British Championship Chester 1914

[Roger de Coverly]

Am I right in thinking that last year's unbroken tie was the first time no playoff was held and the title shared?

David Howell won the title outright in 2013, but there would not have been a play off, as the World Cup followed on immediately afterwards. As it was, Gawain Jones left Torquay on the Sleeper late Friday or early Saturday in order to catch a flight to Norway.

http://gawainjones.co.uk/british-champi ... world-cup/

Previously there had been a shared title at Hove in 1997 as the Congress organisers were unable to come to an agreement with the tied players over additional prize money. Ever since then, there has been a clause enabling part of the main prize fund to be held back and distributed to the participants in a play off.

[David Sedgwick]

The title was also shared in 1954. Leonard Barden and Alan Phillips did play off, but were allowed to call it a day when they were level after twelve games.

Leonard will know the details, of course.

[Mick Norris]

Full list from 1904 to 2014
British Champions

[John Saunders]

I have a list of British Champions for 1904 to 2015, here on Britbase:

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/britchamps.html

I won't describe it as 'full' as I have not included the many minor sections which have sprouted up at British Championships of the past few years, but it is more user-friendly as regards the major championships and might be a bit more useful to chess historians and researchers as there are links to PGN files for given years and players' Wikipedia pages, etc.

[John Saunders]

I think we should accept John Mann's excellent research about Yates which has in my view conclusively established that his forenames were FRED DEWHIRST.

I am persuaded. I'll use this as the standard for Britbase forthwith.

[John Moore]

Brian, I am more than happy to include games from subsidiary tournaments at BCF Congresses where they come to light and I will include these in due course. Many thanks for making them available.

Incidentally, on the subject of names: trying to establish players' names and dates is a Sisyphean task and one which I wouldn't claim to have helped much with my Britbase project (I've still not managed to standardise the names on the website). Only today I noticed that I had used the names 'West, Arthur' and 'West, Arthur G' in two different files which I have uploaded recently. In checking this out and attempting to correct it, I discovered that the player in question should be 'West, Arthur George' but that BCM had misreported his date of birth which should have been 13 December 1871. This is quite clear from BMD records. I think the error might stem from whoever reported his death to the Times in 1935, giving the wrong age of 66. I'm guessing that WH Watts, his BCM obituarist, then picked this up, worked back to his year of birth and came up with an incorrect date of birth as 13 Dec 1869. And unfortunately this wrong date finds its way into Gaige, although nobody seems to have known West's middle name George - I'm certain as I can be that I have this right as I found a probate record for 1935 in which WH (William Henry) Watts was granted probate for 'West, Arthur George, otherwise Arthur'.

Ironically, on the occasions in the past when BCM has recorded full names, they've been known to get it wrong. For example, the Oct 1953 BCM, p270, gives Victor Lionel Wahltuch in an obituary written by someone with the initials D.C. (who he?). In fact, it seems quite clear from BMD records that said gentleman was Victor Leonard Wahltuch. This resulted in Gaige and subsequent publications having the name wrong. Having said which, I suppose it is possible that the latter gentleman decided he didn't like the name Leonard and changed it to Lionel unilaterally, since anyone can call themselves anything they like.

Anyway, these snippets may be of interest to others researching British chess players so I pass them on without further comment.

One name which continues to elude me is A Louis, who played in the 1914 British Championship. Gaige doesn't have dates for him, suggesting that he was active between 1920 and 1940. I know he was a member of Metropolitan CC. But I've no idea of his forename. Edochess.ca has 'André' but I'm not convinced of their evidence. Anyone know?

John, I seem to recall that I was under the impression that the D.C. who wrote the V L Wahltuch obituary was Daniel Castello but I am afraid that I can't offer any evidence in support.

[John Saunders]

John, thanks. Yes, I think you're probably right - that name also occurred to me. No other 'DC' springs to mind.

[Mick Norris]

The Manchester records have:

Victor Lionel WAHLTUCH (Ardwick, Manchester)
Won the Manchester CC Championship 10 times 1905-1932 4 times champion of Lancashire 1905-1914. He was Northern counties champion in 1907, 1908 and 1921. On the last occasion he tied with YATES, but won the play off match 3-1.

He was a member of the British team in the cable match with the USA 1909-1911 and his score of 3 out of 3 was the best in the history of the competition.

Chess columnist of the Manchester Weekly Times 1907-1922.

[Richard James]

One name which continues to elude me is A Louis, who played in the 1914 British Championship. Gaige doesn't have dates for him, suggesting that he was active between 1920 and 1940. I know he was a member of Metropolitan CC. But I've no idea of his forename. Edochess.ca has 'André' but I'm not convinced of their evidence. Anyone know?

I have a possible answer to this question.

A History of the Metropolitan Chess Club 1890-1990 has a lot about A Louis and his brother FV Louis but no first names. They were both active players between the 1890s and the early 1930s, playing for Birkbeck Institute, for Sydenham & Forest Hill and later for Metropolitan. A Louis, the stronger of the two, played for Surrey in the 1890s and for Kent in the 1900s onwards. He's referred to as A Louis all the way through the book until his death in 1949 when he becomes AWE Louis. I then looked up the BMD records and found a death record for Allan WE Louis born about 1875 died 1949 in Camberwell, and also Henri FJV Louis born about 1869 died 1950 in Camberwell.

The whole family is in the 1911 census, living at 1 Overton Road, Brixton:

Anna Magdalena Louis, aged 67, a widow, of private means, born in Camberwell. 4 children, all surviving.
Henri Francois Julien Valentin Louis, aged 41, single, a teacher of French (private pupils only) born in Bengal, India.
Marie Helen Sandal Louis, aged 39, single, of private means, born in Bengal, India.
Allan William Edward Louis, aged 35, single, a photographer, born in Bengal, India.
Lillian Alice Francoise Louis, aged 30, single, no occupation given, born in West Dulwich.

There's also a visitor, Tabitha Dorcas Johnson, from Nottingham, single and aged 56.

It seems highly likely, then, that A Louis was Allan (William Edward) Louis and his brother FV Louis was (Henri) Francois (Julien) Valentin Louis.

[John Saunders]

Nice work, Richard! Game, set and match. I'm going to change Britbase references to him to the full name Allan William Edward Louis.

Googling, I find he was a pupil of Dulwich College - http://distantcousin.com/Yearbooks/UK/D ... lum/L.html as was his brother. Clicking the link against his name then leads to http://distantcousin.com/Yearbooks/UK/D ... p?Page=251

... which gives his biographical record:

3632. LOUIS, Allan William Edward, b 21 May 1875, s. of ---, Mrs,, 69 Wolfington Rd., W. Norwood. L. July 1891. U 2nd.

I presume 'L' stands for 'Left [school]'. Not sure about 'U'. There is also a record for his elder brother if someone wants to look it up.

On Ancestry, a probate record gives us his exact date of death...

LOUIS, Allan William Edward of 1 Overton Rd, Brixton, London SW9, died 13 December 1949 at Dulwich Hospital, East Dulwich, London SE22

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The presumption here is that the book 'A History of the Metropolitan Chess Club 1890-1990' was correct in identifying A. Louis as the AWE Louis that died in 1949? Do we know if the author(s) of that book had direct knowledge of that? Without that clue, this research would have been nearly impossible. What prompted the author(s) of that book to change to using AWE Louis right at the end?

Though on second thoughts, the presence of two brothers helps here. If this was just a single person and a single record, making such a connection would be less certain. But having two people with those names and initials known to be chess-playing brothers, and having two people with those names in the same household in the 1911 census, that seems to clinch it.

Tabitha Dorcas (Johnson) is a great name. Wonder what the connection was there?

[Gerard Killoran]

From

The British Chess Magazine - Volumes 47-48 - Page 458 (Trubner & Company) 1927

'The Annual General Meeting of the Metropolitan Chess Club was held on Saturday, October 27th. All the officers were re-elected. The hon. secretary is F. V. Louis, of 1 Overton Road, Brixton, London, S.W.9.'

[John Saunders]

From

The British Chess Magazine - Volumes 47-48 - Page 458 (Trubner & Company) 1927

'The Annual General Meeting of the Metropolitan Chess Club was held on Saturday, October 27th. All the officers were re-elected. The hon. secretary is F. V. Louis, of 1 Overton Road, Brixton, London, S.W.9.'

Ah! The final piece in the jigsaw: EC forum sleuths home in on their man. Thanks, Gerard and Richard.

Can I invite the forum to hunt down another couple of names of early 20th century British chess players? I confess I haven't tried very hard to find them myself yet. They are:

AJ Spencer - played in the 1914 Major Open, nothing in Gaige or his list of BCM obits. Played for Surrey v Yorks in 1924.

H Bogdanor - also played in 1914 Major Open, nothing in Gaige or his list of BCM obits. Nothing else yet. Ancestry has a Harry Bogdanor, b 1 Mar 1892, d 1971, Oxford (note: a student in the 1911 Census as Bogdanow), who could well be him but more corroboration needed. (À propos very little, if this is the right H Bogdanor, I'm pretty sure he is the father (by his second wife Rosa) of Vernon Bogdanor, who is a professor of politics who taught the young David Cameron.)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I presume you found this?

"At the Central Criminal Court, on October 25, the hearing was concluded of the case against Charles Harrison, counterman, Sidney Robert Mansfield, traveller, and Harry Bogdanor, chemist and druggist, who were charged with stealing and receiving drugs from a warehouse at High Street South, East Ham". (THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST, November 4, 1922)

I suppose writing to the eminent 72-year-old professor (Vernon) and asking if his Dad was in the dock at a criminal court trial (even if not jailed but only bound over for £10) might not go down too well. Asking if his Dad was a chess player might bear some fruit. There were two other defendants in that trial (who were discharged by the jury): "Wilfred Pomerantz, described as a chemist, and Solomon Bogdanor, traveller".

Maybe Bogdanor was a more common name than might have been thought? This Harry Bogdanor was 30 years old in 1922 (this is given in other reports of this criminal court case), which is the right age for the Ancestry.com Harry Bogdanor if the 1892 birth year is correct. It also says he was very ill from TB and brought from a sanatorium to stand trial. Seems like a minor miracle he recovered to father Vernon in 1943 and live until his death in 1971. Maybe the Ancestry Harry Bogdanor is different to the chess-playing H. Bogdanor and maybe the father of Vernon is yet another Harry Bogdanor?

[Tim Harding]

The presumption here is that the book 'A History of the Metropolitan Chess Club 1890-1990' was correct in identifying A. Louis as the AWE Louis that died in 1949? Do we know if the author(s) of that book had direct knowledge of that? Without that clue, this research would have been nearly impossible. What prompted the author(s) of that book to change to using AWE Louis right at the end?

Though on second thoughts, the presence of two brothers helps here. If this was just a single person and a single record, making such a connection would be less certain. But having two people with those names and initials known to be chess-playing brothers, and having two people with those names in the same household in the 1911 census, that seems to clinch it.

Tabitha Dorcas (Johnson) is a great name. Wonder what the connection was there?

Since Tabitha and Dorcas mean the same according to the Bible (Acts 9: 36) I guess her parents were a) religious; b) ignorant or not concerned about redundancy and just liked the sound of the name(s).

The Metropolitan CC history can certainly be vague about names. It lists a Mr. Blackburne as one of the founder members (17 April 1890) but doesn't clarify whether this was J. H. Blackburne (definitely not present as he was in Belfast that day) or somebody else.