Welcome to the new home page of the Masonic Postal Chess Club

We are just getting started, so bear with us. Revised September 15, 2001.

The Masonic Postal Chess Club is a group of Chess-playing Freemasons, and their families, who have banded together to play Chess and share fellowship.

Our players' skill levels range from beginner to advanced. We primarily play by postcard or letter, but some of us now play by fax or email. Those of us playing by email with Attachment capability and Microsoft Word use this board to play:

We usually use Descriptive Notation, as described in the Appendant Rules, but by prior agreement a match can be played with Algebraic Notation.

Bylaws of the MPCC (3-97 rev.)

MPCC Membership Application

General Instructions for Play in the MPCC

Appendant Rules for Play in the MPCC

In Washington, DC, near the Mall, there is a plaza surrounded by a low, bench-height wall. It is called John Marshall Park, and includes a statue of the gentleman just like the one in the Supreme Court building. Placed upon that wall, one finds several Chess boards. I hope the Public frequents this Plaza for some Chess in a nice setting. On one side are these gentlemen, permanently at their board.

Here is another look at their position. I cannot tell what the position is, as the colors of the pieces are not clear enough. I am sure one of you chess genuses can either figure it out, or know how to find someone who knows. Next, I would like to know how the game progressed to get the players to this point. Which player is Black, which White? Is the more rotund gentlemen taking advantage of the younger by playing the White pieces?

NEWS FLASH!! On April 7th, 1999 our Club Secretary received an email from M. Ivo Fasiori telling us that the statues depict a game between Morphy and Maurian in New Orleans in 1855. Maurian, playing Black, won in 12. More on this later. M. Fabiori, who resides in Italy, Has earned a prize for solving this mystery. We sent him a nicely-made small, round wooden portable chess set.

UPDATE!! I finally finished my research on this game. There were a few elements in the story, and in the picture, that I wanted to confirm. This game is, as M. Fasiori said, a game between Paul Morphy playing white and his friend Charles Maurian playing black. The game was played in 1855 in Springhill. Most of their games were played in New Orleans, and that is what M. Fasiori reported, but the databases put it at Springhill, and so I had a bit of trouble searching. There are a couple of other interesting features. As the board is set, white is on the right, and black on the left - but it appears to me that the statues are reversed. Maurian is heavy in his photographs, Morphy looks thin. The final quirk to my story is that white's queen Rook is missing. It should be on a1 (the lower, right-hand corner of the board). I also don't see the black knight that was captured on 10.Nf3xd4, but that may just be out of the frame.

So, after all that, here is the game notation: 1.e2-e4 e7-e5 2.f2-f4 e5xf4 3.Bf1-c4 Qd8-h4+ 4.Ke1-f1 b7-b5 5.Bc4-d5 Nb8-c6 6.Ng1-f3 Qh4-h5
7.d2-d4 Ng8-f6 8.Bd5-b3 Bc8-a6 9.Qd1-e2 Nc6xd4 10.Nf3xd4 b5-b4 11.Qe2xa6 Qh5-d1+ 12.Kf1-f2 Nf6-g4+++

Maurian won playing black on his 12th turn, but the board depicts the position after 11.Qe2xa6 (note the newly-captured Bishop in White's hand).