Hampshire County Matches 1925 / 26

No new changes by the SCCU this season, and Hampshire faced the exact same four fixtures, with two matches against Dorset before the knock out stage where they met Berkshire in the semi-final and Somerset in the final.

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For the record of Hampshire County matches, and links to any articles I have written, the table on the Hampshire County Chess Matches page will detail these. The Hampshire County Chess History page summaries the leagues Hampshire have played in, and the successes Hampshire have achieved. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.

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Hampshire 14 – Dorset 2 – Oct 24 1925 – Bournemouth

Hampshire had twice beaten the recently formed Dorset the previous year and this continued, with a crushing 14-2 win in their first of two legs in the league section of the SCCU Montague Jones Championship. The Western Gazette mentioned that Dorset had two players absent and that the only winner was from the Revd WS Clarke from Bournemouth Chess Club.

Probably of more note was WH Curtis holding Frank Elwell to a draw. Curtis had played for Hampshire 10 times from 1887 to 1910 against Wiltshire and Sussex scoring a very respectful 50%. It was good to see that Hampshire took these matches seriously, as their top players were included in the team.

INTER-COUNTY CHESS MATCH. – HAMPSHIRE’S SUCCESS OVER DORSET

The first of the two annual chess matches between the counties of Hants and Dorset was played on Saturday afternoon ay Gervis Hall, Bournemouth. Dorset were handicapped at the start by the absence of two of their players and subsequently experienced a run of ill luck. The final result was win for Hants by 14 games to 2. The only win for Dorset was scored by the Rev. W. S. Clarke a member of the Bournemouth Chess Club.


Western Gazette – Friday 30 October 1925

Too many Hampshire winners to mention, but details are below as reported in the British Chess Magazine.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Dorset	Result
1	JH Blake	1	EL Raymond	0
2	FJH Elwell	½	WH Curtis	½
3	A Hayes	1	Capt RF Bowles	0
4	HD Lloyd	1	DH Napper	0
5	FA Joyce	1	LL Adams	0
6	CT Bennett	1	Capt PH di Marco	0
7	HA Way	1	WT Wilkinson	0
8	WJ Fry	1	WB Matthews	0
9	JS West	1	P Ward	0
10	HB Osborn	½	R Griffin	½
11	Revd K Wells	1	Default	0
12	R Cooper	0	Revd WS Clarke	1
13	FG Binning	1	W Mitchener	0
14	Revd AR Witt	1	WJ Ibbett	0
15	Dr GF Trubridge	1	I Irish	0
16	Brig-Gen Muspratt	1	Default	0
	Total	14	Total	2

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Hampshire 12½ – Dorset 3½ – Nov 28th 1925 – Bournemouth

Hampshire met Dorset again the following month and Dorset did better scoring 1 win and 5 draws. There was a report in the Swanage Times & Directory and this is quite important as it highlights the barriers which Dorset faced at the time. There were no actual chess clubs in Dorset and their best players probably were from Bournemouth Chess Club, which at that time was part of Hampshire. But, if the players lived in Dorset, they could represent Dorset. I am not sure if they were able to play for Hampshire, without knowing the specifics of the rules for county participation.

HANTS AND DORSET IN STUBBORNLY CONTESTED MATCH

On Saturday last. The return match between the counties of Hants and Dorset in the Montague-Jones Cup competition was played at Gervis Hall, Bournemouth. The match was stubbornly contested. Play in the majority of instances lasting until nearly the expiration of the three hours limit. The final result was a win for Hants with a score of 12½ points to 3½ points.

The previous match was also a win for Hants, the relative scores being: Hants 14 points Dorset 2 points. It is worthy of note that in both matches only one actual win was recorded in favour of Dorset, and that in each case the successful player was a member of the Bournemouth Chess Club.

It is only fair to add that Dorset showed great sportsmanship in raising a county team. as there are no chess clubs in the county, and they have to rely upon on players who get little practice and those members of the Bournemouth Chess Club who reside within the county boundary.

Swanage Times & Directory – Saturday 13 December 1924 – Capt PH di Marco

Hampshire winners were JH Blake, CT Bennett, HA Way, HD Lloyd, JS West, AJ Woodford, HR Northover, Dr GF Trubridge, LC Whethan and Brig-Gen Muspratt.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Dorset	Result
1	JH Blake	1	EL Raymond	0
2	FJH Elwell	½	WH Curtis	½
3	CT Bennett	1	Capt RF Bowles (absent)	0
4	FA Joyce	½	Dr Scudamore	½
5	HA Way	1	DH Napper	0
6	HD Lloyd	1	LL Adams	0
7	JS West	1	Capt PH di Marco	0
8	HD Osbourne	½	WT Wilkinson	½
9	FG Binning	½	WB Matthews	½
10	E Clayton	½	AF Thomas	½
11	AJ Woodford	1	P Ward	0
12	HR Northover	1	R Griffin	0
13	EF Osborne	0	HG Barnes	1
14	Dr GF Trubridge	1	Revd WS Clarke	0
15	LC Whethan	1	W Mitchener	0
16	Brig-Gen Muspratt	1	I Irish	0
	Total	12½	Total	3½

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Hampshire 9 – Berkshire 7- Feb 13th 1926 – St Brides

With the two wins against Dorset Hampshire met Berkshire in the semi-final of the KO stage of the Montague-Jones. This was the same fixture as the previous year and the final result was also the same, with a 9 to 7 win for Hampshire. To reach the KO stage Berkshire had drawn against Hertfordshire and gone through on elimination.

The match was reported in the British Chess Magazine and as you can see from the results Hampshire’s top boards carried the day scoring five and half points on the top seven boards, with Berkshire being more successful on the lower boards.

As reported in BCM Hampshire were to meet Somerset again in the Final, as Somerset had beaten and lost to Gloucester by eight and a half points. Somerset went through on the elimination of last board rule.

In the match against Berkshire W Winter, FJH Elwell, FN Braund (making a rare appearance for Hampshire), FA Joyce and JS Flower were the Hampshire winners.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Berkshire	Result
1	JH Blake	½	FW Neale	½
2	W Winter	1	PJ Lawrence	0
3	FJH Elwell	1	H Lyford	0
4	FN Braund	1	WOC Stuchbery	0
5	CT Bennett	0	LA Rumble	1
6	FA Joyce	1	JH van Meurs	0
7	Allan Hayes	1	EJ Brooks	0
8	HD Lloyd	0	GH Caws	1
9	AB Coe	0	DM Polley	1
10	HA Way	½	H Runham	½
11	WJ Fry	½	S Dobson	½
12	Revd W Proctor	½	AB Hamilton	½
13	JS West	0	K Lancaster Jones	1
14	JS Flower	1	KR Farmer	0
15	AH Yerbury	½	GH Kingham	½
16	E Clayton	½	GM Arrowsmith	½
	Total	9	Total	7

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Hampshire 7½ – Somerset 8½ – Mar 13th 1926 – Salisbury

Another case of Deja-vu with Somerset Hampshire’s opponents in the Montague Jones Final and Hampshire losing by one point. This time Hampshire did less well on the top boards only scoring the one point on the top five boards and winning on the bottom two.

Hampshire winners were HD Lloyd, WJ Fry, JS West, AH Yerbury and E Clayton.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Somerset	Result
1	JH Blake	0	Capt PD Bolland	1
2	W Winter	½	H Parsons	½
3	FJH Elwell	½	Revd EW Poyton	½
4	FA Joyce	0	RM Norman	1
5	CT Bennett	0	G Breakwell	1
6	HD Lloyd	1	JL Palmer	0
7	AB Coe	½	D Campbell	½
8	HA Way	0	Cdr RD Graham	1
9	WJ Fry	1	BT Barker	0
10	Revd W Proctor	½	LE Vine	½
11	JS West	1	FG Rodway	0
12	HD Osborn	½	F Melluish	½
13	FG Binning	0	G Gordon	1
14	RT Lawrence	0	H Powell	1
15	AH Yerbury	1	R Kemp	0
16	E Clayton	1	JD Howell	0
	Total	7½	Total	8½

Somerset would lose to Surrey 7 – 9 in the final of the Shannon Championship which gives an indication that they had an excellent team. Hampshire had lost 4 – 12 to Surrey in 1922 and as per the result it mentions how chess was improving outside of the London counties.

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Summary

Exactly the same record as last year, which the HCA AGM indicated as a good result. The matches against Dorset were not competitive, but the ones against Berkshire and Somerset certainly were. Again it was good to see four county matches being played and that the format had settled down from the constant changes from a few years previous.

In Correspondence matches Hampshire played in the National County Championship and finished with a positive score. They also played a massive match against the Sunday Referee Newspaper winning 42½ – 18½.

There was one game from this tournament from the Sunday Referee in Tim Harding’s Ultra Correspondence database. This was Frank Elwell’s win on board one (as per Hampshire Advertiser) against George Moses which was correctly adjudicated as a win for Elwell. The full match pairings and known results are detailed at the bottom of the article.

Harding mentions that George Moses played in the British Chess Championship in 1926, but this was 1925 where he finished half a point behind Joseph Blake.

Joseph Blake played in the 1925, British Chess Championship placing 10th. Other Hampshire players played in side events, details on the Britbase site.

The Hampshire Trophy in the 1925/26 season was won by Southampton, whilst the Shield was won by the Isle of Wight club Vectis, who beat Andover in the final. The report in the Hampshire Advertiser mentioned that Southampton A were to play Portsmouth B in the final. This match was delayed until September due to the restrictions of the Rail service.

On the Hampshire League page it stated that Southampton won this, but Terry Hollington was of the opinion that Portsmouth had won the match. The Portsmouth Evening News helps with the initial confusion as it was due to the adjourned game between FJH Elwell and HA Way, two of the top players in Hampshire.

In a very complicated position, Southampton needed the game to be adjudicated as a draw and Portsmouth as a win. In this instance Terry was incorrect, as the Portsmouth Evening News from the 27th September reported that this was adjudicated as a draw.

The 37th Hampshire AGM was reported in great detail in the Hampshire Advertiser. Gosport’s HD Osborn was re-elected as President. The other changes for the 1926/27 season were PEJ Talbot replacing Sir GA Thomas as one of the delegates to the SCCU and WJ Fry taking on the role of Assistant Secretary, which I don’t think existed before.

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The HCA officers elected at the AGM were:

• HD Osborn – President
• AB Coe – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
• WJ Fry – Assistant Secretary (new role)
• JH Blake – Match Captain
• FJH Elwell, E Sims – Hon. Auditors
• JH Blake, HD Osborn & PEJ Talbot – SCCU Delegates

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Acknowledgements and Sources

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