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Yorkshire Chess History |
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1898: Lancashire v Yorkshire |
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< 1890 Roses Match – 1899 Roses Match > played at Manchester Athenaeum Lecture Hall, on Saturday, 19/02/1898, over 35 boards.
There hadn’t been a match between Yorkshire and Lancashire since 1890. After the 50-board 1887 Yorkshire-Lancashire match, the Liverpool club had been insisting that matches should be over only ten boards, and there was consequently no such county match in 1888. Then, Yorkshire and Manchester had tried the compromise of cutting the number of boards to 20 for a 1889 Lancashire-Yorkshire match, but the Liverpool club still chose not to participate, though the match went ahead with Manchester representing “Lancashire”. The 20-board format was repeated for the 1890 Yorkshire-Lancashire match, but Liverpool again chose not to participate and the series of matches ceased.
1897, however, had seen the eventual formation of the Lancashire Chess Association, and one of the first actions of the committee of the newly-formed Lancashire Chess Association was to challenge the Yorkshire Chess Association to a match, which had been promptly accepted. It seems the earlier acceptance of only a 10-board team was now a thing of the past, as the match was duly arranged to be played over 35 boards, less than the 50-board matches of the more distant past, but more than the previous 20, and very definitely more than the Liverpudlian 10 boards.
A report on the match appeared in the Leeds Mercury Weekly Supplement of 26/02/1898.
Amos Burn captained the Lancashire team, while Walter Atkinson, as reigning Yorkshire Champion, captained the Yorkshire team. By coincidence, both captains were happened to have been born in Hull. Lancashire had White on the odd boards. The time limit was 20 moves an hour. Play started at 3.00 p.m. After played ceased shortly after 7.00 p.m., the five games remaining unfinished were adjudicated by Amos Burn and Victor Wahltuch of Lancashire, and Walter Atkinson and James Rayner of Yorkshire. The result was a 20-15
The teams were photographed, and the teams then dined together. It was the declared intention of the Lancashire Chess Association to produce a book, with photographs and games, to commemorate the first such match played under their auspices.
* Wrongly recorded in the Leeds Mercury as “Kendrick”. ** This was presumably A. Dod.
Lancashire-Yorkshire, Lecture Room, Manchester Athenaeum, 19/02/1898 White: Raynor, James (Leeds), Black: Jones, H (Manchester) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. dxe5 Nb7 8. Qe2 Be7 9. Nd4 O-O 10. Rd1 Qe8 11. Re1 Nc5 12. Nf5 Kh8 13. Nxe7 Qxe7 14. Nc3 Ba6 15. Qe3 Ne6 16. Ne4 d5 17. exd6 ep cxd6 18. Qa3 Nc5 19. Bg5 Qe5 20. Nxc5 Qxc5 21. Qxa6 Qxg5 22. Qxc6 Rac8 23. Qxd6 Rfd8 24. Qe7 Qxe7 25. Rxe7 Rxc2 26. Rxf7 Rxb2 27. Rxa7 h6 28. a4 Ra2 29. Rf1 Rd4 30. g3 Rdxa4 31. Rxa4 Rxa4 and the game was drawn. [Leeds Mercury Weekly Supplement of 26/02/1898; whether it was 30. .. Rdxa4 or 30. .. Raxd4 that was played wasn’t actually specified.]
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Created 05/08/2013 |
Copyright © 2013 Stephen John Mann |
Last Updated 12/11/2020 |