Yorkshire Chess History

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Sheffield Sub-Site

The following is a catalogue of diverse things falling into the category of chess “firsts” or chess inventions, of one sort or another, to which Yorkshire or a Yorkshireman can reasonably lay claim:

Associations of clubs	The first association of chess clubs in Britain was the original Yorkshire Chess Association.
British Chess Champions	Click here for a list of “Yorkshire” British Chess Champions
British Chess Magazine	The British Chess Magazine developed out of the chess column run by John Watkinson in the Huddersfield College Magazine, John Watkinson becoming the BCM’s first editor.
Chess clocks, commercial manufacture of	The first commercial manufacture of chess clocks was undertaken by the Bradford firm of Fattorini. (See Antonio Fattorini.)
Chess magazine	The founding editor of Chess Magazine, Baruch H. Wood, was born in Sheffield.
Counties’ Chess Unions, concept of	Counties’ Chess Unions arose from the pioneering “North versus South” chess matches which were the brainchild of Isaac McIntyre Brown.
County Chess Associations	The first county chess association was the original Yorkshire Chess Association.
County match winners	Yorkshire won the first-ever inter-county chess match.
Fifty-move rule, proof of exception to	Alfred Crosskill was the first to publish a demonstration a “won” ending requiring more that 50 moves to force a win.
Gledhill Attack	The Gledhill Attack in the French Defence was named after Walter Gledhill.
Grimshaw theme in chess problems	The Grimshaw theme in chess problems was named after Walter Grimshaw.
Hall Variation	The Hall Variation in the Centre Game was named after John Edmund Hall.
International tournament in England, highest placed Briton in	Marmaduke Wyvill was the highest-placed Briton in the first-ever international chess tournament in Britain.
National Chess Organisations	1) The first national chess organisation in Britain was the British Chess Association which developed directly from the expansion of the original Yorkshire Chess Association. 2) The second was the Counties’ Chess Association which developed directly from the series of chess meetings run by Arthur Bolland Skipworth in Redcar and then York.
Oxford Univ. team captain in Oxford-Cambridge match	Walter Parratt was the captain of the Oxford team in the first Oxford-Cambridge chess match.

Created 25/04/2012

Steve Mann

Last Updated 25/04/2012