Yorkshire Chess History

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1953: Bradford v Rest of Yorkshire

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1953 was the centenary year of Bradford Chess Club which was formed on 08/11/1853, when fifteen well-heeled chess-playing Bradfordians meeting in an anteroom of the Bradford Exchange resolved "that a club be now formed to be called the Bradford Chess Club".

As part of the centenary celebrations, a match was arranged between Bradford Chess Club and a team drawn from the rest of Yorkshire. This was played on 28/03/1953 at Bradford chess club’s premises, the Central Café, Bradford. The match was of 23 boards, results being as below.

In attendance were the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bradford, 72-year-old Alderman John Shee, and his 49-year-old daughter Miss Mary Shee. The Lord Mayor addressed the assembly and was then thanked by Mr R H Roberts of Bradford Chess Club and Mr J W Narcross as Hon. Sec. of the Yorkshire Chess Association

In the above photograph, as it was incorporated into a history of Bradford Chess Club (suffering somewhat due to recopying), The Mayor and Mayoress are self-evident. To the right of the Mayoress is Mrs Jacoba Ives. The bespectacled gentleman second from left of the front row, with head tilted slightly back, looks like club president George R Lawson. The youthful face at top right looks rather as though it is that of 18-year-old Michael J Haygarth (who become British Champion in 1964); the core expression looks familiar from later years.

Bradford	9-14	Yorkshire
T K Hemingway	½-½	D Paffley	Wakefield
E G Berg	0-1	D M Andrew	Sheffield
H W Hodgkinson	0-1	J H Beaty	Doncaster
P C Gibbs	1-0	I Goldberg	Leeds
H Davison	½-½	Dr. C G Addingley	Leeds
S Haggas	0-1	J Rushton	Huddersfield
G R Lawson	1-0	A Schofield	Wakefield
C H Leach	0-1	J W Narcross	Leeds
A Wilson	½-½	R W Ives	Wakefield
A C Jowitt	½-½	Mrs J Ives	Wakefield
H Howarth	1-0	P Crotty	Leeds
A Wittwer	0-1	J H Devine	Hull
N P Naef	1-0	J A L Harris	Leeds
J Cockroft	0-1	M J Haygarth	Leeds
J Ward	0-1	H Lydon	York
J H Reynolds	0-1	W A Gardner	Wakefield
J Kassakowski	1-0	H Bentley	Hunsworth
W Hewitt	½-½	J H Petherbridge	Hull
R H Roberts	1-0	H M Weldman	Leeds
L Smith	0-1	R V Hudson	Goole
L P D’Andria	½-½	J Gordon	Goole
A McDermott	0-1	H Lambert	Leeds
D North	0-1	P Lyons	Leeds

Through the above match, Mrs Jacoba Ives is believed to have been the first lady player to appear in a team representing Yorkshire at chess. The purist might point out that this was not a formal match played in an inter-county competition, but the fact remains, it was a team representing (the rest of) Yorkshire, so the claim seems probably true. (So, who was the first lady player in a “serious” Yorkshire county team?)

Created

25/02/2023

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated

25/02/2023