Yorkshire Chess History

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1911: Duras v Yates Match

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Sheffield Sub-Site

from 06/02/1911 to 11/02/1911,

at Bradford Chess Club, Prudential Buildings, Ivegate, Bradford

(on corner with Tyrrel Street)

Bradford Chess Club organised a match between their “up and coming” young player 27-year-old Fred Dewhirst Yates and the 28-year-old Bohemian master Oldrich Duras.  The match was to be for the best of five games, seemingly with draws counting, though there were in fact no draws!  The event was followed by the Yorkshire Post.

Game	Played	to	White	Result	Black	Moves	Opening
1	06/02/1911		F D Yates	0‑1	O Duras	47	Ruy Lopez	play
2	07/02/1911	08/02/1911	O Duras	1-0	F D Yates	57	Ruy Lopez	play
3	08/02/1911	09/02/1911	F D Yates	1-0	O Duras	71	Ruy Lopez	play
4	09/02/1911	10/02/1911	O Duras	1-0	F D Yates	?	Ruy Lopez
		Final score	Duras	3-1	Yates

(Click on “play” in rightmost column to play through game on screen.)

The fifth game was not played as Duras had already achieved a match-winning score.

The Yorkshire Post published the moves of the games, except, seemingly, those of the fourth game.  Its report of Monday 13/02/191 said:

At the meeting held on Saturday at the Bradford Chess Club, the President, Mr. Edgar Cohn, presented the prizes to the two players and remarked on the interest the match had aroused, and the stubborn resistance that had been offered by the Yorkshire player to his formidable opponent.  In replying Herr Duras, who spoke in German, observed that his visit to Bradford would always remain a happy memory, and that he had been surprised by the improvement shown by his opponent since they met at the Hamburg Tournament.  The prizes were – Duras £10, Yates £3.

Those prizes might not seem much, but the Bank of England’s inflation calculator says that the equivalent in today’s money is:

Duras £1,157, Yates £347

Although Duras spoke in German at Bradford Chess Club (where, over the years, a number of members were of German extraction), his native tongue would have been Czech.  The “r” in his surname was in the Czech spelling “ř”, as in Dvořak, with a little “v” sitting on top of the “r”, representing a fricative post alveolar roll, which to the untrained English speaker sounds nearest among English sounds to the “s” in “leisure”.

Created 17/11/2019

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated 17/11/2019