Hampshire played two County matches this season, both in the SCCU as the friendly against Wiltshire was probably cancelled due to the start of the first world war. This obviously affected future county matches, with the next one not played until 1920. Hampshire won one and lost the other this season. Hampshire also played two correspondence matches against Devon and Yorkshire, losing both.
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 12 Sussex 4 – Nov 15th 1913 – Portsmouth
Hampshire first match was against Sussex in Portsmouth and Hampshire scored their largest ever win (12 – 4). The travelling distance was proving too much of a disadvantage for Sussex, with the Hastings players not being able to play. The West Sussex County Times reported that steps were being undertaken to remedy this, but I am not sure what this was as county chess would stop due to the war.
Hampshire winners were JH Blake, FJH Elwell, HS West, HD Osborn, FA Joyce, HA Way, AB Coe, Prof WE Masom (by default), SD Caws, GI Gribble and WF Sandell (by default).
This was AB Coe’s first game for Hampshire and he started with a win. He would go on to play approx. 50 times for Hampshire until 1938 normally on the top 8 boards. He was also the HCA Secretary from 1923/24 to 1933/34 as well as a delegate to the SCCU for a number of years.
| Board | Hampshire | Club | Result | Sussex | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JH Blake | Southampton | 1 | RE Lean | 0 |
| 2 | FJH Elwell | Southampton | 1 | T Raoux | 0 |
| 3 | JP Mollard | Southampton | 0 | AJ Field | 1 |
| 4 | JS West | Gosport | 1 | EG Reed | 0 |
| 5 | HD Osborn | Gosport | 1 | AA Dash | 0 |
| 6 | WC Kenny | Southampton | 0 | Castle Leaver | 1 |
| 7 | FA Joyce | IOW | 1 | JW Bridger | 0 |
| 8 | WS Mackie | Southampton | ½ | CJA Wade | ½ |
| 9 | HA Way | Portsmouth | 1 | HW Butler | 0 |
| 10 | AB Coe | Southampton | 1 | J Chandler | 0 |
| 11 | HW Daws | IOW | 0 | FE Purchas | 1 |
| 12 | Prof WF Masom | Southampton | 1 | Default | 0 |
| 13 | SD Caws | IOW | 1 | F Brook | 0 |
| 14 | GI Gribble | Gosport | 1 | G Gillam | 0 |
| 15 | DHH Wassell | Petersfield | ½ | Justice Ford | ½ |
| 16 | WF Sandell | Southampton | 1 | Absent | 0 |
| Total | 12 | Total | 4 |
Hampshire 5 – Surrey 11 – Feb 7th 1914 – London
Hampshire had played Surrey in Southampton the previous year, but this season travelled to London and suffered a heavy defeat. They did manage to hold Surrey on the top ten boards, but with only half a point from the bottom six boards, the normal issue of strength in depth reared its head.
This can be seen as the boards 15 and 16 from the Sussex game were playing on boards 12 and 13 in the Surrey match.
The report in the Hampshire Advertiser explained the position from the bottom boards, as Hampshire had to rely heavily on Southampton Chess Club. If they could have obtained the services of the top players from a number of other Hampshire clubs, this would have helped. The final result of the match is known, and therefore Hampshire won the adjourned game.
Hants vs Surrey – County Match
The match between Hampshire and Surrey in their triangular contest with Sussex for place in the semi-finals of the Southern championship competition was played at the Gambit Cafe in London on Saturday last.
It was Hampshire’s first appearance at the Cafe and they found it made very good locale for the match, being the headquarters of the Lud-Eagle Club, the leading members of which happen also to be the leading members of the Surrey County Association, and the executive are to complimented on the way they entertained the teams.
Both Hampshire and Surrey had already beaten Sussex, so everything depended on the result of the present match. Surrey won the toss and the struggle commenced, both counties having been obliged to fill up vacancy with a reserve.
Surrey quite early gained the lead through winning some of the bottom boards and then had no difficulty in keeping it. with the result they won the match easily by 11 to 4 with one unfinished game over which the captains could not agree, sent for adjudication. Surrey offered draw but a win claimed by Hampshire and it will be seen from the score below that should this claim be sustained that Hampshire held their own against their formidable opponents at the first ten boards. The non success at the bottom six was disastrous and quite sufficient to ruin any ordinary team, but we are assured that in several instances the games were not so one-sided the score seems to indicate.
It was unfortunate that the County Secretary did not secure more help from players outside Southampton, because to play so many as ten from one town in such an important match was perhaps expecting too much, but we understand this was only decided on at the last moment, when it was found players from other parts of the county could not attend; in fact it was late Friday that the only winner, Mr. Mackie, promised.
Hampshire Advertiser – Saturday 14 February 1914
Hampshire two winners were JH Blake and WS Mackie, although six players did draw their games. JH Blake’s win was against the 1st Secretary of the ECF (LP Rees).
| Board | Hampshire | Club | Result | Surrey | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JH Blake | Southampton | 1 | LP Rees | 0 |
| 2 | FJH Elwell | Southampton | ½ | GA Felce | ½ |
| 3 | RE Barlow | Southampton | ½ | AJ Mase | ½ |
| 4 | TE Haydon | London | ½ | Dr TW Letchworth | ½ |
| 5 | JP Mollard | Southampton | ½ | FFL Alexander | ½ |
| 6 | JS West | Gosport | 0 | PJ Allingham | 1 |
| 7 | WS Mackie | Southampton | 1 | HC Griffiths | 0 |
| 8 | HA Way | Portsmouth | ½ | GE Parsons | ½ |
| 9 | RS Lockwood | Southampton | ½ | WD Childs | 1 |
| 10 | AB Coe | Southampton | 0 | F Dark | ½ |
| 11 | Prof WF Masom | Southampton | 0 | E Tredway | 1 |
| 12 | DHH Wassell | Petersfield | 0 | ET Jesty | 1 |
| 13 | WF Sandell | Southampton | 0 | J Butler | 1 |
| 14 | J Bradfield | Kingslclere | 0 | WT Dickinson | 1 |
| 15 | FG Binning | Southampton | 0 | GA Wenich | 1 |
| 16 | PE Rush | Southampton | 0 | FA Hauff | 1 |
| Total | 5 | Total | 11 |
Hampshire Player Performance
Just the two matches so not that much to report on. JH Blake was the only players who won both his games. FJH Elwell, WS Mackie and HA Way scored a win and a draw in their two games.
Individual player performance is detailed below in a sortable table.
| Hants Player | Win Percentage | Points Scored | Games Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| JH Blake | 100.0% | 2 | 2 |
| FJH Elwell | 75.0% | 1.5 | 2 |
| WS Mackie | 75.0% | 1.5 | 2 |
| HA Way | 75.0% | 1.5 | 2 |
| GI Gribble | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| HD Osborn | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| FA Joyce | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| SD Caws | 100.0% | 1 | 1 |
| WF Sandell | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| Prof WF Masom | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| JS West | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| AB Coe | 50.0% | 1 | 2 |
| TE Haydon | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| RE Barlow | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| RS Lockwood | 50.0% | 0.5 | 1 |
| JP Mollard | 25.0% | 0.5 | 2 |
| DHH Wassell | 25.0% | 0.5 | 2 |
| WC Kenny | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| PE Rush | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| HW Daws | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| FG Binning | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
| J Bradfield | 0.0% | 0 | 1 |
Summary
A good season for Hampshire in their over the board matches with the their great win against Sussex and a reasonable performance against Surrey.
In other activities Hampshire played two Correspondence matches in the County Championship losing narrowly to Devon and heavily to Yorkshire.
The results were detailed in the BCM, and you can see that a number of the normal county OTB players were also representing the county in correspondence. This also gave the club players the opportunity to play as well, specifically the Yorkshire match, being over 55 boards!
The Hampshire Trophy had twelve teams across the normal SE and NW divisions and six in the Hampshire League. Southampton and Portsmouth both dropped one team from the Hampshire Trophy which would have allowed them to field stronger teams. Despite this Hartley College narrowly edged ahead of Southampton A in the NW division. In the SE division Portsmouth A and B tied with four points and as the B team were in the final, either they won a play-off or progressed on tie-break.
The match result from Hartley College last round is given below.
In the final Hartley College handsomely won 4 – 1 to win their second title. In the Hampshire League Southampton II won, a point ahead of Hartley College.
The Hampshire Trophy continued to be played in the war years, although the Hampshire League was suspended and did not return until the 1920/21 season. Unlike the 2nd world war when many chess activities were ceased, this was not the case in the first world war. This is likely to do with the night time bombings, which were far fewer in the 1st world war.
The President JH Blake was unable to attend the AGM, and a letter was read that he felt it was time to step down from the role, and that someone closer to Hampshire should take over the position. PEJ Talbot was voted in as the new President. The other officers remained the same.
- PEJ Talbot – 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
- Hampshire Advertiser
- Hampshire Telegraph
- West Sussex County Times
- British Chess Magazine
- Hampshire Archives