The Centennial of the Romanian Chess Federation

Romania celebrated the centenary of the Romanian Chess Federation, at the beginning of 1925

Steliu Lambru, 20.01.2025, 13:26

Considered a “sport of the mind” due to its high degree of complexity, anticipation of the opponent’s strategy, speed in decision-making, and intense use of memory, chess has attracted and will continue to attract many practitioners. It is viewed as a miniature military confrontation and used as a metaphor to describe a complex situation in which two parties duel. In the 19th century, the best players in Europe met in cafes where they played without a time limit for a game or a move, but they played for a stake. In Paris there was a famous cafe, Cafe de la Regence, and in St. Petersburg there was the Dominique cafe, with billiards, checkers, and chess rooms. It was competed with by the Reiter cafe, located a short distance away, and in Moscow the Pekin cafe in Theater Square was famous. The best players of a famous cafe could be considered professional chess players. Back then, there were no clubs, and chess games were usually played in cafes, sometimes for money.

The history of the “sport of the mind” in Romania celebrated the centenary of the Romanian Chess Federation at the beginning of 1925. But the practice of the sport in the Romanian space came earlier. Although part of the Ottoman space for several centuries, where the practice of chess dates back to the Middle Ages, in the Romanian Principalities chess was brought from France around the revolution of 1848. Ștefan Baciu is a chess player and historian of this sport, and from him we learned details about the practice of chess in Romania.

“Chess was also played in the cafes in the Romanian space, among the passionate players being personalities of that era. A Romanian born near Cernăuţi, George Marcu or Georg Marco, published in the specialized magazine Wiener Schachzeitung a game that he had played against his brother, Mihai, in the Europa cafe in Cernăuţi. Chess was also played with passion in Bucharest cafes. Manolache Costache Epureanu, president of the Council of Ministers towards the end of the 19th century, was expected at a government meeting, but he was playing chess in a cafe, the incident being presented in a sketch by I.L. Caragiale. The first chess clubs were also founded in cafes. Thus, in 1875, the Austrian violinist Ludovic Wiest, professor at the Bucharest Conservatory, organized the first chess salon in Bucharest, in the Concordia cafe on Smârdan Street, in the old center of Bucharest. In 1892, the first chess club in Bucharest was founded, at the Kuebler cafe. Women did not have access to cafes, but wealthy people had solutions. Thus, the industrialist Basil Assan had set up a chess salon in the house he owned in Bucharest where he could play with his three daughters.”

Among the founders of this club was Hercule Anton Gudju, who read law in Paris in the early 1880s and had won several strong tournaments in the French capital. The one who would be decisively involved in the founding of the Romanian Chess Federation was his son, Ion Gudju, a member of the Bucharest Chess Club. In the summer of 1924, Ion Gudju, George Davidescu and Leon Loewenton had played a team chess tournament in Paris, during the Summer Olympics. On July 20, 1924, after the last round of the tournament, 15 delegates signed the founding act of the International Chess Federation, “Fédération Internationale des Échecs” (FIDE), one of the signatories being the Romanian Ion Gudju.

After returning from Paris, the young Ion Gudju traveled throughout the country to discuss with the representatives of the chess clubs in Greater Romania the establishment of a national federation. Ștefan Baciu tells us what happened next.

“On January 4, 1925, representatives of 26 chess clubs formed the Provisional Committee of the Romanian Chess Federation. Adam Hențiescu was elected president of this committee, a personality of the era, who was also the president of the Bucharest Chess Club. Born in Transylvania, Adam Hențiu, aged 21, crossed the mountains to fight in the 1877 War of Independence. After the war, he changed his surname from Hențiu to Hențiescu and settled in Bucharest where he graduated from the University, obtaining a pharmacist’s diploma. He was a promoter of the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania, he fought as a volunteer in the First World War. Unfortunately, Adam Hențiescu died before the Romanian Chess Federation was truly established. Among the members of the Initiative Committee was Alexandru Tyroler from Timișoara, who won the first national champion title in the history of Romanian chess in 1926. Among the good players of that period, we can also mention Nicolae Brody from Cluj and Janos Balogh from Miercurea Ciuc, who remained in the history of chess with a defense that bears his name. The Initiative Committee also included university professors, lawyers and politicians.”

In 1925, chess circles were established in cities, high schools and universities in Greater Romania, 9 of them in Bucharest. The act of establishment of the Romanian Chess Federation was formalized in Bucharest, on March 14, 1926, on the occasion of the first congress of the Romanian Chess Federation. The economic crisis of 1929-1933 also had an impact on the chess movement in Romania, and in 1932 and 1933, the national individual men’s championship was no longer organized. And the Romanian team, after a constant presence in the first editions of the Chess Olympiads, did not participate in the editions of 1937 and 1939.