Brighton & Hove Chess Club

The Railway Club
4 Belmont
Dyke Road
Brighton
BN1 3TF

 

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BRIGHTON CHESS

 

A HISTORY OF CHESS IN BRIGHTON
1841-1993


Chapter 3


1885-1897
THE STRONG CHESS CENTRE

 

The Third Brighton Chess Club: 1885 to 1897
The third Brighton Chess Club soon developed into a powerful unit. Its forerunner, the St Nicholas Club, had already surpassed all other teams in Sussex, but the new club was to be even more successful. It unified the interests of the vast majority of local chess players at a time when there was very little competition in the surrounding area. Its success coincided with a period in which chess in the county showed a dramatic explosion of interest. In 1886 the Sussex Chess Association still had a relatively small total of 120 members on its books, but by 1889 the figure had risen to 366.


The third Brighton Chess Club continued to do well during most of the 1890s, but its achievements were gradually surpassed by those of its rival Hastings. It also faced growing local competition from the Christ Church, YMCA and St Ann’s Clubs.


One problem that the committee of the Brighton Club was never able to resolve satisfactorily was that of finding suitable premises. The club was to last about twenty years, but in all of that time it never stayed as long as five years in the same place.

 

We have noted already that the St Nicholas Chess Club was renamed ‘The Brighton Chess Club’ at a meeting on 2 September 1885. A room was soon found for the new club at the Victoria Hotel in Queen’s Road, where it met on three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays) from 6pm to 11pm. The subscription was 1/6 per month or five shillings and upwards for the session, which was originally intended to last from the beginning of September to the end of March.


To all appearances the new club had made a satisfactory start. According to Walter Mead, writing in the Southern Weekly News of 3 October 1885, ‘The Brighton Chess Club is going along swimmingly. Already 40 members have been enrolled and still they come. The room at the Victoria Hotel is a very cosy one and the players are congratulating themselves upon such comfortable quarters’. On 17 October 1885 the club entertained its first opposition from London, winning 7½ to 4½ against the London Athenaeum, and all seemed to be going well.


Then the unexpected happened - the Victoria Hotel closed! By November 1885 the club had moved to accommodation at 69 East Street where the first recorded Brighton Chess Club Championship was held. The winner was H.W. Butler who scored seven points out of ten.


It was not long before new premises were once again being sought. In April 1886 the club moved to the Gloucester Hotel in Gloucester Place. At first meetings were held only once a week on Wednesday evenings from 6.30pm to 11pm but by September 1886 the club had returned to playing on three evenings (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6.30pm to 11pm).


At about this time the Brighton Club was engaged in correspondence play against another south coast club. According to the 1886 annual report of the Brighton Chess Club, ‘There has … been played a Correspondence Match, our antagonists being the Bournemouth Chess Club, who succeeded, after a protracted struggle, in defeating us in both games’.


In January 1887 the club was on the move again, this time to the White Lion Hotel which was situated on the corner of North Street and Queen’s Road. In the Southern Weekly News of 22 January 1887 the new room was described as ‘cosy and comfortable’. However the players had hardly settled into the new accommodation before they were given notice to quit. By April 1887 a new meeting place had been found at the Unicorn Hotel in North Street.


The move to the Unicorn Hotel proved to be more successful. In the Southern Weekly News of 15 October 1887 the membership of the club was listed as sixty and approximately the same total was recorded in the annual report of the club issued in September 1888. The report also showed that the players had enjoyed considerable success in competitive matches during the 1887-8 season. All eight first class fixtures had been won. Hastings had been defeated twice, Blackfriars three times and the Athenaeum, Kentish Town and Ludgate Circus once each.


In September 1888 the club met on Mondays and Saturdays from 2pm till 11pm and on Thursdays from 6pm till 11pm. This was the arrangement from September to March followed by once a week meetings (on Mondays) for the rest of the year. Subscriptions were charged at half a guinea per annum with country members paying five shillings per annum. The club had three Honorary Members at that time, J.H. Blackburne, I. Gunsberg and F.W. Comber. The last-named player was to win the 1894 Brighton Chess Club Championship.


Chess in Brighton was further helped by the holding of a Sussex Chess Congress in the town in February 1888. A number of local competitions were held at the same time as the county championship, which had the effect of bringing together several of the county’s most enthusiastic players. After the success of the initial venture the Sussex Congress occupied for many years a regular place in the Sussex chess calendar.


The year 1888 also brought another important development for chess in Sussex. Plans were drawn up for an inter-club competition in honour of Sgt Major W. McArthur who had died suddenly earlier that year. He had been Hon Secretary of the Sussex Chess Association from 1886 until just before his death and had also been a member of the Chichester Chess Club.


It is true that in the early years of this competition Brighton were hardly ever represented, but it is important to set the scene for the future. When the rules for the first competition were devised, all the districts of Sussex were allowed to enter teams except Brighton, and Hastings and St Leonards. Clearly there was a fear that Brighton and Hastings would monopolise the event. In the following year it was decided that Brighton and Hastings would be allowed to enter teams but only after they had been divided into wards. The two towns were also restricted by a rule preventing first team county players from taking part in the competition. Not surprisingly there was a lack of enthusiasm in Brighton to play in wards and only St Peter’s and St Nicholas entered the competition. In the third year of the competition not a single entry was received from the Brighton area. Country clubs generally dominated the early years of the McArthur Cup, but we shall see in later chapters that Brighton eventually came to play an important part in the competition.


Following the increasing success of the Brighton Club in competitive fixtures a match was arranged on 14 December 1888 against the St George’s Club of London. As the Brighton players descended on the capital they must have been considered very much the underdogs, as the St George’s Club was generally rated as the country’s best. Walter Mead, writing in the Southern Weekly News, described the tension of the local competitors as follows:


Ominous indeed their prospects seemed when they reached the field of hostilities, for they found the team marshalled against them contained the names of such towers of strength as Wayte and Gattie, both in their time amateur champions, and that Skipworth and J.J. [i.e. J.I.] Minchin (the Hon. Sec.) were as low down as fifth and sixth in the list … It certainly looked a walk over to the Metropolitan representatives, and the heart of the Brighton captain sank low within him.


Nevertheless the Brighton team fought valiantly and only went down by six games to four. The full score is listed in the appendix but the following win by W.G. Taunton was probably something of a surprise:


(32) W.G. Taunton - J.I. Minchin (St George’s)
Brighton v St George’s, 1888
Ruy Lopez, Open Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d4 Nxe4 6.0-0 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.Nxe5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Bb7 10.a4 Be7 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 c5 13.Qg4 g6 14.Bh6 c4 15.Ba2 Qd7 16.Qd4 Qe6 17.Bg7 Rg8 18.Bf6 Kd7 19.Rab1 Kc6 20.Bxe7 Qxe7 21.axb5+ axb5 22.Rxb5 Kxb5 23.Rb1+ Ka4 24.Bxc4 Ka3 25.Qb6 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


At the end of the 1880s the membership of the Brighton Chess Club increased sharply and it was decided to join together the resources of the Brighton Club and the Sussex Chess Association to provide a chess centre which would be open to members for long hours. This ‘twinning’ took place in October 1889 and the first base was set up at the Alpines Restaurant at 127 North Street, Brighton. The rooms were open from 10.30am till 11pm daily which gave wide opportunities for practice.


The new Association rules were set out in the Sussex Chess Journal, which was at first published monthly. It commenced publication at the end of 1889 under the editorship of H.W. Butler and F.W. Monk and lasted until October 1892. There were three membership categories:


1. Brighton members paying an annual subscription of half a guinea who were entitled to the full privileges of the Association and could use the centre whenever it was open.
2. Brighton members paying an annual subscription of one shilling who were entitled to use the centre on certain nights.
3. Association members living more than five miles from Brighton who were entitled to use the chess centre whenever open upon payment of an annual subscription of one shilling and upwards.


The centre was also available as a base for team matches.


At first the accommodation of the Alpines Restaurant was very popular. Chess in both Brighton and Sussex benefited from the new arrangement. According to the Sussex Chess Journal the Brighton Chess Club had as many as 122 members for the 1889-90 season. Nevertheless by April 1890 there was already concern about the small number of players using the premises, and by May 1890 a decision had been taken to open the centre for only one evening per week for the summer months. Monday evenings were used and the premises were open from 7pm to 11pm.


In August 1890 a decision was taken to move to another place. The Sussex Chess Journal for 18 August commented: ‘…It will not surprise the fully privileged and country members of the Sussex Chess Association to hear that it has been decided to remove from the present headquarters into more comfortable and befitting premises. Some time before the winter season was at an end there was a falling off of both regular and occasional frequenters, and it became obvious to the committee that some other arrangement would have to be made … ’ The first meetings at the new headquarters at La Crémerie, 18 East Street, took place on 1 September 1890. A comfortable room was open daily from 11am to 11pm and other rooms were available on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings, while the Ladies’ Branch of the Association held its own meetings on Wednesday afternoons.


In some respects the 1890-91 season was a repeat of the previous season. In the winter months the headquarters were often used for matches, but by July 1891 enthusiasm had waned. The following report appeared in the Sussex Chess Journal for that month: ‘Not only has the headquarters of the Sussex Chess Association been closed for four evenings each week, but on the other two musters are very sparse indeed, in fact players might be numbered on one’s fingers’ ends, so little is the interest now taken in the game’. The membership of the Brighton Chess Club for the 1890-91 season was quoted in the Sussex Chess Journal as 86, a notable reduction from the previous year’s figure.


In October 1891 it was decided to move the headquarters to the rooms of the Aerated Bread Company, 61 Western Road (called the ABC Restaurant). These premises were considered to be larger and more convenient and were open from 10am to 11pm (Sundays excepted). According to the Sussex Chess Journal of November 1891 the new accommodation was more popular: ‘So far as we know everyone yet who has visited headquarters speak[s] in praise of the great improvement … In our opinion the room is the most cheerful and comfortable chess room we have ever seen, in the daytime the light is excellent, at night time both inside and out the room has a comfortable appearance’. Enthusiasm at headquarters had again flagged by July 1892 but the holding of the Counties Chess Association Meeting in the Royal Pavilion and the Masonic Rooms in August 1892 (see below) must have rekindled some interest in the game.


At the Annual General Meeting of the Sussex Chess Association, held on 21 September 1892, one or two county members expressed the view that headquarters were not needed. The meeting eventually decided to keep things as they were, but the objections re-emerged in a more concrete form at the 1893 Annual General Meeting. There was a feeling that the Brighton Chess Club had been less successful since the merger and that it was now necessary to re-establish it as a separate entity.


The objections to headquarters were successful and a second meeting was held on 29 September 1893 to decide on the rules for the reconstituted Brighton Chess Club. The subscription was fixed at 7/6 for Brighton members and five shillings for country members. The club was to hold its meetings daily from 3pm till 11pm during the months of October to March inclusive and would continue to use the ABC Restaurant, Western Road, for its activities. Thus the ‘twinning’ experiment which had lasted for nearly four years was over.


I should now like to break away from the question of premises and to look at other events of importance to the local chess players of the time. During the period of the ‘twinning’ there were three notable simultaneous displays in Brighton.


In February 1890 during the Sussex Chess Congress Joseph Blackburne made a welcome return to the town. On the first day he gave a blindfold simultaneous over eight boards, winning five, drawing one and losing two. He had a particularly interesting confrontation with W.R. Andrews, the 1889 Sussex Champion, and had to play with care to achieve a draw. The following evening, this time with sight of the board, he took on twenty-eight players, winning twenty-one games, drawing four and losing three. One of the victors, R.E. Lean, was in later years to become county champion twice.
In September 1891 a young German expert, Emanuel Lasker, called into headquarters and offered to give a simultaneous in Brighton. There is in fact no mention of this simultaneous in the Sussex Chess Journal, but Lasker returned in February 1892 for the fifth Sussex Congress and gave two such displays on the same day. Firstly in the large simultaneous he won twenty games, drew six and did not suffer any defeats. According to the Sussex Chess Journal, ‘his simultaneous play was characterised by his outplaying nearly the whole of his opponents in the opening, avoiding risky continuations and never missing a chance of improving his position’. In the evening the room was crowded to excess for a six board blindfold simultaneous, but here Lasker was less successful. Unlike Blackburne, who was used to this kind of occasion, Lasker had never previously played blindfold chess against so large a number of strong opponents. In the circumstances his score of two wins, one draw and three losses was quite creditable.


In March 1893 Isidor Gunsberg came to Brighton to give a simultaneous display. It will be remembered that in chapter 1 we discussed how he was probably the operator of Mephisto when it resided in Brighton in 1879. In the early 1890s he was considered to be one of the best players in the world, having challenged Steinitz for the world title in 1890 (he lost by six games to four with nine draws). During the simultaneous display he played twenty-one games, winning sixteen, drawing three and losing two. One of his two losses was against A.J. Field, who was later to become Sussex Champion.


At about this time a Brighton mother and daughter, Edith and Lilian Baird, were achieving fame both at local and national level as problemists. Lilian, the daughter, was born in 1881 and had her first problems published when she was only eight years of age. Though she was only allowed to compose problems during the school holidays she had already by the age of thirteen produced 60 or 70 problems. Many years later Julian Simpole recalled the achievements of her youth in an article in the Brighton and Hove Gazette of 28 April 1973. He had visited Lilian, whose married name was Strong, at her home in Brighton after the Brighton Chess Club had received various letters and memorabilia from her.


Lilian’s mother, Edith Baird (née Winter Wood), 1859-1924, was the more significant problemist. Her problems appeared in numerous journals from 1888, including the Sussex Chess Journal, Brighton Society, British Chess Magazine, Illustrated London News and various national dailies. She won twelve first prizes in composing competitions between 1888 and 1902 as well as a host of seconds, thirds and honorable mentions. Altogether she produced more than 2,000 problems, of which only a dozen or so were faulted. In 1902 her book Seven Hundred Chess Problems appeared in print and this was followed in 1907 by The Twentieth Century Retractor. Both books were bound by the King’s Printer, Henry Sotheran.


Edith played relatively little competitive over-the-board chess. She nevertheless won the 1897 Sussex Ladies’ Championship without losing a game.


The following two-move problem appeared in the Brighton and Hove Society. newspaper and was reprinted in Seven Hundred Chess Problems. It has a nice key and pleasing self-pins.



# 2 - Key: Re4 (2.Nd4)
1. … Bxe5 2.Qc6
1. … Bxc7 2.Nc5
1. … Bc5 2.Nxc5
1. … Nxe5 2.Qh6
1. … d4 or dxe4 2.Qc4


Mention has already been made of the Counties Chess Association Meeting, held in the Royal Pavilion and the Masonic Rooms in August 1892. This was considered a prestigious tournament in the days before the British Chess Federation Congress existed (it started in 1904). There were 46 entries which were divided into five sections. The main competition was won by J.H. Blake of Hampshire with 6½ points out of 8 but Brighton players did very well to come second and third - W.V. Wilson scored 6 points and H.W. Butler 5½ points. During the tournament about 35 to 40 players sat down to a capital lunch served in the Masonic Rooms by Messrs E. Booth and Sons.


Another event to arouse local interest took place in Birmingham on 28 January 1893 in the form of a North v South match over about 100 boards. Four Brighton players made the journey and the highest placed player, W.V. Wilson, gained a fine victory on board 8 (the game score is given below). H.W. Butler won on board 32 but Walter Mead lost on board 47. Alfred Emery, who was playing on board 58, was also defeated. The match was repeated in London on 7 April 1894. On the second occasion C.D. Locock (formerly of Brighton) won on board 6, W.V. Wilson drew on board 7, H.W. Butler lost on board 42, F.W. Comber won on board 89 and Walter Mead won on board 91.


The end of the ‘twinning experiment’ in 1893 may have been accelerated by a decline in Brighton’s fortunes in competitive fixtures. Fewer matches were being played and shock defeats by the Hastings Club may have caused a period of re-examination. This may therefore be an appropriate point to digress for a while and look at the achievements of the rapidly expanding Hastings Club.


In the first few years after its formation in 1882 the Hastings Club was relatively small in size and hardly ever able to defeat Brighton. In 1887, however, a rapid improvement followed a move to the Queen’s Hotel and the enlistment of a very progressive young organiser, H.E. Dobell, as Hon Secretary. By October 1891 Hastings had about 70 members and was ready to embark on more adventurous fixture lists. Perhaps the Brighton Club underestimated its rival, but in December 1891 it was surprised when Hastings came to Brighton and inflicted a shock defeat by 6½ games to 5½. This was not just an isolated success for Hastings, as the Sussex Chess Journal of January 1892 commented:


By its victory over the Isle of Thanet Club (who for two years in succession won the Kent Club Championship Trophy) Hastings accomplished the extraordinary achievement of winning seven team matches in succession, a record excelling that made by Brighton a few years back and placing it well ahead of this town as a match-playing centre … It behoves our leading men, if they are still to be considered to be the leading players to lose no time in getting some practice, as it is painfully evident to us that the strength of Brighton Chess is gradually diminishing for want of players playing amongst themselves.


When the return match took place in February 1892 at Hastings, Brighton could only send a weakened team, but the score of the victory by 5½ games to 1½ to Hastings was a crushing defeat for Brighton.


For a period after this the Brighton Club put out stronger teams and the matches against Hastings were generally fairly evenly contested. In the meantime, however, the Hastings Club continued to broaden its experience by arranging fixtures against London clubs. Its players also benefited from periodic training from Joseph Blackburne, who took up residence in the town at the end of 1893. As enthusiasm for chess grew in Hastings it was decided to hold a chess festival. The first of these events took place in January 1894 and involved the participation of masters in simultaneous displays and consultation matches. These activities proved to be very popular and the chess festival came to occupy a regular place on the club’s calendar for several years to come.


Even these successes pale by comparison with the achievement of the Hastings Club in organising the great International Tournament of August 1895. Twenty-two of the greatest players of the day were invited and the victory went to the sensational twenty-two year old American Harry Nelson Pillsbury. After this tournament the Hastings Club became internationally famous and not surprisingly Brighton had to take second place among Sussex clubs.


The Brighton Chess Club remained at the ABC Restaurant in Western Road for a few months after the end of the ‘twinning experiment’. In either April or May 1894 a move was made to the Grand Concert Hall in West Street, where the club met nightly during the summer. In 1895 there was a fire at the Grand Concert Hall, but fortunately it did not reach the club’s premises.


In the 1893-4 season a Brighton Chess Club team first competed in the McArthur Cup. Despite the fact that Brighton were not allowed to play first class county players in the competition, they were still too strong for the other teams, defeating Eastbourne 4-2 in the final. When we look at the Brighton team we see some up and coming young players. The board one was William Castle Leaver, who became a regular first team county player and won the Brighton Championship in 1925. On board two was A.J. Field, who became county champion in 1916. On the third board was H.W. Shoosmith, who gradually developed into one of the best players in the country after winning the county championship in 1898. Not surprisingly the Sussex committee reacted against any possible domination of the competition by Brighton or Hastings, and at the Annual General Meeting of September 1894 a motion was passed declaring it ‘undesirable’ for members of the Brighton Chess Club or Hastings to play in this competition. Following this it is believed that no team from the third Brighton Chess Club ever entered the McArthur Cup again.


At this point it may be appropriate to consider how the Sussex team was faring as it regularly contained a large number of players from the Brighton area. We have seen how Sussex played its first county match against Surrey in 1884. The first match against Hampshire took place in 1887 and Kent was first engaged in 1890. When the Southern Counties Chess Union was formed in 1892 these matches were merged into a regular competition. The year in which the Sussex players found particular success was 1895. After successfully qualifying for the semi-final they defeated Northamptonshire in London by eleven games to five. For the final on 22 June the team travelled to the Queen’s Hotel in Reading to take on Gloucestershire. In his archives H.W. Butler wrote: ‘Splendid weather prevailed and some of the players had boards arranged for them on the lawn …’ In these excellent conditions Sussex won the Southern Counties Championship by 9½ games to 6½. In the Sussex team were six Brighton players. On the first four boards were W.V. Wilson, A. Emery, H.W. Butler and A.A. Bowley, while the promising young players H.W. Shoosmith and E.G. Reed were on boards six and ten respectively.


During the period from 1894 to 1897 several important simultaneous displays took place in Brighton. Joseph Blackburne gave a six-board blindfold simultaneous display at the Brighton Chess Club in June 1894, winning three games, drawing one and losing two. The two losses were against the promising young players H.W. Shoosmith and W. Castle Leaver. Another well-known British player to visit the Brighton Club was Henry Bird who came to the town in November 1894 and November 1895. On the first occasion he played sixteen games, winning eleven, drawing two and losing three, and on the second occasion he took on eleven opponents, winning seven games, drawing two and losing two.


It was, however, the arrival of Emanuel Lasker which aroused the greatest interest. By the end of May 1894 he had defeated Steinitz in America and captured the World Championship title. Later in the same year he came to Brighton and in October he gave a simultaneous display in the town. In this display he took on twenty-five opponents at the Brighton Chess Club, winning twenty games, drawing three and losing two. One of his two losses was against the strongest player in the Lewes Chess Club.


(33) Em. Lasker - W. Walker
Giuoco Piano
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.c3 Nxe4 6.Bd5 Nf6 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.Nxe5 0-0 9.d4 Be7 10.Nd2 c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nb3 Bd6 13.Nc4 Be7 14.Qf3 Bg4 15.Qf4 Be2 16.Re1 b5 17.Ne3 Bd6 18.Qf5 Bd3 19.Qh3 Re8 20.Bd2 Ne4 21.Rad1 Ng5 22.Qg4 Re4 23.Qh5 g6 24.Qh6 Bf8 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


Not long after the exhibition Lasker fell dangerously ill with typhoid fever and decided to spend his convalescence in Brighton, where the sea air was particularly beneficial. By January 1895 he was feeling much better and gave a brilliant simultaneous display at the Brighton Chess Club, defeating all twenty opponents. Two days after this the Brighton Club provided a complimentary dinner in his honour. Before he left the area Lasker gave another superb simultaneous at the St Ann’s Club (see below).


In February 1897 the World Champion was back in Brighton for the occasion of the Sussex Congress. On the eve of the competition a dinner was held in his honour at Mutton’s Hotel in King’s Road. It is reported that about forty players were present, and H.W. Butler in his Sussex Chess Archives indicated that the occasion was a success: ‘ … toasts were duly given and responded to, and the whole evening made most pleasant by vocal music and recitations’. During the Sussex Congress Lasker gave two simultaneous displays. On the first occasion he took on seventeen players, winning sixteen games and losing one. On the second occasion he brought the Congress to a close with probably the most memorable simultaneous display ever performed in Sussex. 39 opponents sat down to play and 39 opponents were defeated! Among Lasker’s ‘victims’ were E.G. Reed the new Sussex Champion and J.H. Blake the Hampshire Champion. According to H.W. Butler writing in the Sussex Chess Archives the whole display took between four and five hours and the result was received with great applause.


Chess was clearly very much alive in Brighton at this time and two ‘monster’ matches played in the Royal Pavilion attracted much interest. In October 1896 the record for the largest match ever played in the South of England was broken when West Sussex defeated East Sussex by 87½ to 85½. It was reported that 106 players took part. In October 1897 the experiment was repeated on a rather smaller scale with Hastings and East Sussex scoring 47½ to Brighton and West Sussex’s 45½ points.


It is clear from large-scale matches like these that there was very little wrong with chess in Brighton. According to Brighton Society of 17 October 1896, the AGM of the Brighton Club revealed ‘a more satisfactory state of affairs than any previous annual meeting had done’. That same newspaper also gave a report on the July 1897 AGM and again all seemed well. A list of Honorary Members was quoted, which at that time comprised Emanuel Lasker, Henry Bird, Joseph Blackburne and Herbert Dobell. The inclusion of the Hastings secretary was of course a great honour for a member of a rival team. On the face of it the Brighton Chess Club was riding the crest of another wave. For this reason its rapid decline over the next few years was all the more surprising …

 

Other Clubs in the Brighton Area, 1885 to 1897
When the third Brighton Chess Club was inaugurated in 1885 it faced very little competition in the local area. By 1897 that situation had changed and as we shall see by 1900 Brighton’s chess strength was largely divided amongst four clubs: Brighton, Christ Church, Brighton YMCA and Hove.
There was a cluster of small clubs in the late 1880s:


The St Bartholomew’s and St Nicholas Clubs may well have died out in the early 1890s, while the Christ Church Club may not have been particularly active in its early years. It was, however, a different story with the Brighton YMCA Club. Young players like H.W. Shoosmith and E.G. Reed began to come to the fore and the club started to develop an active fixture list. Meanwhile the St Ann’s Club enjoyed a good spell in the mid-1890s. The membership included several lady players and the club gained a reputation for being sociable. The friendly atmosphere was helped by the fact that members opened their homes for club meetings. In January 1895 the visit of the World Champion Emanuel Lasker to the club provided a very special occasion for the members. He played fourteen games simultaneously and won every one.


The Portslade Club was reported to have eighteen members on its books in September 1890. Although the club did not have any particularly strong players it arranged fixtures during this period against Hassocks, Shoreham, Burgess Hill, Brighton YMCA, Haywards Heath, St Bartholomew’s, St Nicholas and the main Brighton Chess Club.


A Shoreham Chess Club was also founded, probably in the 1893-4 season. It arranged a couple of fixtures against Portslade early in 1894 but then does not seem to be mentioned again until 1897, when matches were played against Portslade and Brighton YMCA.


The Sussex Chess Journal of March 1891 mentions the formation of a club by the Brighton Postal Clerks. It was hoped that it would be an important addition to the local chess scene but there appears to be no further reference to the club in chess records.


In 1896 there seems to have been a burst of activity at the Christ Church Club. Several fixtures were arranged and it was decided to enter the McArthur Cup. In 1897 Christ Church won the competition, defeating Eastbourne in the final. The club did not, however, have as strong a team as the Brighton YMCA. In a match between the two sides held in March 1897 Christ Church were defeated by nineteen games to five.


By 1897 both the Christ Church and YMCA Clubs were enjoying reasonable success. At that time most of their strongest players were probably also members of the Brighton Chess Club. It can, however, easily be inferred that if the main chess club were to run into a bad spell, the two other principal clubs in Brighton could become a threat to its existence.

 

The Players, 1885 to 1897
For most of this twelve year period the two strongest players in Brighton and Sussex were W.V. Wilson and H.W. Butler.


W.V. Wilson
W.V. Wilson was born in Ireland and learnt the game at the age of fifteen. It appears that he did not develop his skills very much until he came to Brighton about twenty years later. He started to play regularly in the Public Chess Room about 1880 and gained the reputation of being a very strong ‘skittles’ player. Despite this it took a while before he could be induced into regular competitive chess. The change of heart appears to have taken place in 1883. Even so it is believed that he did not enter his first county championship until the 1886-7 season, when he proved to be the winner. After this he did not compete in every county championship, but he won the competition in 1891 and 1892. As he was therefore the first person to win the trophy on three occasions he was allowed to keep the cup. He enjoyed similar success in the Brighton Chess Club Championship. After being victorious in 1889, 1891 and 1892 he was presented with the trophy to hold as a permanent possession.


Externally Wilson performed excellently to come second in the main tournament at the Counties Chess Association meeting held in Brighton in 1892. He was also chosen to play in the 100-board South v North matches in 1893 and 1894. On both occasions he was placed on a high board and on the first occasion he gained a very pretty win against G.W. Wright (see games section below).


In match games he proved his undoubted strength. In 1887 he defeated H.W. Butler in a ten game match by five wins to one, with four draws. When they played a second match at the end of 1888 and the beginning of 1889 W.V. Wilson repeated his victory, scoring five wins to two losses and three draws. At the end of 1889 he also played a match against A.A. Bowley, winning five games and losing two. It is interesting that in the 1892 county championship he and A.A. Bowley tied for first place, but in the play-off he won all three games.


By 1892 W.V. Wilson was clearly the most successful player in the county. (C.D. Locock was of similar ability, but there is no record of his entering county competitions.) It appears that about this time he started to lose some of his interest in the game. It is also believed that he took exception to the fact that the new county trophy should belong permanently to the Association. His appearances became less frequent, though he did help Sussex to win the Southern Counties Championship in 1895. In 1896 he was defeated in a play-off for the Brighton Chess Club Championship by the youthful H.W. Shoosmith, who soon became recognised as the best player in the county. Years passed and W.V. Wilson continued to play infrequently for club and county and entered very few competitions. He made a brief return to regular chess after World War I before suffering a stroke. He died in 1922 at the age of 78.


When we look at W.V. Wilson’s play we are impressed by his natural feel for the game. Not only did he have a soundness of style, but he was also a strong attacking player. The following games provide an illustration of his ability:


(34) W.V. Wilson - G.R. Downer
Sussex Championship, 1887
Petroff’s Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 Be6 9.cxd5 Bxd5 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.Bf4 Nd7 13.Re1 Bf6 14.Ne5 c5 15.Qh5 g6 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Qxd5+ Kg7 18.Re3 cxd4 19.Rh3 Ne5 20.Be4 Qxd5 21.Bxd5 Nf7 22.Bxa8 Rxa8 23.cxd4 Bxd4 24.Rd1 Bc5 25.Rd7 Re8 26.Be3 a5 27.Rf3 Be7 28.Bxb6 a4 29.Re3 Kf8 30.g3 a3 31.Rdxe7 Rxe7 32.Bc5 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


(35) W.E. Vyse - W.V. Wilson
Surrey v Sussex (Board 1), 1891
Sicilian Defence
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bg7 5.c3 Nc6 6.Be3 d6 7.Be2 Nf6 8.Nd2 Bd7 9.0-0 0-0 10.f4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bc6 12.Bf3 Qc7 13.Qe1 e5 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Qg3 Nd7 16.Bg4 Rad8 17.Be3 Bb5 18.Rf2 Nc5 19.Bxc5 Qxc5 20.Nb3 Qb6 21.Re1 Rd3 22.Qh4 Re3 23.Rxe3 Qxe3 24.g3 Qe1+ 25.Kg2 Qxe4+ 26.Kh3 f5 27.Bf3 Qxh4+ 28.Kxh4 e4 29.Be2 Bf6+ 30.Kh3 e3 31.Bxb5 exf2 32.Kg2 Rd8 33.Kxf2 b6 34.Kf3 Rd1 35.h4 Rb1 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


(36) W.V. Wilson - G.W. Wright (Manchester)
South v North (Board 8), 1893
Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.Nc3 exd4 6.Nxd4 Qf6 7.Be3 Nge7 8.0-0 0-0-0 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Qd2 Qg6 11.f3 Kb8 12.Bxc6 Bxc6 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 Be7 15.Qd4 b6 16.Qc4 Bf6 17.a4 Rhe8 18.a5! Rxe3 19.axb6 cxb6 20.Rxa7! Re7 21.Rxe7 Bxe7 22.Ra1 Rd7 23.Qc6 Rb7 24.Qe8+ Kc7 25.Qxe7+ 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


H.W. Butler
H.W. Butler was probably at his peak in the late 1880s and early 1890s. When the third Brighton Chess Club was formed he won the championship for the first three years (1886 to 1888). He also won the county championship on three occasions in 1888, 1890 and 1894. Another fine performance was his third place in the main tournament at the Counties Chess Association meeting in 1892. He was also selected to play for the South against the North in the representative matches played in 1893 and 1894. In the first match he won on board 32 but on the second occasion he was defeated on board 42.


In addition to his notable achievements as a player he was also a very successful administrator. Following the death of Sgt Major W. McArthur in 1888 he took over the role of Hon Secretary of the Sussex Chess Association, a position which he filled until 1893. When the Rev E.I. Crosse died in 1896 he took on the post again until 1898. He had a third period as Hon Secretary from 1912 to 1915.


Butler spent many hours encouraging the spread of chess throughout Sussex. In 1889 he gave a thirty-board simultaneous display at Petworth, which was at that time the largest given by a Sussex player. His performance in winning sixteen games, losing five and drawing nine was creditable.


There was one area of county policy to which he took particular exception. The earliest Sussex teams were listed in alphabetical order rather than in order of ability. Although it was the usual practice in county matches to pair players of similar abilities, H.W. Butler felt that those who had proved their ability should be rewarded by having their board number announced. When Sussex played against Surrey in May 1887 he decided to make a clear protest. He was scheduled to play against a Mr Hill, but decided to resign his game without making a move. This was very unfortunate, not only for the county team who lost a point before the match started, but also for Mr Hill, who had travelled down to Brighton without playing a game. The message reached the right ears, however, for two weeks later the Sussex team to play Hampshire was listed in order of ability.


Over the years H.W. Butler played many good games for Sussex. He was from time to time willing to experiment in the openings and on at least two occasions against W.V. Wilson answered 1.e4 with 1 … b6. Against the same opponent he often ventured 1.c4 when playing White. His most famous innovation was the so-called ‘Butler’s folly’ consisting of 1.e4 e5 2.Bb5, though this line is not for the fainthearted!


The last year in which H.W. Butler won a major trophy was 1894, but his appetite for chess never wavered. Amongst his many achievements he played a major part in organising the Brighton Congress of 1904, formed the Sussex Chess Problem Fraternity in 1917 (under his tutelage the Fraternity became the British Chess Problem Society about a year later) and wrote an important chess column in the Sussex Daily News from 1919 to 1928. His articles in the local press helped to bring about the formation of the fourth Brighton Chess Club. He also had a thought for the youngsters, offering a trophy in 1903 for the best school team in Sussex.


Bruce Hayden, in his book Cabbage Heads and Chess Kings (1960), tells one or two amusing stories about H.W. Butler. He describes how a rift occurred in the friendship between Butler and Emanuel Lasker during World War I. The cause of the friction was an article which appeared under Lasker’s name denouncing England. It was reported that Butler was so angry that he jumped through a large presentation picture of Lasker with both feet! When Lasker returned to this country some time later there was a fear of a confrontation between him and Butler but in fact a friendly reunion took place at Butler’s house.


On pages 25 and 26 of Cabbage Heads and Chess Kings Bruce Hayden gives a character sketch of H.W. Butler and describes how he rarely wore a tie, ‘preferring an expanse of bare white starched front from which a solitary diamond stud glittered’. He continues: ‘His most surprising feature was a voice that roared like a loudspeaker when he was excited or angry - which was often. But with it all he was a good chap and well liked’. When he left Sussex in 1928 to move to Thornton Heath a very generous testimonial was presented to him.


In his professional life Butler ran a business called ‘Trick en Twig it’ (an anagram of ‘Ticket Writing’). This was concerned with the production of ornate notices, usually completed almost entirely by hand. In a resort like Brighton he would often produce ‘Bed and Breakfast’ cards. At one stage he employed upwards of fifty people in Brighton and Portsmouth.


In his family life he had four daughters and two sons. His devotion to chess is shown by the fact that he called his first child Caissa after the goddess of chess. His youngest son Gilbert went on to win the county championship in 1927 and his grandson Kenneth Gunnell played on board one in the Brighton Students team that won the McArthur Cup in 1937.


Henry Butler died in 1935 at the age of 76, but left behind him detailed archives of Sussex chess history. I append four examples of his skill.


(37) Herbert Jacobs - H.W. Butler
Surrey v Sussex, 1886
Giuoco Piano
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.d3 0-0 6.Bg5 Be7 7.0-0 d6 8.h3 Be6 9.Bb3 Qd7 10.Ne2 Rae8 11.Ng3 h6 12.Be3 d5 13.Ba4 Bd6 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.c4 Nxe3 16.fxe3 f5 17.Ne2 f4 18.exf4 exf4 19.Rc1 Bxh3 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.gxh3 Qxh3 22.Kf2 Re3 23.Nfg1 Rxe2+ 24.Nxe2 f3 25.Ke1 Re8 26.Rc2 Bg3+ 27.Rf2 Bxf2+ 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


(38) H.W. Butler - W.V. Wilson
Third Game of a Match, 1887
English Opening
1.c4 e5 2.e3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 exd4 5.exd4 Nc6 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.d5 Qe7+? 8.Be2 Ne5 9.0-0 0-0 10.Bf4 Nxf3+ 11.Bxf3 d6 12.Re1 Qd7? 13.Qd2 a6 14.Rad1 Ng4 15.c5 Ne5 16.Bxe5 Bxe5 17.c6 Qf5 18.Ne4 bxc6 19.dxc6 Rb8 20.b3 Kg7 21.h3 Qe6 22.Qe3 Rb6 23.Nc5 Qe7 24.Nd3 f6 25.Bd5 Qd8 26.f4 Bc3 27.Qe7+ Kh8 28.Qxd8 Rxd8 29.Re7 Bd4+ 30.Nf2 Rb4 31.Bc4 Bb6 32.a3 Rxc4 33.bxc4 Bf5 34.Kf1 Bc2 35.Rc1 Ba4 36.Ne4 Rf8 37.c5 Bb5+ 38.Ke1 dxc5 39.Rd1 Bxc6 40.Nxf6 Ba5+ 41.Kf2 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


(39) W.T. Pierce - H.W. Butler
Sussex Championship Preliminary, 1892
Scotch Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bb5 d6 8.Nd2 0-0 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bxc5 cxb5 11.Bd4 Qg6 12.0-0 Bb7 13.f4 c5 14.Bf2 a6 15.Bg3 f5 16.exf5 Nxf5 17.Qc2 Bxg2 18.Rf2 Bc6 19.Nf3 Qg4 20.Raf1 Ne3 21.Qd3 Nxf1 22.Kxf1 Rae8 23.Ng5 Qf5 24.Qxf5 Rxf5 25.Rd2 Rf6 26.b4 h6 27.Nh3 Re3 28.bxc5 dxc5 29.c4 bxc4 30.Kf2 Rd3 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


Finally, from a later period:


(40) E.G. Taylor - H.W. Butler
Sexton Cup, Hastings v Brighton (Board 11), 1922
Petroff’s Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.dxe5 Nc5 6.0-0 Bg4 7.Bf4 Ne6 8.Bg3 Nc6 9.c3 h5
10.h3 h4 11.hxg4 hxg3 12.b4 gxf2+ 13.Kxf2 d4 14.b5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qh4+ 16.Ke2 Qh2 17.Nxf7 Qxg2+ 18.Ke1 Qg3+ 19.Kd2 Rh2+ 20.Kc1 Qe3+ 21.Nd2 Qxd3 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


Besides W.V. Wilson and H.W. Butler we also look at the other most successful players in the period from 1885 to 1897.


H.W. Shoosmith
H.W. Shoosmith’s birth was registered at Watford in the first quarter of 1877. In practice this means that he could have been born in the last day or two of 1876 or the first quarter of 1877. He would therefore have been about sixteen when he first made an impact on Sussex chess in 1893. Progress was rapid and he played in the Brighton Chess Club team that won the McArthur Cup in 1894. During that year he defeated Joseph Blackburne when that distinguished player gave a blindfold simultaneous in Brighton. He also gave Emanuel Lasker a good game when the latter took on twenty-five opponents in a simultaneous.


During this period Shoosmith played in representative matches for both the Brighton YMCA and Brighton Chess Clubs. In 1895 he played an important part in Sussex’s victory in the Southern Counties Championship and also came close in the county championship, losing a play-off against Alfred Emery.


By 1896 he had a claim to be considered the strongest player in Brighton when he won the Brighton Chess Club Championship. It was particularly significant that his achievement followed a play-off against W.V. Wilson, whom he defeated by two games to nil. He was also successful in winning the 1897 Brighton Chess Club Championship, but as yet the title of county champion had eluded him.
It appears that very few of his games survive from this early period in his chess career. Two of his wins follow:


(41) H.W. Shoosmith - C.E. Biaggini
Brighton v North London Club, 1895
Giuoco Piano
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bg5 Bb4 7.0-0 Bxc3 8.bxc3 d6 9.h3 Be6 10.Bb3 Qd7 11.Nd2 d5 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.exd5 Bxd5 14.Bxd5 Qxd5 15.Ne4 Qe6 16.Qg4+ Kh8 17.Qh4 f5 18.Nf6 Kg7 19.Qg5+ Kh8 20.Qh6 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


(42) J. Chandler - H.W. Shoosmith
Lewes v Brighton, 1896
Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Be7 5.d3 d6 6.Ne1? 0-0 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.f4 Bg4 9.Nf3 d5! 10.fxe5 dxe4 11.exf6 Bc5+ 12.Kh1 exf3 13.gxf3 Bh3 14.Re1 Qxf6 15.Be3 Rfe8 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


E.G. Reed
Ernest Reed was one of the most successful Sussex players ever. It is believed that his first chess club was the Brighton YMCA Club which he joined about 1890. It is uncertain when he first became a member of the Brighton Chess Club, though there is evidence to suggest that he may have been a member of the Hurstpierpoint Club in 1894.


His first county appearance was recorded in 1893 and he played a part in Sussex’s Southern Counties victory in 1895. It was also in 1895 that he won the East Sussex Queen tournament. He may not at that time have been a member of the Brighton Chess Club, as the Sussex AGM of September 1894 had ruled it ‘undesirable’ for Brighton and Hastings members to enter the East or West Sussex Queen tournaments. In 1897 he went one stage further and won his first county championship. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any games that he won in this period but the following game was played only a year later:


(43) W.C. Kenny - E.G. Reed
Hampshire v Sussex (Board 3), 1898
Two Knights Defence (by transposition), Max Lange Attack
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.0-0 Bc5 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.Re1+ Be6 9.Ng5 Qd5 10.Nc3 Qf5 11.Nce4 Bb6 12.g4 Qg6 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.f7+ Kd7 15.Ng5 e5 16.Qf3 h6 17.Qd5+ Qd6 18.Qxd6+ cxd6 19.Ne4 Raf8 20.g5 Rxf7 21.Kh1 d5 22.g6 Rf3 23.Ng3 Rxf2 24.Nh5 Rg8 25.Kg1 d3 26.Be3 Bxe3 27.Rxe3 Rxc2 28.Rf1 d2 29.Ref3 Rc1 30.Nxg7 Rxf1+ 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


A. Emery
Alfred Emery was born in London in 1865. He is first listed in the Sussex Chess Archives in 1890. His play gradually improved in the early 1890s and in 1893 he lost a play-off for the county championship against James Bridger. In that same year he won the Brighton Chess Club Championship and was selected to play for the South against the North, when he lost on board 58. In 1895 he was again involved in a play-off for the county championship, but this time he was successful against the teenager H.W. Shoosmith.


Emery was a journalist by profession and for a time was on the staff of the Sussex Daily News. We know that he left that post in 1899 and not long afterwards returned to London. In the years that followed he worked for various newspapers and wrote a number of chess columns. In the 1920s he turned his hand to writing books. From his pen there came The Elements of Chess (1922), Chess Openings (1923), Chess of Today (1924)and Chess Sacrifices and Traps (1924).


From 1924 to 1929 we find him once again representing Sussex in county matches. It has been reported that he died in Birmingham in 1943, but some doubts remain about this since (a) he is believed to have retired to Essex, and (b) E.A. Adams, writing in the Sussex Daily News of 20 June 1944, reviewed the book Chess Sacrifices and spoke about him as though he were still alive.
I append the game that clinched for him the county championship:


(44) H.W. Shoosmith - A. Emery
Sussex County Championship Decider, 1895
Giuoco Piano
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.b4 Bb6 6.d3 d6 7.a4 a6 8.0-0 Qe7 9.Be3 Ba7 10.Nbd2 Nd8 11.Qb3 Be6 12.Bxa7 Rxa7 13.d4 Nd7 14.h3 f6 15.d5 Bf7 16.Bd3 0-0 17.Rae1 g6 18.c4 a5 19.b5 Nc5 20.Qc2 Nxd3 21.Qxd3 b6 22.g4 Be8 23.Kh1 Bd7 24.Rg1 Ra8 25.Rg2 Nf7 26.Reg1 Kg7 27.Nf1 Ng5 28.N3d2 Rh8 29.h4 Nf7 30.Qg3 Rag8 31.Nh2 Kf8 32.Qf3 Ke8 33.Ndf1 Kd8 34.Ne3 Rf8 35.Qe2 h5 36.gxh5 Rxh5 37.Rxg6 Rxh4 38.f3 Ng5 39.Nf5 Bxf5 40.exf5 Rfh8 41.Rg2 Qh7 42.Kg1 Nh3+ 43.Kh1 Nf4 44.Qf2 Nxg2 45.Rxg2 Qxf5 46.Qf1 Qf4 0-1. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


W.R. Andrews
W.R. Andrews was a member of the St Nicholas Club before the third Brighton Chess Club was formed. He also played in the first ever Sussex county match against Surrey in 1884. He was always considered to be a strong player though he did particularly well to win the county championship in 1889. On the way to this success he won the following game:


(45) W.R. Andrews - A.A. Bowley
Sussex County Championship Preliminary, 1889
Scotch Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 Bb4+ 7.c3 Be7 8.e5 Nd5 9.0-0 d6 10.c4 Nb6 11.Be4 d5 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Bd3 0-0 14.f4 Bc5+ 15.Kh1 Qh4? 16.Nd2 Qe7 17.Nf3 h6 18.f5 f6 19.e6 Bb7 20.Nh4 Rfd8 21.Qg4 Nc4 22.Ng6 Qe8 23.Rf3 Kh7 24.Rh3 Qc6 25.Bxh6 gxh6 26.Nf8+ Bxf8 27.Qg6+ Kh8 28.Qxf6+ Kh7 29.Qf7+ Kh8 30.Rg3 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


After his county championship success W.R. Andrews continued for many years to be highly regarded in Sussex chess circles, though at some periods his appearances were infrequent. Eventually he turned his hand to correspondence chess, in which he was very successful.


H. Erskine
Henry Erskine was one of the enthusiasts who played regularly in the Public Chess Room in the early 1880s. Although he was generally considered to be one of the strongest local players his only notable success was in winning the Brighton Chess Club Championship in 1890. In the following game he defeated arguably the strongest player in Brighton:


(46) H. Erskine - W.V. Wilson
Brighton Chess Club Championship, 1890
Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Qe2 Nd6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.dxe5 Nb7 9.Nc3 Nc5 10.Rd1 0-0 11.Nd4 Qe8 12.Nf5 f6 13.Qg4 Ne6 14.Nxe7+ Qxe7 15.exf6 Qxf6 16.Be3 d5 17.Bd4 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Bf5 19.Qxf6 Rxf6 20.Rd2 Rb8 21.b3 Re8 22.Kf1 Rh6 23.h3 Rhe6 24.Rc1 Kf8 25.Na4 Re5 26.c4 dxc4 27.bxc4 Be6 28.Nb2 Re4 29.f3 Rf4 30.Rc3 Rb8 31.a3 Kf7 32.Kf2 c5 33.Re2 Rd4 34.Nd3 Rb6 35.Ne5+ Kf6 36.Kg3 a5 37.Ng4+ Bxg4 38.hxg4 a4 39.f4 Rb3 40.Ree3 Rb2 41.Kf3 Rb1 42.g5+ Kf7 43.Kg4 Rb2 44.g3 Rb6 45.Re5 Rc6 46.Kf3 Rdd6 47.Rce3 Rd4 48.f5 Rd7 49.Re6 Rb6 And White mates in 3 moves. 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


After 1891 there appears to be no mention of Henry Erskine in Sussex chess records, but in 1917 an H. Erskine (presumably Henry) is listed as board 1 for Devon in a correspondence match against Sussex.


F.W. Comber
F.W. Comber is first mentioned in the Sussex Chess Archives in 1883 as playing for the St Nicholas Club against Hastings. The records list him for the last time in 1895. He was not generally considered to be one of the very strongest players, but in 1894 he recorded a notable success in winning the Brighton Chess Club Championship. The gold memento that was presented for this championship still survives and was returned to the Brighton Chess Club by a descendant of F.W. Comber several years ago. Comber was also listed as an Honorary Member of the club in 1888, but we do not know why this special distinction was conferred upon him. The following game was played in 1894 on board 4 for Sussex against Hampshire:


(47) F.W. Comber - W.C. Kenny
Sussex v Hampshire (Board 4), 1894
Scandinavian Defence
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5 4.d4 Bf5 5.Bc4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 e6 7.f4 Bd6 8.Nf3 Nd7 9.0-0 c6 10.h3 h5 11.Qe1 Qe7 12.Nh4 g6 13.Qf2 Nf6 14.Nxf5 gxf5 15.Bd3 Kd7 16.Rb1 b6 17.c4 Rag8 18.c5 Bc7 19.Re1 Ne4 20.Bxe4 fxe4 21.Rxe4 f5 22.Re2 h4 23.c4 Rh6 24.Rb3 Rhg6 25.Qf1 bxc5 26.d5 cxd5 27.cxd5 Bb6 28.Ba3 Qg7 29.dxe6+ Rxe6 30.Rxe6 Kxe6 31.Bb2 c4+ 32.Rxb6+ 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


NB. Difficulties have been experienced with the score of this game, which was published in the Sussex Daily News of 5 December 1894. It is believed that the moves given here are those most likely to have been played.


W. Mead
Walter Mead is mentioned in the Sussex Chess Archives as entering a Brighton handicap competition in 1881. In 1882 he wrote a short history of chess in Brighton which was published in the Chess Player’s Chronicle and the Brighton Guardian. He played in Sussex’s first ever county match in 1884 and became one of the county’s top players, though he never won the Brighton or Sussex Championship. From 1883 to 1889 he reported on Sussex chess news in the Southern Weekly News. In 1895 he played for Sussex when the team won the Southern Counties Championship, though after that date I do not have any record of other appearances for the county. In 1899 he won the Hove Chess Club Championship, and he was also a member of that club in 1900. It is not certain how long he continued playing. I append one of his games which was published in the British Chess Magazine:


(48) W. Mead - B. Pritchett
St Ann’s v St Nicholas, 1885
King’s Gambit Accepted, Kieseritzky Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 h5 6.d4 d6 7.Nd3 f3 8.Be3 Nf6 9.Nc3 fxg2 10.Bxg2 Qe7 11.Bg5 c6 12.Rf1 Bg7 13.Qe2 0-0 14.e5 dxe5 15.dxe5 Qc7 16.Bxf6 Nd7 17.Qe3 Re8 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qg5+ 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


A.A. Bowley
A.A. Bowley remained one of the county’s strongest players. By at least the early 1890s he had moved to Henfield, but we continue to follow his chess career because of his Brighton connections. In 1892 he came close to winning his first county title, only being forced into second place after losing a play-off against W.V. Wilson. The following games were both played for Sussex in 1892. H.E. Atkins, his opponent in the second game, later won the British Championship on several occasions.


(49) A.A. Bowley - G.J. Clark
Sussex v Surrey (Board 7), 1892
King’s Gambit Declined
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 Bc5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.d3 Nd4 7.Bxd7+ Qxd7 8.fxe5 Nxf3+ 9.Qxf3 dxe5 10.Nd5 0-0-0 11.Bd2 c6 12.b4 cxd5 13.bxc5 dxe4 14.Qxe4 f5 15.Qc4 Qc6 16.0-0 Rd4 17.Qf7 Nf6 18.Rab1 Rg4 19.Rf2 f4 20.c4 h5 21.Bc3 Rg5 22.Rfb2 b6 23.Qxa7 Qxc5+ 24.Kh1 Qc6 25.Bxe5 Nd7 26.d4 Rf8 27.d5 Qb7 28.Qxb7+ Kxb7 29.Bd4 f3 Adjudicated a win for White. 1-0. (Play through game - link opens in new window.)


(50) H.E. Atkins - A.A. Bowley
Combined Universities v Sussex (Board 1), 1892
Scotch Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bg5 d6 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.h3 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne7 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Qd2 Ba5 12.0-0-0 Ng6 13.h4 Re8 14.Rde1 Nf8 15.h5 Ne6 16.g4 Ng5 17.Nxg5 fxg5 18.f4 h6 19.Kb1 Kg7 20.Qf2 Bxc3 21.bxc3 Qf6 22.Rhf1 Bxg4 23.f5 Bxh5 24.Qg3 g4 25.Ka1 Qg5 26.f6+ Kg8 27.Rf5 Qd2 28.Rxh5 Rxe4 29.Rhh1 Rae8 30.Reg1 h5 31.Bd5 h4 32.Qxh4 Qxc3+ 33.Kb1 Qd3+ ½-½ (Play through game - link opens in new window.)

 

Go to Chapter 4

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Sources

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Appendix

Index of Openings

General Index

 

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