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Sheffield
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Played on Saturday, 27th March 1886, at the Maunche Hotel,
Sheffield.
The match was
played over the maximum twenty boards. The report in the Sheffield
& Rotherham Independent Weekly Supplement of 03/04/1886, page 5,
described how things had initially seemed to forecast an ultimate win for
Leeds, but how events then gradually swung in Sheffield’s favour, with
the result finally hinging on adjudications which turned out decisively in
Sheffield’s favour, so that the Sheffield and District Chess
Association won the Woodhouse Cup at its first attempt.
The Independent’s
account of the match read as follows:
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IMPORTANT CHESS
CONTEST
An important
match was played at Sheffield on Saturday, being the last of the
year’s contests for the silver challenge cup presented by Ald.
Woodhouse, ex-Mayor of Leeds, to the clubs connected with the West
Yorkshire Chess Association. The match was played at the Maunche
Hotel, where admirable arrangements were made for the convenience of the
competitors. The results of the play for the first couple of hours or
so were very much in favour of Bradford, for at five o’clock the
visitors had secured four games to one for the home team. An hour
later Bradford had increased its lead, its score then being 8½ games
to 4½ won by Sheffield. the next hour, however, witnessed a
change, for whilst Bradford had only won half a game, Sheffield had
increased its score from four and a half to six. Shortly after eight
o’clock, Sheffield had made such advance that the score stood at 11
each. Half an hour afterwards the games then remaining unfinished
(six in number) were adjudicated upon by Mr. G. A. Askham and Herr Cassell;
with the result that four of them were given in favour of Sheffield, one to
Bradford, and one was declared a draw. Sheffield thus became the
winner of the match by two games, the score being – Sheffield, 6;
Bradford, 14. The Sheffield Association thus becomes the holder of
the Challenge Cup for 12 months. It was informally handed over to Mr.
Snow [S&DCA secretary] by Herr Cassell, but the formal presentation
will be made at a meeting of the West Yorkshire Chess Association next
month. – The following is the score:-
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* = captain
a = adjudicated unfinished game
From a Sheffield
chess historian’s point of view this match interestingly sees the
Sheffield Davy family’s chess-players all appearing in the same match,
with brothers Henry and Arthur joined by Henry’s son Harold (all fully
named in the reports).
[Sheffield & Rotherham Independent Weekly Supplement
of 03/04/1886, page 5]
[Undated, unattributed newspaper cutting in WYCA Minute
Book, clearly from the Leeds Mercury.]
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