George Henry Mackenzie was born on November 24, 1837, at Belfield House, North Kessock, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland. He was the youngest of the four sons of John and Ann (Douglass) Mackenzie.
The year after the boy's birth, his father died and the family moved to Inverness and later to Aberdeen.
George received his early education in the schools of that city and was then sent to a high school in Southampton, England.
In 1853, Mackenzie returned to Aberdeen and afterward went to Rouen, France, where he entered a business office. Subsequently, he served as ensign in the 60th Rifles, a Scottish volunteer regiment, and with the regulars at the Cape of Good Hope, attaining the rank of lieutenant.
In 1861, he sold his commission. The following year he competed in the London handicap chess tournament, winning the first prize by defeating Anderssen, the foremost European chess player, at the odds of pawn and move.
In 1863, he emigrated to New York and on August 27 of that year, enlisted as a private in Company F, 83rd New York Infantry. On April 20, 1864, he was promoted to a captaincy in the 10th United States Infantry (Colored) and was honorably discharged, June 16, 1864, Taking up his residence in New York City, he became a professional chess player and writer on chess.
Mackenzie made a somewhat precarious living by his success in tournaments, matches, and exhibitions in various parts of the United States and Cuba.
Mackenzie was found dead in his room at Cooper Union Hotel, New York, having died on April 14, 1891, apparently of pneumonia.
Mackenzie won first prize in the tournaments of the New York Chess Club for 1865 to 1868 inclusive. In the second American Chess Congress (1871), at Cleveland, the third, at Chicago (1874), and the fifth, at New York (1880), he took first prize, winning recognition as the American chess champion. In international tournaments he placed fourth at Paris in 1878; tied for fourth-fifth at Vienna in 1882; tied for fifth-sixth-seventh at London in 1883; placed seventh at Hamburg in 1885; won first place at Frankfort in 1887, which victory made him world champion. He was second at Bradford, England, in 1888, and fourth at Manchester in 1890; only at the tournament in London in 1886 did he fail to place among the prize-winners. In match play, he defeated such notable American players as Reichhelm (1866, 1867), Stanley (1868), Judd (1881), and Lipschuetz (1886). In matches with English experts, he defeated Bird in 1876 and Blackburne in 1882, tied with Amos Burn in 1886, and lost to Blackburne in 1888. He also won three minor matches in Havana in 1887 and 1888.
Mackenzie was tall and handsome in appearance and genial in manner; with his Vandyke beard and slouch hat he resembled more the typical Southern "colonel" than a former British army officer.
