Yorkshire Chess History

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1923 NCCU Congress

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The 1923 Northern Counties Chess Union Congress was held

from Saturday 31/03/1923 to Friday 06/04/1923,

at the Central Technical Schools, Liverpool.

The previous NCCU congress was that of 1921. It seems there was no NCCU Congress in 1922 due in part to there being two international congresses in England that year. The 1923 congress was promoted jointly by the NCCU and Liverpool Chess Club. In some respects the event was overshadowed by the concurrent Kent CA Easter Congress in Margate.

For the first time, the NCCU Congress was open to players outside the Northern Counties. A side effect seems to have been that the NCCU Championship ceased to be awarded. Alongside the Premier Tournament there were a Major Tournament, a Minor Tournament, an Evening Tournament, and a Schoolboys’ Tournament. Proceedings were formally opened on the Saturday by Hull-born Amos Burn, who had lived for some years in Liverpool before moving to London.

Prizes were presented by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Frank Campbell Wilson.

The all-play-all Premier and Major each had 10 participants:

	Premier Tournament		JM	GM	FY	GT	JB	ES	VW	HH	AL	CD	Total
1	Jacques Mieses	(Leipzig)	X	½	1	1	1	1	1	1	½	1	8
2	Geza Maroczy	(Hungary *)	½	X	1	½	½	1	1	1	1	1	7½
3-4	Fred Dewhirst Yates	(Leeds)	0	0	X	1	½	1	1	1	1	1	6½
3-4	Sir George Alan Thomas, 7th Baronet	(London)	0	½	0	X	1	1	1	1	1	1	6½
5	Joseph Henry Blake	(London)	0	½	½	0	X	0	1	1	1	1	5
6	Edmund Spencer	(Liverpool)	0	0	0	0	1	X	0	1	1	1	4
7	Victor Lionel Wahltuch	(Manchester)	0	0	0	0	0	1	X	½	1	1	3½
8	Dr Harry Holmes	(Liverpool)	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	X	½	1	2
9-10	Andre Louis	(London)	½	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	X	0	1
9-10	Climenson Yelverton Charles Dawbarn	(Manchester)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	X	1

* resident at the time in Hastings

Wenman, who was at the time resident in Leeds, and Wardhaugh, who was born in Bradford, were past Scottish Champions.

	Major Tournament		JD	WW	PW	WT	NB	JJ	CW	JP	GA	TG	Total
1	John Arthur James Drewitt	(Hastings)	X	½	1	1	0	½	1	1	1	1	7
2	William Henry Watts	(London)	½	X	1	1	½	½	1	0	1	1	6½
3	Francis Percival Wenman	(Leeds)	0	0	X	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	6
4	William Rowland Thomas	(Liverpool)	0	0	0	X	1	1	½	½	1	1	5
5-7	“N O Bodey”	(Liverpool)	1	½	0	0	X	1	0	1	0	1	4½
5-7	Joshua Jackson	(Dewsbury)	½	½	½	0	0	X	1	1	0	1	4½
5-7	Carrick Wardhaugh	(Glasgow)	0	0	½	½	1	0	X	½	1	1	4½
8	John Ellis Parry	(Manchester)	0	1	0	½	0	0	½	X	1	1	4
9	Gerald Abrahams *	(Liverpool)	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	X	1	3
10	Thomas Gerrard	(Liverpool)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	0

* 15 years old

“N. O. Bodey” was a local player who wished to remain anonymous, presumably agreeing to play to make up numbers.

Leading placings in each of the other three tournaments were as follows:

Minor Tournament
1st	C A Mann	(Bradford)
2nd	J N Whitworth	(Cheshire)
3rd	C Saban
	Also participating:
	J J Best
	H Currie
	T Rawlinson
	I/A Sinclair
	A J Smith
	Arthur Marr Sparke	(Lincoln?)
	Rev A E Wykes

Evening Tournament
1st	John Henry Newman Clissold	(New Brighton)
2nd	H Kearne
3rd	W L Barnaby

Schoolboys’ Tournament
1st	N A Riley
2nd	R S Riley

Evening tournament winner was usually recorded in chess reports simply as “N. Clissold”. The schoolboy winners were brothers.

The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer covered the event.

Created

10/10/2020

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated

10/10/2020