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LIST OF NEW JERSEY CHAMPIONS FROM THE 19TH CENTURY TO WORLD WAR II

BY PETE TAMBURRO

This is always a work in progress. Many of the champions were found in The World Almanac. There was a chess page in that venerable journal going back to the 19th century. Herman Helms at some point took over the page. The first time his name appeared was in the 1904 World Almanac. He continued this in the almanac until his death in 1963. The 1964 WA attribution is to just American Chess Bulletin. After that the USCF took over, and now it’s just a brief mention. Back in the day, Helms sometimes went to a second page with chess news! He even managed to squeeze two Alekhine games in (vs. Capablanca and Euwe). Some years in the 1930s had no entries at all, but by and large it is a treasure trove of chess history and results, especially for New York area chess. The NJ Open got mentioned in 1957 because You Know Who won it and again in 1958 and 1959, but since the kid wasn’t coming back, I guess Helms lost interest. He never lost interest with New York chess, though.
Here is our current best guess, based on our research. We have more places to go, and definitely have to get back to the Firestone Library at Princeton University to go through more of the Cook Collection.
We have found a variety of last name spellings for the same person. We have left the different spellings and initials as they were in the particular source for that year. Some periods of NJ chess history are very vague. The important thing to remember is that from the 19th century on, Washington’s Birthday was used as the day to hold a New Jersey Chess Association tournament to determine the state champion. That may help searching in NJ newspapers. For some reason, it turned into a giant team match on that day. We’re still working on that.
If anyone has any contributions or corrections to this list, please contact ptamburro@aol.com.

1886

First meeting of the New Jersey Chess Association, February 23rd. Edward Casper Stokes, of Millville, later governor of NJ, was NJ’s first official chess champion.

1887

Edward Casper Stokes, Millville

1888

R.B. Keyes, Plainfield

1889

C. L. Murphy

1890

R.B. Keyes of Plainfield and N. Hymes of Newark were co-champions. May have been playoff with Keyes winning.

1891

Either S.L. Lissner or A. Vorath…still working on this, Probably Vorath.

1892

S. Lissner, Hoboken

1893

N. Hymes, Newark

1894

L. Sternberg, Newark

1895

A. Vorath and C. Hymes (playoff, result unknown) or H. Stapfer (conflicting reports)

1896

L. Sternberg, Newark

1897

Dr. B. Herstein of Elizabeth (played in Bayonne, 64 players)

1898

B. Herstein, H. Stapfer

1899

H. E. Higgins

1900

First meeting of the New Jersey Chess Association, February 23rd. Edward Casper Stokes, of Millville, later governor of NJ, was NJ’s first official chess champion.

1901

Dr. Herstein

1902

Dr. B. Herstein

1903

George J. Benner

1905

Dr. B. Herstein

1906

E.M. Roche or Jean Gunzelman (conflicting reports)

1907

Gustav Koehler, E.N. Olly

1908

E.N. Olly

1909

G. H. Koehler

1910

Driscoll

1911

Unknown

1912

J.H. Stapfer of Hoboken and D.W. Field of Hackensack

1913

T.F. Hattfield of Hoboken and C. H. Armstrong of East Orange

1914

F. Sager defeated C.E. Armstrong 2-1 in Newark

1915

E.E. Cobb of Paterson

1916

M.W. Schor of Newark

1917

Otto G. Horster

1918

W. Rissmiller of Paterson, 8.5-1.5 (an unusual number of games, generally less played)

1919

M.W. Shor

1920

Unknown

1921

J.W. Brunnemer

1922

J.W. Brunnemer

1923

J.W. Brunnemer and C.H. Armstrong (playoff result unknown, but mentioned)

1924

J.W. Brunnemer and Jack Cohen (playoff result unknown, but mentioned)

1925 - 1933

J.W. Brunnemer (or Brunnemar in some citations.) This era is a mystery; however, Brunnemer was clearly the best player of this time. Still looking for information here. The next bit of news was from the 1935 World Almanac. See next entry.

1934

Bill Ruth of Camden defeated Harold Pump of East Orange, 4-1.

1935

Unknown

1936

Unknown

1937

Unknown

1938

Harold Burdge (South Jersey champ) defeated Edgar McCormick (North Jersey Champ) 3.5-0.5

1939

Harold Burdge (inconclusive as 1939 match went into 1940!)

1940

J. DuBois was leading J.D. Neuss 2.5-1.5, no further knowledge.

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