Hampshire played three County matches this season, two in the SCCU and the normal friendly against Wiltshire. In addition to the OTB Matches they also played one Correspondence match against Essex losing 16 – 29.
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.
Hampshire 8 Sussex 8 – Oct 28th 1911 – Portsmouth
Hampshire’s first match of the season was against Sussex, and as per the last few years was held in Portsmouth. Hampshire always had a stronger team when playing at home, and this was no exception, with their top three players being available.
The match was very close, ending in a eight all draw, although Hampshire losing the bottom three boards does indicate that the normal problem of being weaker at the tail end was a continual issue.
The West Sussex County Times had a review of the match. At that time the match had two adjournments and one of these went to Sussex, and one to Hampshire, which meant the match was drawn.
SUSSEX v. HANTS.
West Sussex County Times – Saturday 04 November 1911
At Southsea on Saturday Sussex and Hants met in the Southern Counties championship, the result, apart from two games sent for adjudication being a tie of seven points each. At board 3 Mr E.G. Reed (Brighton) played a very fine game against F. J H Elwell (Southampton) gaining a powerful attack in the opening. He drove his opponent’s king out into the open and eventually mated him.
At board 5, Mr Castle-Leaver (Brighton) won a rook, and, forcing home the advantage, compelled his opponent to resign
Hampshire winners were JH Blake, Sir GA Thomas, WC Kenny, Prof EL Watkins, W Veitch, Prof WF Masom and WS Mackie. The results from the BCM has the Professors as Southampton Chess Club, but as they were playing for Hartley College in the Hampshire League previously this may be incorrect.
| Board | Hampshire | Club | Result | Sussex | Club | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JH Blake | Southampton | 1 | Saley Hughes | Hastings | 0 |
| 2 | Sir GA Thomas | Portsmouth | 1 | HW Butler | Brighton | 0 |
| 3 | FJH Elwell | Southampton | 0 | EG Reed | Brighton | 1 |
| 4 | JS Flower | Ryde | ½ | S Pilch | Brighton | ½ |
| 5 | HD Osborn | Gosport | 0 | Castle Leaver | Brighton | 1 |
| 6 | A Asher | Southampton | ½ | HJ Stephenson | Hastings | ½ |
| 7 | E Clayton | Portsmouth | 0 | JW Bridger | Lodsworth | 1 |
| 8 | WC Kenny | Southampton | 1 | FE Purchas | Brighton | 0 |
| 9 | HA Way | Portsmouth | 0 | HC Hunt | Horsham | 1 |
| 10 | Prof EL Watkins | Southampton | 1 | J Chandler | Lewes | 0 |
| 11 | W Veitch | Southampton | 1 | VS Ward | Littlehampton | 0 |
| 12 | Prof WF Masom | Southampton | 1 | AT Osborne | Worthing | 0 |
| 13 | WS Mackie | Southampton | 1 | HT Grover | Brighton | 0 |
| 14 | DHH Wassell | Petersfield | 0 | EC Harvey | Hove | 1 |
| 15 | WH Killick | Southampton | 0 | HW Bridges | Hastings | 1 |
| 16 | J Slatter | Southampton | 0 | H Barr | Brighton | 1 |
| Total | 8 | Total | 8 |
The match as detailed in the British Chess Magazine.
Hampshire 6½ – Kent 9½ – Dec 9th 1911 – London
The annual trip to London to face Kent was next, and although Hampshire performed better than the previous year, then still lost by three points. Unlike last year George Thomas did not play, but Hampshire still won on the top three boards. Unfortunately they only managed another three and a half points on the remaining thirteen boards (not helped by a default).
Hampshire’s winning players were JH Blake, FJH Elwell, Dr Hart, Prof WF Masom and WS Mackie.
| Board | Hampshire | Club | Result | Kent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JH Blake | Southampton | 1 | OC Muller | 0 |
| 2 | FJH Elwell | Southampton | 1 | EL Raymond | 0 |
| 3 | Dr Hart | 1 | C Chapman | 0 | |
| 4 | E Draycott | Portsmouth | 0 | C Hammond | 1 |
| 5 | Absent | 0 | G Hanson | 1 | |
| 6 | A Asher | Southampton | 0 | BW Hamilton | 1 |
| 7 | E Clarke | Andover | ½ | FC Bundock | ½ |
| 8 | HA Way | Portsmouth | 0 | E Creswell | 1 |
| 9 | Prof WF Masom | Southampton | 1 | RHS Stevenson | 0 |
| 10 | WS Mackie | Southampton | 1 | WM Brooke | 0 |
| 11 | WH Killick | Southampton | 0 | Grace Moore Curling | 1 |
| 12 | HJ Penwill | Southampton | 0 | CE Taylor | 1 |
| 13 | Revd HW Yorke | 0 | JA Detmold | 1 | |
| 14 | J Bradfield | ½ | CF Corke | ½ | |
| 15 | F Bunning | ½ | AL Curling | ½ | |
| 16 | LC Whetham | 0 | IT Sifton | 1 | |
| Total | 6½ | Total | 9½ |
Kent would go on to win the SCCU Championship this year. They beat Middlesex 8½ – 7½ in the semi-final and were to face Devon in the final. Unfortunately Devon had to concede in the final as per the report in the BCM.
This was Devon’s first win since 1906/07, and they would not win the main Shannon Championship again until 1967/68. The competition was dominated by Middlesex, Surrey and Essex until this time.
Hampshire 8½ – Wiltshire 3½ – June 26th 1912 – Salisbury
Hampshire’s final over the board match was their annual friendly against Wiltshire. There were more players in the match than the previous year, although Hampshire were missing some of their top players. Their top board was Bournemouth’s PA MacMahon, taking advantage of a match not being in Portsmouth or London. He is briefly mentioned on Britbase and there is also a video of a nice Danish Gambit win of his on YouTube.
Hampshire were comfortable winners 8½ – 3½ with P MacMahon, JP Mollard, AC Whitcher, W Jenkins, WF Sandell, HJ Penwill and F Martin the Hampshire winners.
| Board | Hampshire | Result | Wiltshire | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PA MacMahon | 1 | A Schomberg | 0 |
| 2 | Substitute | 0 | FE Young | 1 |
| 3 | H Taggett | ½ | F Sutton | ½ |
| 4 | JP Mollard | 1 | Revd E Wells | 0 |
| 5 | SD Caws | ½ | E Fear Hill | ½ |
| 6 | AC Whitcher | 1 | WJ Naish | 0 |
| 7 | PEJ Talbot | 0 | JW Clark | 1 |
| 8 | W Jenkins | 1 | FS Bradbeer | 0 |
| 9 | Dr Gillett | ½ | HO Boyer | ½ |
| 10 | WF Sandell | 1 | WH Jackson | 0 |
| 11 | HJ Penwill | 1 | E Wright | 0 |
| 12 | F Martin | 1 | P Fry | 0 |
| Total | 8½ | Total | 3½ |
Hampshire Player Performance
No-one played in all three games this season, but a number played in two and scored 100%. These players were WS Mackie, Prof WF Masom and JH Blake.
Individual player performance is detailed below in a sortable table.
| Hants Player | Win Percentage | Points Scored | Games Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| WS Mackie | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| Prof WF Masom | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| JH Blake | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| W Jenkins | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| AC Whitcher | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| F Martin | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| Sir GA Thomas | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| WC Kenny | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| Prof EL Watkins | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| Dr Hart | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| W Veitch | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| WF Sandell | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| PA MacMahon | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| JP Mollard | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| FJH Elwell | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| HJ Penwill | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| E Clarke | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| H Taggett | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Dr Gillett | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| J Bradfield | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| SD Caws | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| F Bunning | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| JS Flower | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| A Asher | 25.0% | 0.5 | 2 |
| E Clayton | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| DHH Wassell | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| HD Osborn | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| Absent | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| J Slatter | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| Substitute | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| E Draycott | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| LC Whetham | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| Revd HW Yorke | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| PEJ Talbot | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| WH Killick | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
| HA Way | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
Summary
Hampshire only lost to the eventual winners of the Shannon Championship, and the gap between them and Kent was not that large, so all in all a positive season for Hampshire.
In other activities in Hampshire Chess, the Hampshire Trophy attracted fourteen teams, which were split into two sections of seven teams. Eight of the teams were from either Southampton or Portsmouth, with the others being from Andover, Hartley, Basingstoke, Gosport, Petersfield and RMA (Royal Marines Association?).
Proving that the stronger teams still had to split their strength was that the winner of the NW Division was the Southampton D team, whilst Gosport won the SE Division. I am sure if Portsmouth did not have to split their strength they would have won this Division.
Southampton D beat Gosport 3 – 2 in the final. I don’t have the final individual result, but do have these from Gosport’s last result where they gained their place in the final by beating Portsmouth C.
The County records give an idea of the player’s in each team. Where not given, these were club players who did not represent the County.
- HD Osborn – normally on the top 10 boards and had played as high as board 3.
- E Draycott – boards 4 to 8
- GJ Gribble – Middle boards
- AL Kent – board 14 to 15
- HA Way – Around board 8 at this time, but as high as board 2 and 3 by the late 1920’s
- G Spreadbury – board 12/13
Whilst researching I came across details of the City of London Chess Championship, where the players who finished in 1st place were both Hampshire players. JH Blake and GA Thomas both scored 11½ points, although I am not sure who won the final.
As you can see they finished ahead of many strong players who were made of some of the top boards for Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Middlesex and a number who would have also played in the British championship.
I could not find a report on the Hampshire AGM this year, but as far as I can tell the officers remained the same.
- JH Blake – President
- HJ Penwill – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
- JH Blake – Match Captain
- FJH Elwell, G Wood – Adjudicators
- WH Kenny, RF Barlow – SCCU Delegates
- HD Osbourne and PEJ Talbot – Trophy Competition Committee
Acknowledgements and Sources
- British Newspaper Archives
- Britbase
- Anthony Fulton for historic material on results
- Western Gazette
- West Sussex County Times
- Linlithgowshire Gazette
- British Chess Magazine
- Hampshire Archives