Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 (January 6, 1705 old style) in Boston.
In 1726, Franklin wrote about checkers (draughts), but did not mention chess. He had sailed to England and back, and gambled at checkers with his shipmates.
In 1727, Franklin formed a club of young workingmen. It was commonly called the Leather Apron Club, and officially dubbed the Junto. Franklin may have learned chess from this social club of enterprising tradesmen. This group helped establish the academy that later became the Univeristy of Pennsylvania. Its first rector was a chess playing companion of Franklin's.
In 1732, he drafted an essay called "The Morals of Chess" for his Philadelphia Junto discussions and his own newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin considered chess as a metaphor for both diplomacy and life. He had learned chess about this time. In his essay on "The Morals of Chess," Franklin attibuted chess being introduced into the United States by Spaniards, who spread chess over their part of America.
In 1733, he began to study languages. When he was learning Italian, he found a chess player who was also learning Italian. Together, they learned Italian. The winner of the chess game between them had to task the other to memorize parts of grammar or Italian translations. They were of equal strength, so he won just as many as he lost, and they both learned Italian.
In 1752, Franklin mentioned that his favorite chess playing partner, David Martin (1696-1751), had died. Franklin had written to an English publisher that he no longer needed a certain chess book because his principle antagonist was dead, and the few remaining players were very indifferent. Martin was a sheriff in New Jersey before coming to Philadelphia. He was one of the earliest members of the American Philosophical Society. He was the first rector of the Academy of Philadelphia (forerunner of the University of Pennsylvania) and a Greek and Latin professor.
In 1757, Franklin purchased a very nice chess set while in London. Franklin's chess set was made of fruitwood. It was French in origin. The chess set design was known as the Regency form. The Regency design was named after the Cafe de Regence in Paris. The Regency pieces were produced from the 1750s to the 1890s. The earlier design, such as what Franklin had, made the Knight piece without the traditional horse head. It had notched collars to distinguish it from the Bishops. It was a turned piece with two cuts at right angles out of its top ruff.
In 1762, Franklin delivered a Regency chess set for a friend, John Bartram (1699-1777), which Franklin ordered while in London. Bartram is considered the "father of American botany."
In Decmember, 1774, when Franklin was at a meeting of the Royal Society in London, he was introduced to Mrs. Caroline Howe (widow of a distant cousin, Richard Howe, and thus known as Mrs. Howe), a sister of Admiral Richard Howe (Lord Howe) and General William Howe. She challenged him to a game of chess. They played several games of chess at her house over the next few days, including Christmas. Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe eventually ended up the commanders of England's naval and land forces during the Revolution. Soon, Franklin was meeting secretly with Admiral Howe to talk about politics and negotiations, under the guise of visiting Mrs. Howe to play chess. Franklin used his chess connections to meet secretly with some members of Britain's Whig opposition to stave off a revolution by the colonies.
From 1777 to 1785, Franklin lived in Passy, France.
In the spring of 1777, Franklin first met Madame Brillon de Jouy (age 33) in Passy, near Paris. She was married to a wealthy man 24 years older than her (but 14 years younger than Franklin). She spoke no English. She loved music and was a chess playing companion of Franklin for the next eight years. In July, 1777, she wrote in the third person the following to Franklin: "She is a little miffed about the six games of chess he won so inhumanly and she warns him she will spare nothing to get her revenge." Franklin had a habit of having a late-night chess match with her in the bathroom. Madame Brillon was Franklin's neighbor when he stayed at Passy. She was considered one of the greatest harpsichord players in Europe.
Franklin played chess almost nightly until almost dawn. During one of Franklin's late-night chess matches, a messenger arrived with an important set of dispatches from America. Franklin waved him off until his chess game was finished.
Another time, Franklin was playing chess with the elderly Duchess of Bourbon, who made a move that exposed her king. Franklin then proceeded to capture the king. The duchess, knowing the proper rules to chess, said, "we do not take Kings so." Franklin responded, "We do in America." This anecdote was first told by Thomas Jefferson in his memoirs.
Franklin often played chess at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris. A letter written by Marquis de Lafayette described Franklin's chess playing in Paris.
Franklin blamed his gout from too much sitting playing chess and not enough exercise.
In June, 1779, he wrote "The Morals of Chess" while in London.
In 1782, the wife of the Count de Segur often played chess with Franklin.
In 1783, Franklin played "The Turk" automaton at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris and lost.
One night in Passy, he was absorbed in a game of chess when the candles flickered out. Refusing to quit, he ordered someone to find more candles. It was then pointed out to Franklin that it was already light out. Franklin threw open the shutters and said, "You are right, it is daytime. Let's go to bed." This incident prompted him to write a letter to the Journal de Paris in April, 1784, about the concept of Daylight Savings Time. If during the summer months Parisians would shift their sleeping time seven hours earlier, a huge savings would occur by using sunshine instead of candles. Franklin's habit was to stay up most of the night playing chess and getting up at noon.
Franklin returned to America in 1785.
In December 1786, he published an essay called "The Morals of Chess" in the Columbian Magazine in Philadelphia. He wrote: The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions. For life is a kind of Chess, in which we have points to gain, and competition or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: First, Foresight...Second, Circumspection...Third, Caution...And lastly, We learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources...
He died in 1790.
In 1791, a Russian translation from the French reprint of The Morals of Chess was published in St. Petersburg.
In 1999, Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Franklin's chess set is part of a traveling display called Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. This exhibition contains over 250 original Franklin artifacts. The exhibition debuted in Philadelphia.
