1924 British Championships in Southport

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John Saunders
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1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Fri Oct 02, 2015 6:33 pm

I've just uploaded to Britbase a file of games from the 1924 British Championships, held in Southport...

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/192 ... iewer.html

I have collected 34 of the 66 championship games, plus 24 games from the subsidiary events. The most interesting of these are probably the ten games played by Akiba Rubinstein in winning the Major Open (his first round win versus George Wright proved elusive: he won with 11/11). I have added further details of the competitors and results, plus two photos of the venue (I happened to visit Southport a few days ago, so called in at the library to take photographs. The 1924 Championships were played in the same rooms as the 1905 Championship, namely the art galleries on the top floor of the library/museum/art gallery building, known as 'the Atkinson', in Lord Street, Southport.)

I've no doubt that a few more games from Southport 1924 may yet turn up in publications which I haven't examined. If you do find any, please either post them on this thread or email them to me.
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Brian Denman
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Brian Denman » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:13 pm

I enclose a couple of games from the Major Open event:



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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Richard James » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:56 pm

Vinayak Khadilkar, last address in the UK Prince of Wales Hotel, Southport, a landowner aged 42, sailed 1st class from London to Bombay on 29 August 1924 aboard the P&O vessel RMS Mooltan.

Back on 9 May 1920, Vinayak Kashinath Khadilkar was sued in the Bombay High Court for some complicated legal reason to do with breach of contract of indemnity and guarantee.

Full name (although also called Vinayakrao elsewhere on the NBM website) here.

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John Saunders
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:02 am

Thank you, Brian and Richard, contributions much appreciated. I've added those two Major Open games to the database and shown VK Khadilkar's full name.
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Gerard Killoran
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Gerard Killoran » Sat Oct 03, 2015 11:58 am

F. O. Nelson's full name was Frederick Oswald Nelson.

http://www.sjmann.supanet.com/People/Ne ... Oswald.htm

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John Saunders
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:36 pm

Thanks, Gerard. I've updated the Britbase file.
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Sun Oct 04, 2015 12:30 am

Andy Ansel has very kindly contributed three more games to the 1924 British Championship file, making 37 of the main championship games...





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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Richard James » Sun Oct 04, 2015 5:27 pm

Some small corrections to the Britbase report:

In the Second Class B tournament Newman Clissold's winning score was 9/10, not 9/9. The missing player was H. N. S. Heath, who scored 5 points. W. Parker should read W. Barker.

It would have been impressive if S. F. Smith had finished 3rd in the Major Open in Tenby in 1928 as that tournament took place in July and the good doctor had died in May. He actually finished 3rd in the Major Open of the West of England Chess Festival at Cheltenham in April 1928. His (undeservedly brief) obituary in the BCM was the source of the mistake, confusing the two venues.

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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Mon Oct 05, 2015 11:26 am

Thanks for proof-reading so thoroughly, Richard. I have applied the amendments.
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Brian Denman
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Brian Denman » Mon Oct 05, 2015 4:39 pm

I do not know if anyone has carried out any research into the difficult biographical information regarding Herbert Gibson Rhodes. I note that three family trees on the Ancestry website state that he died in 1982, but a few years ago I obtained a death certificate for him, which gave his date of death as 28.5.1981 at Bexhill. He was a retired solicitor. The death certificate raised another problem as it gave his date of birth as 4.2.1891 at Stockport. This would appear to be wrong as the 1901 census quotes his age as five. I am surmising that he was born on 4.2.1896. Richard James's comments on this would be interesting.

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John Saunders
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Mon Oct 05, 2015 6:27 pm

Checking Ancestry, I see there is an index record for Herbert Gibson Rhodes's birth in the first quarter of 1896 in Ormskirk, which bears out your suspicion that he was born in 1896, probably on the date you mention. The death certificate must have had that wrong (not an unusual thing to happen as surviving relatives or whoever registers the death often have only a tenuous idea of the deceased's early life).

As to Ancestry family trees, I rarely take too much notice of these since they are so often poorly researched by the end users and replete with errors. Often one person makes a wrong surmise and then other people simply take it on trust and replicate the error.
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Brian Denman
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Brian Denman » Mon Oct 05, 2015 6:54 pm

Thanks for this, John. Anyone who is particularly interested in king pawn endings might like to look at the Rhodes v Drewitt game from Southport. It is uncertain that White can win the ending and in any case it is doubtful that Black should have resigned.

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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Richard James » Mon Oct 05, 2015 7:57 pm

It seems highly likely, for the reason John stated, that HG Rhodes was born in 1896, not 1891.

You might also find this interesting (not sure whether or not I've posted this before).

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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by Brian Denman » Mon Oct 05, 2015 8:34 pm

Thanks for this auction listing, Richard, which provides proof that he was born in 1896. I had some difficulty finding out when he died as there seemed to be no local knowledge of his passing. I recently wrote about how Arthur Hall seemed to have been largely forgotten about by the chess community after he stopped playing the game and the same may have applied to Rhodes. If chess is to be considered a social game, we should keep in touch with those of our colleagues who become too old to play chess or are forced to be housebound.

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John Saunders
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Re: 1924 British Championships in Southport

Post by John Saunders » Mon Oct 05, 2015 11:36 pm

Brian Denman wrote:If chess is to be considered a social game, we should keep in touch with those of our colleagues who become too old to play chess or are forced to be housebound.
I echo these sentiments. Even more so in this case, since it is evident from the auction reference that Herbert Gibson Rhodes, M.C., was a very gallant gentleman of whom British chess can be very proud, along with the Bletchley Park code-breakers of WW2 and others with notable war records (e.g. Lancashire's TJ (John) Beach, who won the DFC during WW2). It is worth reproducing Rhodes's Military Cross citation here.
M.C. London Gazette, 2.12.1918, Lt. Herbert Gibson Rhodes, 2/7th Battalion., Liverpool Regiment, Territorial Force.
'For conspicuous gallantry in attacking parties of the enemy, who were trying to get machine guns into action. He reached his objective and brought heavy fire to bear on them as they retreated. Though wounded, he would not leave his post until it was securely consolidated. His splendid leadership resulted in the capture of fifty prisoners and twelve machine guns.'
That sounds to me close to the level of bravery that would merit a Victoria Cross. Perhaps some sort of competition could be held in his honour, to coincide with the centenary of his award in a few years' time. Perhaps it should be connected with county chess since Rhodes was a regular Lancashire player from the early 1920s into the 1960s. Lancashire's team sometimes featured him on board one and Beach on board two - an M.C. and a D.F.C. leading their chess team into battle (including when they beat Yorkshire in the 1959/60 County Championship final).

While he was at Manchester Grammar School, Rhodes played in goal for the school football team. Link to a 1915 edition of the school magazine.
1915 Manchester Grammar School Magazine wrote:CHARACTERS OF THE FIRST TEAM... H. G. RHODES (Goal).—Played since Christmas. Sure eye; manages all shots equally well and clears smartly.
Man Utd could do with him right now...

Mike Conroy's informative A History of Lancashire Chess From 1871 to 2009 has a section on Rhodes. Conroy records the fact that Rhodes played in 11 of Lancashire's 18 county championship-winning sides. He also won the county championship in 1936, 1937 and 1951 and served the county as president and Hon.Sec. at various times. He gives the full crosstable of Rhodes's stellar success in winning the 1948/49 Hastings Premier Reserves Major (equivalent to the later Challengers section) with a score of 7½/9 ahead of Barden 5½, Horne, DB Scott, ARB Thomas 5, Dr. Schenk 4½, EG Sergeant 4, Capt. Bolland, J Mieses 3½ and Dr J O'Sullivan 1½. As Conroy adds, "he was unlucky to miss a place in the Hastings Premier". He did play in the British in 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1953, but, as Conroy says, "with disappointing results".
Last edited by John Saunders on Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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