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Yorkshire Chess History |
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George Shories |
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Non-Chess Life
George Shories was a German national who lived in England, more particularly Yorkshire, between the turn of the century (1900-ish) to the First World War.
He was apparently born as Georg Schories on 09/01/1874, in Berlin, Germany (1).
He left Germany, initially going to Paris (1). The 1901 England census seems to offer no information on him, yet he was playing chess in England as early as 1903, in which year he was described in tournament results as hailing from Brighton. Thus he appears to have come to England probably around 1902, give or take a year. He assumed the Anglicised version of his name: George Shories.
By 1905-06 season he was playing board one for Sheffield in the Woodhouse Cup, and there were hopes he’d soon achieve the necessary residence-duration qualification to play for Yorkshire in county matches.
He was resident in Sheffield from 1905 or before, through to late 1907, but he didn’t feature in directories of the day, rather implying he was an employed person residing in lodgings or the like, rather than a householder or proprietor of his own business.
The Chess Amateur of December 1907 announced that G. Shories had left Sheffield to take up residence in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph of 24/02/1908 explained his absence from a certain match as being due to his being in “Newcastle”, though not saying he’d moved there definitively. The same paper of 23/03/1908 explained that he’d travelled from Newcastle to play against Lancashire.
By 1909, he was resident in Bradford.
In time he moved to Harrogate. The 1911 census found 37-year-old unmarried German-born George Shories lodging with 58-year-old widow Susannah Holt and her 22-year-old unmarried daughter Mable, at 20 Cheltenham Mount, Harrogate. George was employed by a tailoring firm as a ladies’ tailor. He was recorded as of German nationality (not naturalised) but resident in this country.
He is said to have been interned during the First World War, and thereafter to have returned to Germany (2).
Death
He died in Berlin on 02/12/1934, 38 days short of his 61st birthday (1).
Chess
His first season playing for Sheffield in the Woodhouse Cup was 1905-06, when he played immediately on board one, and there were hopes he’d soon achieve the necessary residence-duration qualification to play for Yorkshire in county matches. In 1906-07 he captained Sheffield to victory in the Woodhouse Cup. He played again for the team in 1907-08, but missed the two county matches in late 1908. He didi not appear for Sheffield in 1908-09.
He played board two for Yorkshire against Lancashire on 26/01/1907, at the Grand Central Hotel, Leeds, losing with Black to the Rev W C Palmer of Bolton. He played board two for Yorkshire against Cheshire on 18/01/1908, drawing with R. Marriott. He travelled from Newcastle to play on board two for Yorkshire against Lancashire on 21/03/1908, at the New Shades Restaurant, Manchester, drawing with Dr Holmes of Liverpool. (He quite possibly played in later county matches.)
In the Sheffield & District Chess Association’s league, he played for Sheffield Chess Club (a centrally located club not to be confused with the Sheffield & District Chess Association itself which was the “Sheffield” in the Woodhouse Cup competition).
His other chess activities while (or before?) resident in this country included the following: 1901 Folkstone (3rd Kent CCA Tournament, 1st section): 3rd-5th= on 2 out of 5 1902 Tunbridge Wells (4th Kent CCA Tournament): 5 out of 9 1903 Canterbury (5th Kent CCA Tournament): 1st on 7 out of 8 in First Class Open 1905 London (7th Kent CCA Tournament): 5 out of 9 1905 Scheveningen (4th Netherlands International Tournament, Masters): 9th-10th= on 5½/13 1905 Barmen (B tournament): 1st-2nd= but lost play-off to Tartakower 1½-2½ 1906 Tunbridge Wells (8th Kent CCA Tournament): 4½ out of 8 1907 Blackpool: 1st-2nd= with Victor L Wahltuch 1907 Ostend (amateur tournament): 1st on 14½ or 15 out of 18 1907 Ostend (master tournament): 1st on 11½ out of 27 1908 Tunbridge Wells (5th British Chess Federation Congress, Amateur Tournament 1a): 1st on 9/11 1909-10 was expected to be playing for Bradford in Woodhouse Cup 1910 Blackpool (Northern Counties Chess Union Tournament): 1st-2nd= with Fred Dewhirst Yates on 4 out of 6, but lost play-off 0-4 1910 Bromley (12th Kent CCA Tournament): 2nd on 7 out of 9 1910 Oxford (7th British Chess Federation Congress, Major Open): 3rd-5th on 7 out of 11 1911 Glasgow (8th British Chess Federation Congress, Major Open): 1st on 10½ out of 11 1914 Belfast: 1st 1914 Chester (11th British Chess Federation Congress, Major Open): 1st
After returning to Germany he continued to play tournament chess up to 1933.
Sources: (2) A Gillam http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?/archives/2007/07/17.html
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Created 16/03/2013 |
Copyright © 2013 Stephen John Mann Census information is copyright of The National Archive, see UK Census Information |
Last Updated 16/03/2013 |