Yorkshire Chess History |
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Sheffield v Leeds, Woodhouse Cup, 1886 |
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Played on Saturday, 27th February 1886, at the Maunche Hotel, Sheffield.
The match was played over the maximum twenty boards. The James White’s report in the Leeds paper, while not denying Sheffield’s victory was honourable, nevertheless devoted much space to an explanation of how unfortunate Leeds were to have lost, and an angst-ridden analysis of where things had gone wrong and how things were to be remedied. There was no mention of any adjudications at the close of play, but the traumatised White was way beyond reporting such mundane details of the match! On four boards there was time only for a single game.
* = 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 report). The three are seen again in the later match against Bradford.
Some of the S&DCA players came from outside Sheffield itself. These “District” players were indicated in the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent as Rev. E. J. Huntsman of Tickhill, Dr. Wilson of Penistone, J Roe of Barnsley, and W Tiptaft of Swinton near Rotherham. The latter’s name was erroneously reported as Tipstaff.
The Sheffield captain, the Rev. Edmund John Huntsman, was vicar of Harworth, Notts, though had connections with Tickhill, Yorks. He was a great-grandson of Benjamin Huntsman who invented the “crucible” technique for the manufacture of steel.
The two games on top board were printed in the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, Rayner-Huntsman on 06/03/1886, and Huntsman-Rayner on 13/03/1886:
[Undated, unattributed newspaper cutting, clearly from the Leeds Mercury.] [Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, 06/03/1886, page 5, & 13/03/1886, page 5.]
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Created 09/07/2012 |
Copyright © 2012, 2014 Stephen John Mann |
Last Updated 20/08/2014 |