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Yorkshire Chess History |
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Contents: |
Craigside Tournaments |
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The name “Craigside” is that of a small area of habitation nestling under the west side of the Little Orme, to the east of Llandudno, on the north coast of Wales. It is still separated from the main Llandudno built-up area by a small tract of farmland now occupied by Bodafon Farm Park.
Craigside was the location of the “Craigside Hydro”, a hotel which was a “hydrotherapy” establishment such as was popular at that time. During World War II the hotel was used as government offices. A bomb landed nearby, hitting the hotel’s pumping station which was used to raise water to the hydrotherapy pools. It was popular in the 20th century for annual conferences and meetings of various national organisations, and survived at least into the 1960s. It has since been demolished and the area redeveloped as a cul-de-sac called Rhiwledyn, with Craigside Drive behind. Limpley Lodge, which stood in the Hydro’s grounds to its north-east, and was built to house the owners of the Hydro, remains as a convenient marker of the site.
The series of “Craigside” Tournaments is regarded latterly as having been an attempt to resuscitate the activities of the near-defunct Counties Chess Association. The later ones were called “Counties and Craigside” Tournaments. The secretary of the Craigside Tournament was Sheffield-born solicitor Arthur Firth, who lived near the venue, at “Bryn-y-bia”, Bryn-y-bia Road, Craig-y-don [=Craigside], Llandudno. Skipworth was a supporter of the series.
The winner of the open event held the Craigside Challenge Cup until the next competition. There was also a handicap event, with players receiving different levels of odds, according to relative strength, and a Ladies’ event, though the latter attracted insufficient entries to proceed at the 4th Tournament (1894).
It seems likely Arthur Firth was a member of Llandudno Chess Club. There was a chess club attached to the Newsroom and Library on Mostyn Street, Llandudno, and that had revived its flagging activities by holding, in 1886, a 6-player all-play-all tournament, with each player playing each other three times. This event had perhaps kindled or fuelled the idea of running the Craigside Tournaments.
The following is a list of (some of the) tournaments.
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Created 25/04/2012 |
Copyright © 2012 Stephen John Mann |
Last Updated 25/04/2012 |