and conquered Simor Lipshutz by a score of 3.5-0.5. The American Championship was in a rather foggy state in those days, but technically, the present writer believes, Lipshutz was still the champion, by virtue of his decisive win over Showalter, by a 10.5-4.5 margin, in their match of 1892. However, one must admit that Dr. Lovegrove' victory over Lipshutz must be weighed with caution, because of the very uncertain nature of the champion's health. Lipshutz was a chronic sufferer from tuberculosis, which caused his premature death at the age of 42.
Dr. Lovegrove beat Van Vliet in London, 1912, in the only game played; he beat Taubenhaus in Paris in the same year, 10-1. In Vienna, 1922, playing as usual for a dollar a game, he won one game and lost one to Dr. Tartakover - who said he did not care to play Lovegrove any more because he couldn't make a living that way. In 1902 he played in a stake game with the world champion (Dr. Emmanuel Lasker) and won. In 1904 he won three exhibition games from the American champion Harry Pillsbury. Pillsbury grabbed a pawn, allowing Dr. Lovegrove to obtain a crushing Kingside attack.