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Pillsbury was born on December 5, 1872 in Somerville, Massachusetts. He learned chess in 1888 at the relatively late age of 15. His first chess teacher was Addison Smith, a member of the Boston Chess Club who lived in Somerville. Pillsbury grew up in Philadelphia and made a name for himself at the Franklin Chess Club. Only two years later, in 1890, while he was not quite 18, Pillsbury played a series of Evans Gambits with the veteran Baltimore expert, H.N. Stone, one of the inventors of the Stone-Ware defense in the Evans, and smashed him 5-2.
In September, 1893, he played in an impromptu tournament and beat the U.S. Champion Jackson Showalter. In December, 1893, he came in clear first at the Masters' Manhattan Cafe Chess Tournament in Manhattan at the City Chess Club. In 1894, he had wealthy admirers that financed his trip over the Atlantic to play in the great tournament in Hastings, England, 1895. Pillsbury was only 22 years old. The field included Dr. Lasker, Wilhem Steinitz, as well as the champions from England, France, Russia and Italy. He won the tournament, brilliantly. As a result of his performance in the contest he received an invitation to the St. Petersburg, tournament of 1895. The field of opponents included Dr. Lasker, Wilhem Steinitz, and Mikhail Tchigorin. The four players would play six games against each other. Lasker crushed the field, with Steinitz second, Pillsbury third, and Tchigorin last. During this time in Russia, Pillsbury contracted the syphilis disease. His play was spotty from here on through his life.
Showalter had huge backers, and a rematch was set in New York in 1898. Pillsbury won 7 games to3. This was an official championship match and Pillsbury was named American Champion, even though he resented having that title. From 1890 to 1900 Pillsbury worked the automaton Ajeeb in Coney Island, New York. In 1900 he went on a seven month nation-wide tour in which he gave over 150 exhibitions and traveled 40,000 miles. This was quite a feat in and of itself during that time. In 1901 Pillsbury fell in love and he married Mary Bush in Philadelphia. He tried to negotiate a match with Lasker for the world championship, but nothing ever came of it.
Pillsbury,H - Lasker,E 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5 5.Bg5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Qh4 dxc4 9.Rd1 Bd7 10.e3 Ne5 11.Nxe5 fxe5 12.Qxc4 Qb6 13.Be2 Qxb2 14.0-0 Rc8 15.Qd3 Rc7 16.Ne4 Be7 17.Nd6+ Kf8 18.Nc4 Qb4 19.f4 exf4 20.Qd4 f6 21.Qxf4 Qc5 22.Ne5 Be8 23.Ng4 f5 24.Qh6+ Kf7 25.Bc4 Rc6 26.Rxf5+ Qxf5 27.Rf1 Qxf1+ 28.Kxf1 Bd7 29.Qh5+ Kg8 30.Ne5 1-0
On March 7, 1905, he suffered a stroke. On March 28 he was operated on at the Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia. Still in May, 1905, he gave a simultaneous exhibition in Boston. In November 1905 he went to Bermuda. While there he suffered his 2nd stroke and returned home in January, 1906. He went to Pasadena for special medical treatment. Five months later in May 1906, he had another stroke which caused partial paralysis. He died of general paresis (syphilis) on June 17, 1906 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at age 33. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Reading, MA. Pillsbury was America’s mercurial chess genius. He is now a man for the ages. Had he lived and been unencumbered by illness he may have become the greatest champion of all time. Click here for 389 of Pillsbury's games in a zipped pgn file.
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Pillsbury
returned to America and was challenged by the American Champion Showalter.
They engaged in a chess match, and Pillsbury won handily. Showalter
remained American Champion; however, because Pillsbury insisted that he
didn't want the title and refused it.
In
1904, the last year that he played active chess, Pillsbury beat Lasker, with
the same opening, but with a different 7th move, at Cambridge Springs, PA,
USA. He waited eight years to do that. It is one of the most
classic chess games to date:
