Yorkshire Chess History

In 1925, an enterprising Scarborough Chess Club organised such a congress during Whit week of 1925, starting on Saturday, 30th May, 1925, and ending on Saturday, 6th June 1925, at the Pavilion Hotel, Scarborough.

The initially projected tournaments were as follows:

Tournament	Minimum Prize Fund
Premier (limited to 12 players)	£27 10s.
Major	£17 10s.
Minor	£11
North & East Ridings Championship	£11

It was hoped the prize funds would be increase.

The playing schedule intentionally excluded play in the evening, to allow participants to take advantage of the various attractions on offer in Scarborough. This may have influenced the municipal authorities who undertook to meet the costs of advertising.

The entry form was with the printer in mid-February, and would be available on application to the hon. secretary of Scarborough Chess Club, Mr. G. M. Reid, of 14 York Place, Scarborough, who seems to have served as congress secretary.

Early entries or expressions of interest were received from the following, though a number of these seem not to have actually participated:

Edmund Spencer	Liverpool
John Arthur James Drewitt	Hastings
I. M. Brown	Bradford
A. C. Ivimy	Leeds
W. Atkinson	Hull
W. L. Wakefield	Coventry
John J. O’Hanlon	Ireland
A. Schofield	Pontefract
Leslie Burland	Rotherham
Sydney Meymott	Ealing

The British players who actually did participate came from as far afield as Glasgow and Penzance. The participation of Romih, Kahn and Groen imparted an international flavour to the event. Conde, as a Mexican by birth, added more international flavour

Premier Tournament

The 12-player Premier tournament was run as two 6-player all-play-all events, followed by play-offs to determine overall placings. Summary results in the Premier tournament were as follows:

Section A (all-play-all once)											Section B (all-play-all once)
Player			1	2	3	4	5	6	Score	Place	Player			1	2	3	4	5	6	Score	Place
1	Max Romih	(Italy)	X	½	1	1	1	1	4½	1	1	P Wenman	(N’allerton*)	X	½	1	1	½	1	4	1
2	A G Conde	(Hull)	½	X	0	1	1	1	3½	2	2	Victor Kahn	(Russia)	½	X	1	0	1	1	3½	2
3	A Louis	(London)	0	1	X	0	1	1	3	3‑4=	3	S Groen	(Holland)	0	0	X	1	1	1	3	3
4	E Spencer	(Liverpool)	0	0	1	X	1	1	3	3‑4=	4	W Gibson	(Glasgow)	0	1	0	X	1	0	2	4
5	F C Short	(Walsall)	0	0	0	0	X	1	1	5	5	C Y C Dawbarn	(Liverpool)	½	0	0	0	X	1	1½	5
6	J H Morrison	(London)	0	0	0	0	0	X	0	6	6	W Atkinson	(Hull)	0	0	0	1	0	X	1	6
											* of Northallerton but formerly of Leeds

Romih then beat Wenman in the play-off for 1st and 2nd places, while Conde beat Kahn in the play-off for 3rd and 4th places, resulting in the following overall top placings in the Premier:

1st	Max Romih
2nd	P Wenman
3rd	A G Conde
4th	Victor Kahn

Major Tournament

The 20-player Major tournament was split into three sections, “A”, “B” and “Supplementary” (why not “C”?), followed by play-offs between the top players in each section.

Section A			Section B			Supplementary Section
Player		Place	Player		Place	Player		Place
F Schofield	(Leeds)	1	P A Ursell	(Birmingham)	1	S J Holloway	(Bromley)	1
G Wright	(York)	2	J A Watt	(Hastings)	2	A N Stuart	(Brazil)	2
Also in the same section were						Also in the same section was
Joshua Jackson	(Dewsbury					G M Reid	(Scarborough)
S P Ludbrooke	(Rotherham)					H G Wright

In the cross-section play-offs, Schofield beat both Ursell and Holloway on Friday 05/06/1925, so securing 1st place. After play on Saturday 06/06/1925 was complete, the final top placings in the Major were determined as follows:

1st	F Schofield
2nd‑3rd	Percy Alfred Ursell
2nd‑3rd	Samuel John Holloway
4th	A N Stuart
5th	J A Watt
6th	G Wright

Minor Tournament

The Minor tournament was similarly split into three sections, “A”, “B” and “C”, followed by play-offs between the top players in each section.

Section A			Section B			Supplementary Section
Player		Place	Player		Place	Player		Place
F Davy	(Doncaster)	1	E M Lyon Campbell	(Worcester)	1	A Lindsay Densham	(Kingston)	1
R W Genese	(Tunbridge Wells)	2	Roland Albert Wale	(Leicester)	2‑3=	Miss H F Chater	(Penzance)	2
			D Byass	(Scarborough)	2‑3=
			Wale beat Byass in 2nd-place play-off.

In the cross-section play-offs, Davy beat both Wale and Lindsay Densham on Friday 05/06/1925, so securing 1st place. After play on Saturday 06/06/1925 was complete, the final top placings in the Minor were determined as follows:

1st	F Davy
2nd‑3rd	Roland Albert Wale
2nd‑3rd	Alfred Lindsay Densham
4th	E M Lyon Campbell
5th‑6th	Prof. Robert William Genese
5th‑6th	Miss Hilda Florence Chater

The winner of Section B in the Minor, E.M. Lyon Campbell, was a young blind player.

Sources include:

Yorkshire Telegraph & Star of 21/02/1925, 04/04/1925, 06/06/1925 and 13/06/1925.

Created

15/12/2013

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated

15/12/2013