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Yorkshire Chess History |
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Contents: |
1888: Yorkshire County Chess Club, 3rd Annual Tournament Meeting |
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Initial Arrangements
The 3rd annual tournament meeting of the Yorkshire County Chess Club was all set to take place on 28/01/1888, at the Clarence Hotel, High Street, Sheffield. Organisation of the event fell to “a local committee consisting of Messrs. Snow, Askham and Hepworth, and the following gentlemen, acting on behalf of the County Club:- Messrs. White (Leeds), Waight (Halifax), Cassell (Bradford), and the Hon Secretary (Mr. I. M. Brown).”
The named organisers are easily identifiable as Sheffielders Robert Snow (West End Chess Club), George Albert Roberts Askham (of both Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club and Arundel & Hallamshire Chess Club), and Alfred Skelton Hepworth (Arundel & Hallamshire Chess Club); and non-Sheffielders James White (Leeds), Henry Hoyer Waight (Halifax), Hartwig Cassell (Bradford), and Isaac McIntyre Brown (Leeds).
The planned competitions, and prizes, were as follows:
The 5:3 ratio of first and second prizes in the problem solving, as compared with the 2:1 ratio in the other competitions, is difficult to explain.
Participation in tournaments was open to members of clubs affiliated to the Yorkshire County Chess Club, and to individual members thereof, the fee for individual membership being one shilling per annum.
Unforeseen Circumstances
As the date of the meeting approached, an outbreak of smallpox which had occurred in Sheffield was assuming alarming epidemic proportions, to an extent which led the organising committee to decide to postpone the event.
Two options presented themselves, either to hold the event in a different town, or to cancel the event for the year. No decision was made at first, but as arrangements for the 1888 British Chess Association’s Congress, an unusual option presented itself and was adopted, that of running the YCCC’s three competitions, Classes A, B and C, alongside the 1888 British Chess Association congress held that year in Bradford.
Normally only the first two rounds or so of the YCCC tournaments would be played on a single day at a single venue, then later rounds would be played over a number of months. In 1888 all rounds were played over a fortnight, except for the Class A final.
Sheffield was originally, in principle, expected to be allowed to host the event next time round, but the introduction of the Fattorini Trophy seems to have meant that Bradford got to host the event in 1889, and Sheffield didn’t get its postponed turn until 1890.
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Created 26/10/2013 |
Stephen John Mann |
Last Updated 26/10/2013 |