Prior to 1893 Hampshire had played a number of friendly chess matches against Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire. With the formation of the Southern Chess Counties Union (SCCU) in 1892 a SCCU championship was organised to be played in 1893 and 1894 to determine the SCCU Champion. In total nine Associations entered, and Hampshire were placed in the South-Eastern section. Their opponents in this section were planned to be Surrey, Sussex and Kent and this was considered the strongest of the groups as stated in the Southern Counties Chess Union – a retrospective and Newspaper articles from this period.
Hampshire had played Wiltshire is a friendly match in the last two years but it seems there was not one this season. This did resume in the 1894/95 season.
June 2024: A small update on the Surrey match missing results have been located in BCM.
SCCU Championship
The South of England was split into four sections, with each County playing a match against the other counties and the winner of the sections playing a knock out for the semi-final and final. As mentioned Hampshire were in the toughest section of the SCCU and the winners of the Championship came from this section in all but one of the first ten years of the competition (normally Surrey).
Hampshire County Matches
Hampshire v Sussex – 16th Dec 1893
Hampshire first match was against Sussex, and this was played in Landport which is part of Portsmouth. Being a home venue this would have been an advantage for Hampshire, although still a long way for Bournemouth players (hence no representation), and for Sussex it meant there was not too much travelling for players from the west of the County. In fact, many of the early matches against Sussex were held in Portsmouth and if playing in Sussex they would tend to be played in Chichester, therefore you would expect more representation from Portsmouth players in County matches against Sussex.
The Portsmouth Evening News reported the match as:
This year the British Chess Club, for the purpose of encouraging county play, decided to present a trophy for competition among the southern counties. Nine Associations entered, and for the convenience play were divided into four sections — Hants, Sussex, Surrey, and Kent forming the south-east group. The first match was played on Saturday the Speedwell Hotel, Commercial-road, Landport, opposing teams of sixteen players a-side, representing Hampshire and Sussex, fought for the honour of their respective counties.
A time limit of twenty moves an hour being one of the conditions, each board was provided with clock, and precisely at 3:30, when the proceedings were timed to commence, the clocks were set in motion. A great deal of interest was evinced during the progress of the match by a large number of chess players of the town and district. At the termination of the play, it was found that the visitors had a majority of two, while the game between GJ Gribble and J Chandler, which was unfinished, will be adjudicated upon by Mr. L. Hofler, official adjudicator to the British Chess Club.
It was expected that Hampshire would have made better show but owing to illness and pressure of business nine out of the first sixteen of the county team were unable to be present, thus making it necessary to call upon members lower down the list. That this is the case will observed by the Bournemouth C.C. not having sent a single player, although, according to its strength, it would have been represented by three. It is interesting to know that since 1887, when the two counties first met, seven matches have been played, of which Hampshire have won four.
Portsmouth Evening News – 18 December 1893
As I have the final result of the match, I can confirm that the game between GJ Gribble and J Chandler was adjudicated as a draw. As to the result, I am not convinced the absence of the Bournemouth players was key to the loss. Hampshire won the top four boards and benefited with the inclusion of Lieut CH Chepmell a London player who was currently based in Gosport, who played above the strong Frank Elwell on board two.
The Sussex team were representative of their normal team which faced Hampshire (for example HW Butler played 21 times against Hampshire averaging bd 3 where he played in this match) and it was probably the five wins from the bottom six boards which proved key for Sussex winning the match.
| Board | Hampshire | Hants Result | Sussex | Sussex Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JH Blake | 1 | WV Wilson | 0 |
| 2 | Lieut CH Chepmell | 1 | AA Bowley | 0 |
| 3 | E Seymour | 1 | HW Butler | 0 |
| 4 | FJH Elwell | 1 | JW Bridger | 0 |
| 5 | EL Raymond | 0 | W Mead | 1 |
| 6 | A Asher | 0 | A Emery | 1 |
| 7 | WC Kenny | ½ | FW Womersley | ½ |
| 8 | HD Osborn | 0 | W Bridger | 1 |
| 9 | A Thomson | ½ | J Chandler | ½ |
| 10 | Dr Love | 1 | Revd EA Adams | 0 |
| 11 | PT Balshaw | 0 | Revd WH Cooper | 1 |
| 12 | WR Larminie | 0 | W Windens | 1 |
| 13 | AW Wheatstone | 0 | FW Croucher | 1 |
| 14 | FA Joyce | 0 | HW Shoosmith | 1 |
| 15 | PJ Dancer | 1 | E Young | 0 |
| 16 | R Chipperfield | 0 | EG Read | 1 |
| Total | 7 | Total | 9 |
Hampshire v Surrey – 3rd Feb 1894
Hampshire’s second match was played in Basingstoke against Surrey and this was reported in the Hampshire Independent.
The representatives of these Counties met on Saturday, at the Town HaII, Basingstoke, to play their match in the Southern Counties’ Chess Championship competition. under the rules of the Southern Counties Chess Union. For the purposes of this competition, the South of England is divided into four sections, in which each county plays one match with every other in its own section, the winners of sections then playing off amongst themselves. The South-Eastern section comprises Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, and Surrey having already defeated the two latter counties. had only to draw this match in order to win the contest in that section, Hampshire having already played Sussex and lost.
Both counties were fairly well represented, Hampshire having their full strength at the top boards, while their opponent, though not so fortunate in this respect, had a strong and very uniform team. Play began at about five o’clock, and it was arranged to conclude at eight, except at five of the boards, at which the hour of ceasing play was fixed for seven, in consequence of the Hampshire players desiring to leave by an earlier train. Lieut. Chepmell was the first to score a win, his game lasting but little more than an hour, but afterwards results came in very slowly, and at the call of time the score Hants 5½ – 4½; thus, leaving six games unfinished (in three of which the games had finished at seven o clock); and the final result of the match thus will not be known until the adjudicator’s decision has been received.
Hampshire Independent – 10 February 1894
In this instance with the exception of the Blake vs Rees game the results of the adjudicated games are not known and cannot be calculated. But the final result is known, with the match ending in a draw (eight points each). As Surrey had beaten Sussex and Kent and went on to win the SCCU Championship by defeating Northamptonshire (11½ – 4½) in the semi-final and Gloucestershire (9½ – 5½ 1 adjourned) in the final this was a good result for Hampshire.
Hampshire again proved strong on the top five boards, with wins by Lieut CH Chepmell, FJH Elwell, EL Raymond and draws by JH Blake and E Seymour. In addition, on board 14 FA Joyce also won. JH Blake was playing LP Rees who as well as being the president of the SCCU also went on to become the Secretary of the British Chess Federation. It was a shame that this was the only time in three games against JH Blake which LP Rees did not lose (1894 and 1914 were the other two county games), as this may have turned the Championship around and Hampshire may have progressed further.
Update June 24 – From BCM I have obtained the results of the adjourned games and updated.
| Board | Hampshire | Hants Result | Surrey | Surrey Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JH Blake | ½ | LP Rees | ½ |
| 2 | Lieut CH Chepmell | 1 | WJ Evans | 0 |
| 3 | E Seymour | ½ | A Howell | ½ |
| 4 | FJH Elwell | 1 | WE Vyse | 0 |
| 5 | EL Raymond | 1 | HW Peachey | 0 |
| 6 | A Asher | 0 | JH Taylor | 1 |
| 7 | WC Kenny | 0 | WJ Ingoldsby | 1 |
| 8 | HD Osborn | 1 | APC Kup | 1 |
| 9 | A Thomson | 1 | HS Leonard | 1 |
| 10 | Dr Love | ½ | R Cope | ½ |
| 11 | PT Balshaw | ½ | B McLeod | ½ |
| 12 | WR Larminie | 0 | Evan Cresswell | a |
| 13 | AW Wheatstone | 0 | GH Gibbs | a |
| 14 | FA Joyce | 1 | HA Jacobs | 0 |
| 15 | PJ Dancer | 0 | HS Ward | 1 |
| 16 | R Chipperfield | 0 | SB Baxter | 1 |
| Total | 8 | Total | 8 |
The report from BCM gives the results of the adjudicated games, additional information on the limited time (although as per the Hampshire Independent this was just for some games.) It seems the Blake – Rees game was claimed for both sides under the time limit rule (not sure what this is). As the result was detailed as a draw in the Newspaper this seems to have been the eventual judgment on this. It would of course be interesting to see the final position to have an idea on who was better?
Hampshire v Kent – Scratch
Surrey defeating Kent, Sussex and drawing with Hampshire meant Hampshire could not win the South-Eastern section and their match against Kent was not played. There was some discussion that the Hampshire – Surrey match should be replayed, but this does not seem to have happened. I think it was likely that as this was a draw this counted as the final result and therefore the Kent match was not played.
The final march being scratched seems to have been a common occurrence at the time. Therefore, Hampshire only played the two County matches in the season.
Hampshire Player Performance
Only two matches played and therefore there is not much to say on the player performance. But four players (EL Raymond, Lieut CH Chepmell, FJH Elwell and FA Joyce) won both games, whilst JH Blake won and drew one game on board one.
FA Joyce was an Isle of Wight Chess player (and champion) and first played for Hampshire in a friendly county match against Surrey in 1892 and played for the last time against Cambridgeshire in 1936. He also played in the Isle of Wight matches against Southampton and Portsmouth which started in 1888.
| Hants Player | Win Percentage | Points Scored | Games Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| EL Raymond | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| Lieut CH Chepmell | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| FA Joyce | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| FJH Elwell | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| JH Blake | 75.0% | 1.5 | 2 |
| A Thomson | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| GR Sloper | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| HD Osborn | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| GI Gribble | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Dr Love | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| E Seymour | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| G Deal | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| PT Balshaw | 25.0% | 0.5 | 2 |
| PJ Dancer | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| AH Hamilton | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| R Chipperfield | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| E Clarke | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| JE Erskine | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| A Asher | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| WR Larminie | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
| AW Wheatstone | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
| WC Kenny | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
Summary
This was therefore the start to Hampshire playing in an official County Chess competition and despite a loss and a draw this was only a small step from being a great beginning to the competition. Hampshire always played in this tough group and only managed to reach the knock out section a couple of times, until the format was changed.
This meant that with the exception of friendly matches against Wiltshire which were played most years (I do not have all the results) Hampshire only played against Sussex, Surrey and Kent (when the match was not scratched) until 1921.
From 1921 onwards Counties such as Essex, Middlesex, Berkshire and Dorset joined the mix when changes were made to the SCCU Championship which were probably long overdue (from Hampshire’s perspective at least).
Acknowledgements and sources:
- British Newspaper Archive
- Portsmouth Evening News
- Hampshire Independant
- BCM
- Anthony Fulton – “The Southern Counties Chess Union – a retrospective”
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