Yorkshire Chess History

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1839-40 Sheffield-Hull Correspondence Match

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The 29/10/1839 issue of the Sheffield newspaper The Iris carried on page 3 a report of the first four moves of this match, stated to have commenced on 01/10/1839, starting as follows: Chess ----- The following is the state of the game at present play- ing between the Sheffield and Kingston‑upon‑Hull Chess Clubs.  Commencement Oct. 1st, 1839. GAME No. 1 – 1st MOVE. S.   Kg’s Pawn two squares. K.   Kg’s P. one square. 2 MOVE. S.   Queen P. two squares. K.   Q’s B. P. two squares 3 MOVE. S.   Kg’s Kt. to B. 3rd. K.   Q’s P. two squares. 4 MOVE. S.   Q’s Kt. to B. 3rd. K.   Q’s Kt. to B. 3rd. GAME No. 2 – 1st MOVE. K.   Kg’s Pawn two squares. S.   Kg’s P. two square. 2 MOVE. K.   Kg’s B. P. two squares. S.   Pawn takes Pawn 3 MOVE. K.   Kg’s Kt. to B. 3rd. S.   Kg’s Kt’s P. two. 4 MOVE. K.   Kg’s B. to Q’s B. 4th. S.   Kg’s B. to Kg’s Kt’s. 2nd. The Sheffield Club plays Red and the Kingston Club White – To be continued. This was in the days when colour and first move were determined independently, thus Sheffield had Black (or rather, in this case, Red) in both games, but had the first move (effectively White as we do things today) in Game 1, while Hull had the first move in Game 2. Subsequent weekly issued of The Iris carried the next move by each side in each game, at least as far as the end of December 1839, at which point copies of the paper on microfilm in Sheffield Local Studies Library cease.  The games as reported up to and including The Iris of 24/12/1839 went as follows: Sheffield v Hull, Correspondence Match, 1839-40 Game 1 White: Sheffield, Black: Hull 1. e4 e6 2. d4 c5 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. dxc5 Be6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Be2 Qa5 9. Nd2 d4 10. b4 Qxb4 11. Nb5 dxe3 12. fxe3 Nd5 , Game 2 White: Hull, Black: Sheffield, 01/10/1839 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. h4 h6 6. d4 d6 7. c3 c6 8. Qb3 Qe7 9. O-O a6 10. hxg5 hxg5 11. Nxg5 Qxg5 12. Bxf7+ Ke7 ,

Created 23/04/2015

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated 23/04/2015