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Played at Ferguson & Forrester’s Restaurant, 129 Princess Street, Edinburgh

on Saturday, 30/05/1903

over 25 boards

 

This was the third annual match between these protagonists.  The previous two matches were as follows:

 

Year

Venue

Score

1901

Glasgow

Scotland

16½‑6½

NCCU

1902

Manchester

NCCU

15½‑6½

Scotland

 

In 1903, the NCCU managed an impressive “away” win.  The train journey for NCCU players took in the order of six hours.  They arrived at 4.40 p.m., and play started at 5.00 p.m.  At close of play, at 9.00 p.m., the games on boards 4, 6 and 23 remained unfinished, but results were easily agreed without resort to formal adjudication.  Results were as follows:

 

 

Northern Counties Chess Union

16‑9

Scotland

1

A Dod (Liverpool, L)

1-0

D Y Mills (Edinburgh)

2

W Atkinson (Hull, Y)

0-1

R C MacDonald (Edinburgh)

3

E Spencer (Manchester, L)

½-½

A Murray (Glasgow)

4

H B Lund (Stockport, L)

0-1

J Gilchris (Glasgow)

5

F P Wildman (Leeds, Y)

1-0

A J Neilson (Glasgow)

6

V L Wahltuch (Manchester, L)

1-0

W M Whitelaw (Edinburgh)

7

J E Hall (Bradford, Y)

1-0

J M Longwill (Glasgow)

8

W Butler (Workington, Cu)

0-1

J Russell (Glasgow)

9

H E Wright (Middlesbrough, Y)

1-0

J Crum (Glasgow)

10

P R England (Liverpool, L)

1-0

J McGrouther (Glasgow)

11

C Lobel (Manchester, L)

1-0

A J Thomas (Dundee)

12

G Howitt (Bradford, Y)

1-0

J M Finlayson (Glasgow)

13

E A Greig (Birkenhead, Ch)

0-1

J McKee (Glasgow)

14

J A Woollard (Keighley, Y)

½-½

F Krasser (Glasgow)

15

F Downey (Newcastle, N)

0-1

T Lupton (Stirling)

16

C Coates (Manchester, L)

1-0

Dr Wyse (Falkirk)

17

Dr Hall (Carlisle, Cu)

½-½

F Lacaille (Glasgow)

18

I M Brown (Bradford, Y)

1-0

Rev Dr Grant (Dundee)

19

J Burtinshaw (Stockport, Ch)

½-½

J Court (Glasgow)

20

J Wahltuch (Manchester, L)

1-0

J Muirhead (Glasgow)

21

A Macdonald (Bradford, Y)

½-½

J S Pagan (Stirling)

22

J H Farnsworth (Manchester, L)

1-0

W M Bremner (Glasgow)

23

A Wolstencroft (Stockport, Ch)

½-½

D Simpson (Falkirk)

24

A E Moore (Manchester, L)

½-½

A Fraser (Edinburgh)

25

F W Pilkington (Manchester, L)

½-½

F Spence (Edinburgh)

 

Identities of NCCU players with names without hyperlinks (underlined) would appear to be as follows:

 

As Reported

Apparent Identity

W Butler

 

E A Greig

(Major) Edwin Arthur Greig

F Downey

Frederick Thomas Downey

Dr Hall

Dr Sidney Herbert Hall

J Burtinshaw

 

A Macdonald

 

J H Farnsworth

John Henry Farnsworth

A Wolstencroft

 

F W Pilkington

Frederick William Pilkington

 

The NCCU team drew its players from five counties as follows:

 

County

Players

Lancashire (L)

11

Yorkshire (Y)

8

Cheshire (Ch)

3

Cumberland (Cu)

2

Northumberland (N)

1

 

Durham doesn’t seem to have formed a county chess association until 1925, and so was not represented in the NCCU team.  Westmoreland was at this time integrated with Cumberland in the Cumberland & Westmoreland Chess Association (effectively covering modern Cumbria but without the Furness district which was then in Lancashire), though no Westmoreland players were present.

 

The Scottish team drew its members from five cities or towns as follows:

 

City/Town

Players

Glasgow

14

Edinburgh

5

Stirling

2

Dundee

2

Falkirk

2

 

Scotland had a number of strong players missing.  An interesting absentee was E Macdonald, of Liverpool, who was the reigning Scottish Champion!  He absence was perhaps a diplomatic abstention.

 

After the match the visitors were formally entertained to supper by the Scottish Chess Association, with the usual speeches and toast which attended such events.

 

The NCCU players were being accommodated at the Braid Mills Hotel, Morningside, Edinburgh, most staying on, after the match, until the following Tuesday.  The entertainment laid on by the Scots included a drive to the Forth Rail Bridge, about 9 miles West of Edinburgh, which was opened in 1890, joining Edinburgh to the southern part of Fife.  Little did they know that three months later, on 29/08/1903, back at Alderley Edge in Cheshire, chess-player William Albert Fairhurst was to be born, to go on, in due course, to design the Tay Road Bridge which joins the north-east tip of Fife to Dundee, having being opened in 1964.

 

[British Chess Magazine, 1903 p. 309 et seq., 2 games being given on pp. 311 & 312]

 

 

Created

29/04/2015

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated

29/04/2015