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YORKSHIRE CHESS ASSOCIATION
The Second
Meeting of this Association was held at the Corn Exchange Rooms, Wakefield,
on Monday last, Nov. 8th. As the name may not convey to the
chess public generally the object and scope of this society, it may be
advisable to give a succinct history of its formation, and the views of
those by whom it was established.
In almost all
provincial clubs some one style of play often predominates, - a strong
mannerism (if we may use the expression) runs through the chess notions of
all the members, and wherever this peculiarity exists, it always operates
as a serious obstacle to attaining any high degree of efficiency. It
therefore occurred to several influential members of the Leeds and
Wakefield clubs that as the West Riding of Yorkshire bounded more than any
other part of the kingdom in chess clubs, some association which should
annually bring them together for a day’s play, would have the effect
of causing reciprocal participation of skill; and by exciting emulation,
tend to spread still further the love of this noble game. Nor were
the advantages overlooked of drawing chess players together by more social
bonds than those which had hitherto united them; for, in spite of the
sneers of the ignorant, who pronounce the game to be dull and unsocial,
there is no amusement, the charming art of music not excepted, that arouses
in so great a degree, the friendly and social feelings, or wiles away with
so much fascination the necessary hours of man’s amusement.
The idea of
this association, once broached, was followed up with enthusiasm, and the
result was the first general meeting of the Yorkshire players at Leeds,
last January.
After this
long preamble, we now come to the arrangements of the second meeting on
Monday last, and “merrie Wakefield of the olden time,” was
cheered by perhaps the largest assemblage of chess players that ever met
together for the purpose of play at any one time since the invention of
this ancient pastime. But numbers only are nothing. The
innumerable host of Xerxes was slayed by the small but valiant band of
Leonidas, there was more than mere numbers, there was skill of first rate
quality. Yorkshire furnished her best and bravest knights, and the
tourney was graced by two veteran warriors, Mons. Alexandre and Mr. Newham,
who are justly ranked amongst the first players of the kingdom.
At ten
o’clock the room was opened for play, and parties as they arrived
sought out their antagonists, so that in the course of an hour or two,
eighteen chess boards were in requisition, and continued so until six
o’clock. The party then adjourned to the Ball Inn to dinner,
where a most sumptuous repast was provided by Mrs. Bywater, to whom it is
but justice to say, that the great profusion and excellence of the viands,
the quality of the wines, and the upmost attention paid to the comforts of
her guests, gave universal satisfaction.
The party
consisted of forty-four gentlemen, among whom were the following:-
Rev. E. C. Tyson, Chairman, Mr. F. W. Cronhelm, Vice Chairman; Messrs.
Cronhelm, junr, Craven, Leyland and Walsh, of Halifax; Mr. Laycock,
Bradford; Messrs. Brierley, Kilner and Parratt of Huddersfield; Messrs
Brown, Boyne, Cadman, Muff, Powell, Rhodes, Richardson and Robinson, of
Leeds; Messrs. Ainley and Milligan, of Bingley; Messrs. Johnson, Pearson
and Maw of Doncaster; Messrs Lewis, Linley, Parker and Piper, of Sheffield;
Rev. R. Garvey, Messrs. Allison, France, O’Dwyer, Paige, W. Robinson,
H. Robinson, E. Shepherd, A. Shepherd and Walker of Wakefield.
Amongst the visitors were Mons. Alexandre, Mr. Newham, President, and
Messrs. Noyes and Maix, members of the Nottingham Club. Captain
Hardy, Mr. Stewart, Horbury, &c.
Mr. Newham,
one of the strongest players in England, owing to ill health and the
prohibition of his physician did not play. But we observed great
science shown in many of the games played by Mons. Alexandre; Mr. Noyes,
Nottingham; Messrs. Brown, Cadman, Muff, and Rhodes, of Leeds; Mr. Piper,
Sheffield; Messrs. Cronhelm and Leyland, of Halifax; Mr. Pearson,
Doncaster; Mr.Parratt, Huddersfield; Mr. Laycock, Bradford, &c.
The
reputation of the Wakefield Club was sustained by the Chairman, Rev. E. C.
Tyson, and Messrs. Allison, France and Robinson. Mr. Shepherd one of
the strongest members did not play at all, but contributed materially to
the success of the meeting by his assiduity in introducing the various
players to each other, and matching them suitably according to their skill.
The Rev. E.
C. Tyson took the chair; after the removal of the cloth, grace was said by
the Rev. Garvey. Among the toasts given were “The Queen,”
with the usual honours; “The Queen Dowager, Prince Albert, and the
Royal Family.”
Mr. CRONHOELM
[Cronhelm], vice chairman, rose to propose the third toast. He
descanted in an ingenious and pleasing manner on the resemblance of chess
manoeuvres to military tactics, on the power of concentrating an
overwhelming attack on the weak points of the adversary’s game, being
as necessary in chess as in war; he compared the evolutions of the knight
to the rapid movements of cavalry, and the cannons of the bishop to the
sweeping power of the artillery; whilst the chess player had a splendid
army at his disposal, whose private soldiers knew not how to retreat, but
rushed onward to the conflict, and either met a merited promotion or a
glorious death. Nor did the parallel fail between chess and war in
the counter attack. Scipio became immortal from his carrying war into
his enemy’s country, but almost every chess player knew how to carry
the war into Africa. The follower of Philidor might adopt at his
pleasure the wary policy of Fabius, avoiding every exchange, or the
brilliant and impetuous attacks of Marcellus. He alluded to the moral
use of chess in giving a command of temper; he had observed that day with
pleasure the vanquished feeling no sense of mortification from his
admiration at the superior tactics of his opponent, and the conqueror
reprising unseemly triumph, from respect to the player who had made his
victory cost so dear. He concluded by proposing “Success to the
Yorkshire Chess Association.”
The Revd.
CHAIRMAN rose and expressed himself an ardent admirer of the Game of
Chess. He observed, when we consider that amusements of some sort are
absolutely necessary, - when we consider how expensive the generality of
fashionable amusements are – how rarely free from vice or a tendency
to it, and that such as are unobjectionable in this particular, seldom
possess any quality of an intellectual character, which chess does in an
eminent degree, - I say, gentlemen, with these truths before us, that a
person must be an ingenious caviller who can advance and substantiate one
argument against its general adoption. Cards and dice are usually
instruments for transferring money; chess is solely a contest of
skill. The wheel of Fortune does not revolve here, as it does in
almost every other game. Many persons, no doubt, think that the
object of our association is trifling and unworthy of the esteem we bestow
upon it; but recollect, gentlemen, it is our amusement, it is an innocent
and harmless source of gratification; and therefore that it is not unworthy
of our esteem. Had we met here for the purpose of forming some joint
stock concern;- in other words, had we met here for the purpose of taking
money out of our neighbour’s pocket and putting it into our own, we
should at once receive the approbation of the credulous public; had
we met here to examine minutely a bag of stones, or the mouldering remains
of some antediluvian Mammoth, we should be greeted with the applause of a scientific
public; but our object being merely to amuse ourselves, according to the
strict meaning of the word amuse, and enjoy the society of those who
entertain sympathies in common with ourselves, we must, I fear, be content,
not only to forego the patronage of the learned, but perhaps to endure
their sneers. – The next toast shall be “The health of those
strangers who have given us the honor [sic] of their company on this our
second anniversary of the Yorkshire Chess Association.”
SAMUEL NEWHAM
Esq., of Nottingham, rose, on behalf of himself and his friends, Mr. Noyes,
and Mr. Maix, to return thanks; and in a speech not only remarkable for its
gentleman like hearing, but for its powerful and persuasive advocacy of his
favourite game, said that from his earliest youth he had been fond of this
game; and declared that from it he had derived more pleasure than from any
other amusement whatever. Although Dr. Elliotson, my physician, added
Mr. Newham, has strictly ordered me for the present to abstain from play,
and which advice I feel bound to observe, yet such is my ardour in the
chess cause, that I have come from Nottingham for the purpose of being a
mere spectator of the play, and of enjoying the society of my brethren in
arms. I have been present at most of the celebrated matches between
De la Bourdonnais, Macdonnell, etc. and am well acquainted with the Degree
[sic] of advancement to which chess has arrived in this country; but I feel
justified in saying that there is greater chess strength in this
Association than in any country club in the kingdom.
Mons.
ALEXANDRE rose to return thanks for the kindness with which the company had
drunk his health. His knowledge of English was so imperfect that he
hoped he should be excused saying more than that he was very much obliged
to them; and that though he had undertaken a long journey solely to attend
this large meeting, he did not regret it. He had spent a very
pleasant day, and observed with pleasure the progress of Chess in
Yorkshire.
Mr. MAIX, a
German residing in Nottingham, here got up and made a most humorous
burlesque speech, the effect of which was such as to keep the company in a
continual roar of laughter, and which was only allayed by the wily speaker
sitting down again. We cannot give any extracts, for the peculiar
foreign accent and manner, gave the remarkable effect perfectly
indescribable.
Mr. PIPER (of
Sheffield) proposed the next toast. He regretted that it had not been
placed in better hands but it was assigned to him so late that he could not
well decline it. It was the first time that he had ever had to
address a large public party, and he hoped he should meet the indulgence of
the company. No man could have greater love of chess than himself; it
had been his delight since boyhood, and the more he unravelled its
intricacies and fathomed its mysteries, the more did it appear worthy of
that pre-eminent station which it held among rational and intellectual
amusements. He alluded to the power of the queen, and to the
deplorable condition of the game when she was lost; and in the game of
life, he said, if man would be prosperous and happy he must take a help
mate. The bachelors [sic] must select his queen,- the unmarried man
must become a married one, and his path will be smoothened, and his
pleasures become enhanced, and his cares made lightened by
participation. But this move is a very important one, it requires
great consideration, forethought and judgement. If a false step is
made, the evil is irremediable, and the path of life, in stead of being
strewed with flowers becomes henceforth beset with thorns and over cast
with gloom. Gentlemen, I give you the sentiment that has been
allotted to me – “May every one, not only in the game of Chess,
but in the game of life, ever know how to make the next best move.”
Mr. NEWHAM
begged to propose the health of Mr. George Walker, of London, a gentleman,
who by his unceasing exertions in the cause of Chess for a long series of
years, and by his excellent works on the game, has done more to promote the
cause of chess than any man in Europe. It was entirely due to this
gentleman’s exertions that the present St. George’s Club was
formed, consisting of a hundred members, and being the strongest chess
society ever established in England.
The next
toast was to have been “The health of Mons. Alexandre, and the living
chess authors.” by Mr. Muff, President of the Leeds Club, but owing
to its having been in advertently [sic] anticipated in part, it was
omitted.
The health of
the Chairman was then drank [sic] and responded to, after which a
conversation took place about the next meeting, which was finally arranged
to be held in Halifax on Wednesday, Nov 2nd 1842.
The Rev. R.
Garvey, in moving that the meetings be in future held on Wednesday instead
of Monday, expressed his warm admiration of the game which he considered as
possessing more of an intellectual character than any other amusement
whatever. He had formerly belonged to a philosophical society in
which science was treated like play; he had joined the chess association
instead, and in it he beheld play really turned into science.
Coffee was
now brought in, five or six boards were again put in requisition, and
social rational mirth enlivened the evening till a late hour.
Owing to no
reporter having been present, very short and imperfect notices can only be
given of the speeches made on the occasion.
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