Harry Nelson Pillsbury
- November 23, 2025
Chessmetrics Ranking: World Number One 1903-1904
Tournament Career: winner of two super-tournaments:
Hastings 1895 Chess Tournament
German Chess Congress 1900
Matches: Pillsbury vs Showalter 10:7 (=3)
Pillsbury vs Showalter 7:2 (=3)
Why He Deserved It:
The meteoric rise of young American Harry Nelson Pillsbury in many ways resembled the earlier achievements of his compatriot Morphy. Already at twenty, he was clearly the best player in the United States, and it was necessary to measure his strength against the world’s best players in Europe. The Brooklyn Chess Club sponsored his trip to Europe, where in 1895, at just twenty-two, he participated in the super-tournament in Hastings.
The 1895 Hastings tournament was the largest tournament of the nineteenth century and will forever remain one of the most legendary tournaments in the history of the royal game. No one from the world elite was missing—it was probably the first tournament in history where everyone who meant something in the world of chess at that time played. A total of 22 masters played a single round-robin. Out of 21 possible points, Pillsbury scored 16.5 and surprisingly won the tournament, instantly becoming the greatest chess celebrity of the time. He left behind the Russian master Chigorin by half a point, and even further behind were world champion Lasker, former world champion Steinitz, Tarrasch, Schlechter, Janowski, Gunsberg, Mason, and all the others.
With this achievement alone, he etched his name into history, but the young American participated in many other strong tournaments, often finishing second behind world champion Lasker or another star. He managed to win the German Chess Congress, where he finished ahead of Schlechter, Janowski, Maroczy, Burn, and others. According to historical rankings, he was the world number one at the turn of 1903-1904.
He was on the best path to earn the right to challenge Lasker for the world title, but then he fell ill, and his health worsened. This prevented him from reaching the match, and his chess career remains one of the greatest chess “what ifs.” He died at just 33 years old.
Best Games:
Harry Nelson Pillsbury vs Emanuel Lasker
Nuremberg 1896
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.a3 Nxc5 8.b4 Nd7 9.Bd3 a5 10.b5 Ncb8 11.Nf3 Nc5 12.Be3 Nbd7 13.O-O g6 14.Ne2 Be7 15.Qe1 Nb6 16.Nfd4 Bd7 17.Qf2 Nba4 18.Rab1 h5 19.b6 Nxd3 20.cxd3 Bxa3 21.f5 gxf5 22.Nf4 h4 23.Ra1 Be7 24.Rxa4 Bxa4 25.Ndxe6 fxe6 26.Nxe6 Bd7 27.Nxd8 Rxd8 28.Bc5 Rc8 29.Bxe7 Kxe7 30.Qe3 Rc6 31.Qg5+ Kf7 32.Rc1 Rxc1+ 33.Qxc1 Rc8 34.Qe1 h3 35.gxh3 Rg8+ 36.Kf2 a4 37.Qb4 Rg6 38.Kf3 a3 39.Qxa3 Rxb6 40.Qc5 Re6 41.Qc7 Ke7 42.Kf4 b6 43.h4 Rc6 44.Qb8 Be8 45.Kxf5 Rh6 46.Qc7+ Kf8 47.Qd8 b5 48.e6 Rh7 49.Ke5 b4 50.Qd6+ 1-0
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.