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BRITBASE - British Chess Game Archive

Tournament: 1st British Championship (won by Napier after play-off with Atkins) • includes play-offs & games from subsidiary events
Venue: Hastings • Dates: 22 August - 3 September 1904 • Download PGNupdated: Tuesday 2 April, 2024 12:24 PM

1904 British Chess Championship, 22 August - 3 September 1904 • »1905

1904 British Chess Championship Draw No Residence 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  Total 
1 William Ewart Napier 6 Kent
&;
½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1
2 Henry Ernest Atkins 7 Leicester ½
&;
1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
3 Joseph Henry Blackburne 1 London ½ 0
&;
1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1
4 George Edward H Bellingham 10 Dudley ½ ½ 0
&;
0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 7
5 Reginald Pryce Michell 9 London 0 ½ ½ 1
&;
0 1 0 1 ½ 1 1
6 Francis Joseph Lee 11 London 0 1 0 0 1
&;
0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 6
7 Herbert Levi Jacobs 4 London 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
0 1 1 ½ 1
8 Rev. Wilfred Charles Palmer 12 Manchester 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1
&;
½ 1 ½ 0
9 Creassey Edward Cecil Tattersall 5 London 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½
&;
1 0 1
10 Dr. Ronald Cadell Macdonald 8 Linlithgow 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 4
11 Arthur John Mackenzie 3 Birmingham 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0
&;
½ 3
12 Capt. Claude Herries Chepmell 2 Plymouth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 ½
&;

The draw order for this and other 1904 congress all-play-all events is derived from what appears in the press (e.g. Daily Telegraph & Courier, 23 August 1904, The Field, 27 August and 3 September 1904) showing a partially completed crosstable in draw order – pairings for each round can be derived using the details shown below.

Note on the line-up: "Mr. [Hector William] Shoosmith, however, retired at the eleventh hour, and his place was taken by Mr. A[rthur]. J[ohn]. Mackenzie of Birmingham." (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 23 August 1904)

Play: 7pm-10pm on the first day, thereafter 10am-1pm, with an evening session of 7pm-10pm. Time limit: 30 moves / 1½ hours in the first session, and in the second (morning session), thereafter 20 moves per hour.

Prizes: £60, £30, £20, £10. Non-prizewinners received £1 per win.

Eligibility: British subjects. The entries of Teichmann and Van vliet were not accepted. (Morning Post - Tuesday 23 August 1904)

Play-Off Match (January 1905, Hastings)

1904 British Championship Play-Off  1   2   3   4   Total 
1 William Ewart Napier ½ 1 ½ ½
2 Henry Ernest Atkins ½ 0 ½ ½

The prize winners were as follows British Championship.—The first and second prizes were divided between Messrs. H. E. Atkins and W. E. Napier, each receiving £45. Mr. Atkins also took the Amateur Championship Gold Medal and title of British Amateur Champion. His score against the other amateurs was 7½ points, against 7 points scored by Mr. Napier. The tie for the British Championship will be decided by a contest of four games. The match will be played during the coming Christmas holidays. Mr. J. H. Blackburne took third prize, £20, and Mr. Bellingham the fourth £10. The non-prize winners received £1 for each game won, and the aggregate sum given in this way amounted to £25. This arrangement was much appreciated by the competitors.


1904 British Ladies Chess Championship • »1905

1904 British Ladies Chess Championship Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  Total 
1 Miss Kate Belinda Finn 9 London
&;
1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10½
2 Mrs Gertrude Alison Beatrice Anderson (née Field) 4 London 0
&;
1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 1
3 Mrs Frances Dunn Herring (née Gwilliam) 11 Reading 0 0
&;
0 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1
4 Miss Grace Ellis (later Curling) 3 London 0 0 1
&;
1 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 1
5 Mrs Emily Margaret Stevens (née Dobell) 2 Hastings ½ 1 0 0
&;
0 1 1 1 1 0 1
6 Mrs Helen Eliza Sidney (née Truelove)1 12 Hove 0 0 0 1 1
&;
1 0 1 0 1 1 6
7 Miss Edith Mary Ann Tapsell (later Michell) 8 Redhill 0 ½ 0 1 0 0
&;
0 1 1 1 1
8 Miss Georgiana Watson 10 Hastings 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
&;
1 0 ½ 1
9 Mrs Christina Maria Chapman (née Edwards)2 1 Ogbourne St Andrew 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 1 4
10 Miss Fanny Harriette Hallaway 7 Hastings 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
&;
½ 1
11 Mrs Rhoda Annie Bowles (née Knott) 6 London 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½
&;
0 3
12 Mrs Seymour 5 London 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1

Ladies’ Championship.—Gold Championship Medal and £10, Miss Kate B. Finn, London; Mrs. Herring and Mrs. Anderson tied tor second and third, and divided; Mrs. Stevens and Miss Ellis tied for third and fourth, and also divided.

1 Mrs Sidney has proved to be elusive in BMD records as regards her forenames and d.o.b. She seems have been born Eliza Truelove in Newdigate in Surrey on 23 July 1858, but later assumes a first name of Helen or Ellen, giving her second name variously as Eliza, Elise or Elizabeth, and varying her d.o.b. by a few years. She married Paul Sidney (b 1830) in Brighton in 1883. She died (as Helen Eliza Sidney) on 9 December 1939 in Hove, Sussex.
2 Mrs Christina Maria Chapman, born 14 December 1843, Wexford, Ireland, m. John Furlong Chapman (1829-84), in 1866, Worksop. Died 13 October 1917, Walmer, Kent.

1897 Kate Finn

The first British Ladies' Champion, Kate Finn, as she was in 1897 (photo colorised by John Saunders)


1904 First Class A

1904 BCF First Class A Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  Total 
1 William Hewison Gunston 3 Cambridge
&;
½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Frank Brown 7 Dudley ½
&;
0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1d
3 Horace Fabian Cheshire 5 Hastings ½ 1
&;
0 0 1 1 1 1 1d
4 Philip Walsingham Sergeant 9 London ½ 0 1
&;
0 ½ ½ 1 1 1
5 Oscar Conrad Muller 2 London 0 0 1 1
&;
0 0 1 1 1 5
6 Bernard Dinwoody Wilmot 6 Birmingham 0 1 0 ½ 1
&;
½ 0 1 1d 5
7 John Crum 1 Glasgow 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½
&;
½ 1 1
8 Edward Douglas Fawcett 8 London 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½
&;
½ 1 3
9 Edwin Joseph Brooks 10 London 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½
&;
1d
10 Francis Albert Joyce 4 Isle of Wight 0 0d 0d 0 0 0d 0 0 0d
&;
0

1904 First Class B

1904 BCF First Class B Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  Total 
1 Charles Hugh Sherrard 9 Cairo
&;
½ 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 George Edward Wainwright snr 1 Surbiton ½
&;
1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1
3 Edward Empson Middleton jnr 6 Hastings 1 0
&;
½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 6
4 William Patrick MacBean 8 London 1 0 ½
&;
1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1
5 Frederick William Flear 3 St Albans 0 1 1 0
&;
1 0 ½ ½ 1 5
6 H Kirschner 7 London1 0 1 0 ½ 0
&;
1 0 1 ½ 4
7 Herbert Otto Rosenbaum 5 Chiswick 0 0 0 0 1 0
&;
1 1 1 4
8 James Mortimer 4 London 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 0
&;
1 0
9 Arthur Ernest Tietjen 2 London 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0
&;
1
10 John Francis Welsh (Rev) 10 Warminster 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0
&;

1 But 'Hastings' (according to the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 13 August 1904)

1904 First Class C

1904 BCF First Class C Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  Total 
1 George William Richmond 9 London
&;
½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1d 1
2 Paul Saladin Leonhardt 3 London ½
&;
1 1 1 1 1 1 1d 1
3 Francis Edward Hamond 6 London 0 0
&;
1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1
4 Harry Holmes 2 Liverpool 0 0 0
&;
1 ½ 1 1 1d 1
5 Robert Dunstan (Dr) 1 London 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 1 1d 1 5
6 J Wilson 5 Lincoln 0 0 1 ½ 0
&;
1 ½ 1 1 5
7 James Ernest Manlove (Dr) 8 Hastings 0 0 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 1 3
8 Isaac Ebenezer Mannington 10 Hastings 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0
&;
0 1 2
9 Rudolf Johannes Loman 7 London 0d 0d 0 0d 0d 0 0 1
&;
0d 1
10 Patrick Humphrey Sullivan 4 London 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1d
&;
1

First Class Amateurs.—It was intended that the section winners should playoff for the following division of the first prize money (£45): £20, £15, and £10, but owing to want of time it was eventually decided that the arrangement of £15 and £7 10s. to each section should be adhered to, and the distribution was therefore as follows: Section A—first prize, £15, Mr. W. H. Gunston; Mr. H. F. Cheshire took second prize £7 10s., after a tie with Mr. Frank Brown, who could not stay to play off, and resigned to Mr. Cheshire after a private arrangement respecting the prize money. Section B—first prize, £15 Mr. C. H. Sherrard and Mr. G. E. Wainwright tied with points, but Mr. Sherrard won the deciding game and gained the first prize, Mr. Wainwright taking £7 10s. In Section C there was a tie between Mr. G. W. Richmond and Mr. P. S. Leonhardt with 8½ each. Mr. Richmond won the deciding contest and took the premier reward, £15; Mr. Leonhardt, £7 10s.


1904 Second Class A

1904 BCF Second Class A Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  Total 
1 TE/TJ/TI Edwards 8 Bristol
&;
1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8
2 Frederick Winter Markwick 6 Leyton 0
&;
1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1d
3 Joseph Algernon Woollard1 10 Bradford 1 0
&;
1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1
4 Leonard Illingworth 1 Acton 1 1 0
&;
0 1 ½ 1 1 0 1d
5 Cecil Perfect Hammond 3 Hither Green 0 ½ 0 1
&;
1 1 ½ 1 1 0 6
6 J N Smith 11 Marlow 0 0 1 0 0
&;
1 1 0 1 1 5
7 William Ernest Evill (Rev) 4 Canterbury 0 0 0 ½ 0 0
&;
½ 1 1 1d 4
8 Sir James Howard Thornton, K.C.B. 2 Hove 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½
&;
½ ½ 1
9 Empson Edward Middleton snr 5 St Leonards 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½
&;
0 1d
10 Elias Thorniley 9 Hastings 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ 1
&;
0
11 Henry Bremridge (Rev) 7 Devon 0 0d 0 0d 1 0 0d 0 0d 1
&;
2

1 Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia has a middle name of 'Alonzo' for J A Woollard but all the existing evidence (including one of the works referred to by Gaige himself, BCM 1909, ppn 237-238) indicates that it was 'Algernon' - JS

1904 Second Class B

1904 BCF Second Class B Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  Total 
1 Alfred Axtell 4 Bristol
&;
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 8
2 William Thomas Dickinson 7 London 0
&;
½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1d 8
3 Wilfred Hugh Miller Kirk 9 London 1 ½
&;
1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1d
4 Isidor(e) Maurice Friedberger 5 Hastings 0 0 0
&;
1 0 1 1 1 1 1d 6
5 Frank Raven Adcock 11 Norwich 1 0 1 0
&;
0 0 ½ 1 1 1
6 William Alfred Paley-Hughes 1 Worcester 0 0 1 1 1
&;
0 ½ 1 0 1
7 William Rowland Thomas 8 Liverpool 0 0 0 0 1 1
&;
0 1 1 1d 5
8 John Ruchon 2 St Leonards 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1
&;
0 1 1 4
8 Frederick William Forrest 6 Shrewsbury 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1 1d
10 Mrs Annie Sophia Roe 10 Putney 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
&;
½
11 (Edward) Delmar Morgan 3 Copthorne 0 0d 0d 0d 0 0 0d 0 0d ½
&;
½

The entries in the second and third class amateur contests were so numerous that the committee divided the competitors in both events into sections, giving prizes to each section. The results were—Second Class Amateurs, Section A, first £10, second £5. The fighting in this section was so close between the leading players that they made a private arrangement that the winner of first prize should take £7 only, the balance, £3, being set apart to provide a third prize in the section. The prize takers came out as follows : first, Mr. T. E. Edwards; second and third, Mr. J. A. Woollard and Mr. F. W. Markwick, ex aequo. Section B—first, £10, Mr. A. Axtell; second, £5, Mr. W. T. Dickinson.


1904 Third Class A

1904 BCF Third Class A Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  Total 
1 A(rthur?) Baker (Rev?) 7 London
&;
0 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1
2 Vincent Sumner Ward 1 St Leonards 1
&;
0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8
3 Gustavus S Bullock 8 Pokesdown 0 1
&;
1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1
4 A Watson 2 Salisbury 0 1 0
&;
1 1 0 1 1 1 1 7
5 Robert William Genese (Prof) 10 Aberystwyth 0 0 1 0
&;
1 1 1 1 1 ½
6 Edward Algernon Michell 11 London 0 0 ½ 0 0
&;
1 1 0 1 1
7 Benjamin Perrott Smith 6 Hastings ½ 0 0 1 0 0
&;
1 1 1 0
8 R Owen 5 Hastings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 1 3
9 Miss Ellen Louisa Addison 9 Brighton 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
&;
0 1 2
10 Mrs (Emily?) Illingworth1 4 London 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1 2
11 Mrs Hannah Maria Joughin 3 London 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0
&;

1 I'm guessing that Mrs Illingworth is the mother of the young, unmarried Leonard Illingworth (who played in Second Class A)

1904 Third Class B

1904 BCF Third Class B Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  Total 
1 David Miller 5 London
&;
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1d 9
2 William Frederick Threlkeld 2 Wakefield 1
&;
½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 8
3 A Geake 6 St Leonards 0 ½
&;
1 1 0 1 0 ½ 1 1 6
4 William Henry Cockett (Rev) 11 Taunton 0 0 0
&;
½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1d
5 Mrs Robbins 1 London 0 ½ 0 ½
&;
½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1
6 George Henley Manbey 4 Southend 0 ½ 1 0 ½
&;
0 0 1 1 1 5
7 Frank Round Pickering 9 London 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1 1 1 1 5
8 Mrs Selina Charity Kershaw1 7 London 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 0
&;
0 1 1
9 A S Wilson 10 Lincoln 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 1
&;
1 1
10 Mrs Frances Susanne Durlacher2 3 London 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0
&;
1 2
11 Charles Hay Murray (Rev) 8 Spilsby 0d 0 0 0d 0 0 0 0 0 0
&;
0

1 Maiden name Selina Charity Davie (1855-1936), m.1875 Stephen Hussey, m.1903 Joseph Kershaw.
2 Unusually Durlacher is her maiden name and her husband Edward Newton Jones (an orthopaedist and dentist, married 1876) takes her surname rather than the other way round: Frances Susanne/Susanna(h) Durlacher (1853-1935)

1904 Third Class C

1904 BCF Third Class C Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  Total 
1 Francis Herbert Terrill 9 Birmingham
&;
½ 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1
2 E Wells (Rev) 3 Salisbury ½
&;
0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
3 Henry Braund 2 Hastings 0 1
&;
0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
4 John Campbell Douglas 11 Shrewsbury 0 1 1
&;
0 1 1 0 1 1 1 7
5 George Herbert Lock 10 Shrewsbury 0 0 1 1
&;
1 1 1 1 0 1 7
6 C Papworth 7 London 0 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 1 1 1 5
7 Miss Margaret Hunt 4 Barnstaple 1 0 0 0 0 0
&;
0 1 1 1 4
8 Miss Clara Millar 5 Altrincham 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
&;
1 1 0 4
9 R H Donnelly 8 London 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1 2
10 Miss Alice Grace Ruchon 6 St Leonards 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
&;
1 2
11 Dr. Frederick Henry Alderson 1 Bournemouth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
&;
1

1904 Third Class D

1904 BCF Third Class D Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  Total 
1 W Collins 4 Hereford
&;
½ 0 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 8
2 Alfred Lindsay Densham 8 Croydon ½
&;
½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
3 Francis James Welsh1 2 Warminster 1 ½
&;
1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1
4 Rev. Edward Gates 7 Kettering 0 ½ 0
&;
1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 7
5 A H Owen 6 Birmingham 0 1 1 0
&;
1 1 0 1 1 1 7
6 Miss Marian Millar 1 Altrincham 0 0 0 0 0
&;
0 1 1 1 1 4
7 Miss M(adeline?) Rawnsley 10 Hove 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1 0 1 1 4
8 Francis Hooper Rawlins (Major) 9 Wolverton ½ 0 1 0 1 0 0
&;
1 0 0
9 F Rentoul 5 Eastbourne 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
&;
1 1 3
10 William Gordon Watson 11 Hastings 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0
&;
1
11 Miss Emily Hunt 3 Barnstaple 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
&;
1

1 son of John Francis Welsh who played in First Class B

Third Class Amateurs, four sections, with £5 and £2 10s. to each section. Winners : Section A—Mr. A. Baker, first; Mr. V. S. Ward, second. Section B—Mr. D. Miller, first; Mr. W. F. Threlkeld, second. Section C—Mr. F. H. Terrill, first; Rev. E. Wells, second. Section D—Mr. W. Collins, first; Mr. A. L. Densham and Mr. F. J. Welsh, ex aequo, second.


1904 First Week

1904 BCF First Week Tournament Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6  Total 
1 Carrick Wardhaugh 5 Glasgow
&;
1 ½ 1 1 1
2 W S Carey 4 Leyton 0
&;
1 1 1 1 4
3 James Chandler 3 Lewes ½ 0
&;
1 1 1
4 Allan Lee Curling 1 Rochester 0 0 0
&;
1 1 2
5 Gilbert Henry Hadland 6 Thornton Heath 0 0 0 0
&;
1 1
6 Mrs B W Boxall 2 London 0 0 0 0 0
&;
0

First Week Tournament.—Two prizes, and £2 10s. Mr. Wardhaugh took first and Mr. Carey second.
During the fortnight there were several lightning tournaments arranged, and the prizes were furnished by the entrance fees. Messrs. C. Hammond, Napier, F. E. Hamond and Macdonald each winning a first prize.


1904 Evening Play

1904 BCF Evening Play Draw No Resid. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  Total 
1 A T White 10 Hastings
&;
1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1d 1 1 1 10
2 Harold John Francis Spink Stephenson1 2 Hastings 0
&;
1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 9
3 Edward Henry Church 1 Cambridge 0 0
&;
1 1 1 ½ 1 1d 1 1 1
4 Charles Frederick Corke 4 Sevenoaks ½ ½ 0
&;
0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1d 7
5 Thomas Robert Kirkpatrick 11 Hastings ½ 0 0 1
&;
0 1 1 1d ½ 1 1 7
6 William Dundas Wight 3 Pentre, Glam. 0 0 0 0 1
&;
0 1 1d 1 1 1 6
7 Alfred George Ginner 12 Hastings 0 0 ½ 1 0 1
&;
0 0 1 1 1
8 Arthur Hasnip 7 Hastings 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1d 0 1 1 4
9 Victor Owlett 9 Hastings 0d ½ 0d 0 0d 0d 1 0d
&;
1 1 1
10 Miss J M Thomas 8 St Leonards 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 0
&;
0 1
11 Edward James McCormick 5 Hastings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
&;
1 2
12 Miss M Garland 6 St Leonards 0 0 0 0d 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
&;
0

1 BCM gives "H T Stephenson" but I'm assuming this is a typo

Evening Tournament.—First prize, £5 ; second, £3; third. £2 ; fourth, £1 7s. 6d. The winners of first three prizes were Mr. A.T White, Mr. H. S. Stephenson, and Mr. C. H. Church, in the order named. The fourth prize was divided by Mr. Corke and Mr. Kirkpatrick.


Biographical note (added 10 Oct 2017 and edited 10 January 2021): Bernard Dinwoody Wilmot, who scored 5/11 in First Class A, was to acquire a certain notoriety. (Note, this is his full, real name, but his surname was regularly spelt 'Willmott' in a chess context. 'Dinwiddy' in the press cutting below seems to be a typo.) In November 1907 he was sentenced to five years' penal servitude for setting fire to his premises in Regent Place, Birmingham (ref. Birmingham Daily Gazette, 26 November 1907 - further details of the case made be found in Birmingham Daily Gazette, 17 October 1907). In 1911 he was still serving this sentence in Maidstone Prison. He was born in West Bromwich in 1864, and died in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1949. Wilmot was a strong player, amongst his successes being a win against HE Atkins at the Craigside tournament, Llandudno, in January 1899 (ref. Nottinghamshire Guardian - Saturday 21 January 1899).

1907 BD Wilmot charged
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Wednesday 02 October 1907


All-Play-All Pairings used at the 1904-1947 BCF Congresses

Round 1 2 3 4 5 6
Rd 1 1 v 2 11 v 3 10 v 4 9 v 5 8 v 6 7 v 12
Rd 2 3 v 1 7 v 8 6 v 9 5 v 10 4 v 11 12 v 2
Rd 3 1 v 4 2 v 3 9 v 7 10 v 6 11 v 5 12 v 8
Rd 4 5 v 1 4 v 2 8 v 9 7 v 10 6 v 11 3 v 12
Rd 5 1 v 6 2 v 5 3 v 4 10 v 8 11 v 7 9 v 12
Rd 6 7 v 1 6 v 2 5 v 3 9 v 10 8 v 11 12 v 4
Rd 7 1 v 8 2 v 7 3 v 6 4 v 5 11 v 9 12 v 10
Rd 8 9 v 1 8 v 2 7 v 3 6 v 4 10 v 11 5 v 12
Rd 9 1 v 10 2 v 9 3 v 8 4 v 7 5 v 6 11 v 12
Rd 10 11 v 1 10 v 2 9 v 3 8 v 4 7 v 5 12 v 6
Rd 11 1 v 12 2 v 11 3 v 10 4 v 9 5 v 8 6 v 7

First number in each pairing has White. The draw order for all-play-all events at this congress is derived from what appears in the press (e.g. Daily Telegraph & Courier, 23 August 1904, The Field, 27 August and 3 September 1904) showing a partially completed crosstable in draw order – pairings for each round can be derived using the details in the above table. My understanding is that these pairings were used for all BCF Congress all-play-all tournaments from the first one in 1904 up to and including 1947. Further details here.


File Updated

Date Notes
24 August 2015 Seven more games added, many thanks to Brian Denman.
3 September 2015 Two more subsidiary event games (Fawcett-Wilmott and Mortimer-Kirschner) added.
8 September 2015 Two more subsidiary games added, many thanks to Gerard Killoran and Brian Denman.
23 February 2016 Two more games added - Anderson 0-1 Finn (Women's Championship) and Leonhardt 1-0 Hamond (First Class C). Thanks to Gerard Killoran.
10 October 2017 Blackburne 1-0 Jacobs, Round 3, amended to include additional moves found in Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 27 August 1904. Added three new games: Brooks 0-1 Wilmot, Round 1, First Class A; Muller 0-1 Gunston, First Class A; and Flear 1-0 Welsh, Round 4, First Class B. Biographical details re BD Wilmot/Willmott added.
03 July 2017 Final four moves added to the incomplete first game of the Napier-Atkins play-off match
21 July 2017 Score of Tattersall-Blackburne (Rd 4) added.
3 May 2018 Four more games from subsidiary competitions added: Sherrard-Wainwright (First Class A), Tietjen-Rosenbaum (First Class A), Axtell-Adcock (Second Class B), Forrest-Adcock (Second Class B). My thanks to Gerard Killoran. On Gerard's advice I have also replaced the crosstables from The Field (which proved to be faulty) with those from BCM (which seem to be more accurate and have useful extra data showing where players came from).
28 February 2019 Added 1 game: Bowles-Stevens, British Women's Championship, Rd 6. Many thanks to Brian Denman.
27 February 2020 Added 1 game: Hallaway-Tapsell/Michell* (Rd 2, women's championship). Many thanks to Brian Denman. * I have recorded this as Edith Michell rather than her unmarried name Tapsell, to avoid confusion.
9 November 2020 I have replaced all the crosstable scans with properly typeset ones, enabling me to show full names, where available, and also to place the players in score order, rather than draw order as they appeared in BCM and other contemporary accounts. Nevertheless I have retained the draw order data as this can be useful in working out when a games was played. I have also included a 12-player pairings chart, which applies to all BCF all-play-all tournaments from 1904 to 1947. Not all 1904 tournaments consisted of 12 players, however; I am assuming that the pairings chart works for 11 or fewer players as well but can't be entirely certain of this.
14 April 2023 Added one game: C.Hammond 1-0 L.Illingworth, Second Class A. Many thanks to Brian Denman for sending the score.
20 March 2024 Added the game E.Michell/Tapsell 0-1 K.Finn (Women's Ch'ship, rd 4), contributed by Richard James via the English Chess Forum. Many thanks, Richard.