1923 Northern Counties Chess Union, Liverpool Premier, 31 March - 6 April
| 1923 NCCU Premier, Liverpool |
Residence |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Total |
| 1 |
Jacques Mieses |
Leipzig |
|
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
8 |
| 2 |
Geza Maroczy |
Hastings HUN |
½ |
|
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7½ |
| 3 |
Fred Dewhirst Yates |
Leeds |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6½ |
| 4 |
Sir George Alan Thomas |
London |
0 |
½ |
0 |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6½ |
| 5 |
Joseph Henry Blake |
London |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
| 6 |
Edmund Spencer |
Liverpool |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| 7 |
Victor Leonard Wahltuch |
Manchester |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
½ |
1 |
1 |
3½ |
| 8 |
Dr. Harry Holmes |
Liverpool |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
|
½ |
1 |
2 |
| 9 |
Allan William Edward Louis |
London |
½ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
½ |
|
0 |
1 |
| 10 |
Climenson Yelverton Dawbarn |
Manchester |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
1 |
1923 NCCU Major, Liverpool
| 1923 NCCU Major, Liverpool |
Residence |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Total |
| 1 |
John Arthur James Drewitt |
Hastings |
|
½ |
1 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
| 2 |
William Henry Watts |
London |
½ |
|
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
6½ |
| 3 |
(Francis) Percival Wenman |
Leeds |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
| 4 |
William Rowland Thomas |
Liverpool |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
5 |
| 5 |
Joshua Jackson |
Dewsbury |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4½ |
| 6 |
"N O Bodey" pseudonym1 |
Liverpool |
1 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4½ |
| 7 |
Carrick Wardhaugh |
Glasgow |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
1 |
|
½ |
1 |
1 |
4½ |
| 8 |
John Ellis Parry |
Bangor |
0 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
|
1 |
1 |
4 |
| 9 |
Gerald Abrahams |
Liverpool |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
3 |
| 10 |
Thomas Gerrard2 |
Liverpool |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 "N O Bodey" - a player who preferred to remain anonymous. All we currently know is that he was an amateur player from Liverpool
2 Gerrard appears to have dropped out and defaulted some games though it is not certain at which point.
Minor Tournament: (1) C A Mann (pseudonym of Henry Ashwell Cadman of Bradford) 7½/9; (2) John Whitworth (Stockport) 7; (3) Charles Aubrey Saban (Chester) 6; (4-5) Rev. Arthur Edward Wykes, J J Best 5½; (6) H Currie 5; (7) J Sinclair 4; (8) T Rawlinson 2½; (9) A J Smith 2; (10) Arthur Marr Sparke 0.
Evening Handicap Tournament: (1-2) H Kearn(e), (John Henry) Newman Clissold (New Brighton) 6½/7; (3) W L Barnaby 4½; (4) Tracey 4; (5) Slater 3½; (6) Banks 2; (7) Rose 1; (8) Smith 0.
Schoolboys Tournament: (1) Neville Worton Riley; (2) Ronald Sinclair Riley (brothers).
BCM, May 1923, ppn 159, 164-165
NORTHERN COUNTIES CHESS CONGRESS AT LIVERPOOL.
This was opened on Saturday, March 31st, by Mr. Amos Burn, the famous British Chess Master who has been for 50 years connected with the Liverpool Chess Club. The Premier Tournament was the most important held in the North of England for many years, and the entry included F. D. Yates, British Champion, J. H. Blake and Sir G. A. Thomas, respectively Champion and ex-Champion of the City of London Chess Club, and the well-known northern players V. Wahltuch, now resident in London, Dr. Holmes, C. Y. C. Dawbarn, ex-Champion of Lancashire, and E. Spencer, and two well-known Chess Masters in J. Mieses and Geza Maroczy.
J. Mieses won the first prize, G. Maroczy the second, and Sir George Thomas and F. D. Yates divided the third.
At the conclusion of the Blake v. Yates game the prizes were distributed by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Wilson, and the proceedings closed with the presentation by the Competitors to J. H. Milton of the Liverpool Chess Club of a set of autographed chess books as a mark of their appreciation of his admirable management of the Tournament.
The victory of Mieses in the Premier Tournament was thoroughly well deserved. He is now in his 59th year but played with his characteristic abandon, and secured two fine wins with an almost obsolete form of the Scotch game against Thomas and Yates. He was the winner of the Vienna Tournament in 1907 and his first Tournament was at Breslau in 1889 when he finished third.
Maroczy too can be regarded as a veteran. After winning the Minor Tournament at Hastings in 1895 he has won no fewer than five important tournaments—Monte Carlo 1902 and 1904, Barmen 1905, tied with Janowski at Ostend 1905, and tied with Duras and Schlechter in Vienna 1907.
In the Major Tournament G. Abrahams led off with three wins but he had no further successes and afterwards Drewitt and Watts led the field, Drewitt finally winning by ½ point and P. Wenman close up as the score below indicates. J. A. J. Drewitt won the first prize, W. H. Watts the second and P. Wenman the third.
Minor Tournament.—C A Mann (Bradford) won the first prize, J N Whitworth (Cheshire) the second, and Charles Aubrey Saban the third.
Schoolboys’ Tournament.—The first prize was won by Neville Worton Riley, and the second by his brother, Ronald Sinclair Riley.
Link to further details of this tournament at the Yorkshire Chess History website.
"The Boy Competitor.
"In the major competition great interest centred in the game between Gerrard (white) and the youthful Abrahams. The latter is just a couple of months short of 16. Hearing of the congress, but having no connection with any chess organisation, he quietly walked into the Liverpool club, and modestly asked whether he would be accepted in any of the contests. Mr. E. Spencer happened to be present, gave the lad a game, and was so struck with Abrahams's play that he at once secured his entry in a much more important tourney than the youth had ever dreamt of.
"... it is impossible to withhold admiration for young Abraham’s style. Commencing to play when nine years of age, his father being a fairly strong player, Abrahams, who is a student at the Liverpool Collegiate School, knows only a little in the way of book openings; but there is certainly reason for hoping that, under the tuition of the many fine players in Liverpool, he may develop powers which will eventually carry him into the highest ranks of the game." (Manchester Guardian, 3 April 1923, p3)
"The impulse of youth, unhampered by excess of knowledge, not only leads to unexpected success, but occasionally also to tragic reverses. Young Abrahams, when opposed to untutored players of his own class, gained victories in the major tourney by means of his fertile imagination. When, however, he was opposed to players with a good knowledge of the openings and general chess strategy the result was different. Thus he succumbed to the experience and sound play of Drewitt in the fourth round, and he met an equal fate in his game in the fifth round against W. H. Watts. In fact his collapse and eclipse were remarkable and crushing." (Isidor Gunsberg, Liverpool Daily Post, 5 April 1923)
File updated
| Date |
Notes |
| 2 February 2023 |
First uploaded. 26 games, 3 part-games, 16 stubs plus 6 games from lower sections. |
| 3 February 2023 |
Amendments made to three games: (1) Spencer 0-1 Mieses (rd 5 - final move was 29...c3); (2) Thomas 1-0 Spencer (rd 6 - 16 Qd2, not 16 Qe2); (3) Mieses 1-0 Thomas (rd 9 - opening move order corrected). My thanks to Andy Ansel for proof-reading. |
| 27 February 2024 |
Added the comment by Isidor Gunsberg about Gerald Abrahams. |
| 14 March 2024 |
Added the game Dawbarn 0-1 Mieses (rd 7) contributed by Michael Kühl, for which many thanks. Michael has also researched and contributed a number of primary sources which I have appended to the scores. Many thanks to Michael. I have added some comments about Gerald Abrahams to the score of the game T.Gerrard-G.Abrahams (and to the text above) which may be of interest. |
| 14 March 2024 |
Late addition: a game from the Minor section, J.Whitworth 1-0 H.A.Cadman (who played under the pseudonym "C A Mann"). |
