Hampshire County Matches 1920 / 21

The SCCU had another re-grouping of the Championship this season, with Sussex and Essex joining the SE section, and Surrey moving to a different section (metropolitan?). This meant Hampshire would meet Essex for the first time, but results wise Hampshire lost both OTB matches. Hampshire had better luck on the Correspondence front, beating Berkshire (22 – 21) and drawing with Devon 15 – 15 (Hants won on elimination).

Hampshire v Sussex 20 Dec 1920
Hampshire v Essex 5 Feb 1921
British Chess Championship 1920
Summary
Acknowledgements and Sources

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 5½ – Sussex 10½ – Dec 20th 1920 – Portsmouth

Hampshire met Sussex at Portsmouth and lost heavily 5½ – 10½. Whereas the Hampshire team had minor changes to their team before the war, Sussex had a number of new / returning players. I don’t have enough information as to if these were stronger players than before the war, as Hampshire only played Sussex one more time until 1958. Brian Denman wrote about Sussex’s board one Harold John Francis Stephenson.

In fact this is a great source for Sussex players, including three others who played in this match.

In the match is seems Sussex nullified Hampshire’s main strength, which was often the top boards, with boards 1 to 5 being held to draws. Hampshire were missing three strong players though, in Sir George Thomas (who did not represent Hampshire that often at this time), the normal ever present Frank Elwell and William Winter.

The Hampshire winners in the match were WJ Fry and RT Lawrence although from the adjudicated positions Hampshire were looking for 5 wins. I noticed that Revd WE Evill (great name for a man of the cloth) played his only game for Hampshire in this match. Previously he had played for Kent against Hampshire (1902, 1905 and 1907).

Board	Hampshire	Club	Result	Sussex	Result
1	JH Blake	London	½	HJ Stephenson	½
2	JP Mollard	Southampton	½	GM Norman	½
3	JS West	Portsmouth	½	Revd E Griffith	½
4	HD Osborn	Portsmouth	½	Revd E Swainson	½
5	WS Mackie	Southampton	½	Major CH Chepmell	½
6	L Illingworth		0	NB Holmes	1
7	HA Way	Portsmouth	½	GFH Packer	½
8	FA Joyce	Andover	0	RE Lean	1
9	WJ Fry	Southampton	1	HW Butler	0
10	E Clayton	Portsmouth	0	JA Watt	1
11	Revd WE Evill		0	CJA Wade	1
12	WA Way	Portsmouth	0	J Chandler	1
13	FG Binning	Southampton	0	J Bridges	1
14	DJ Penney	Portsmouth	½	JH Jones	½
15	JF Gribble	Gosport	0	J Storr Best	1
16	RT Lawrence	Southampton	1	Dr WM Varley	0
	Total		5½	Total	10½

The match was included in the Hampshire Advertiser and BCM.

**Sussex Dec 1920 – Hampshire Advertiser**

Hampshire 7½ – Essex 8½ – Feb 5th 1921 – London

The team which met Essex were much stronger than the one against Sussex, with William Winter and Frank Elwell on boards two and three. The extra strength can also be seen with E.Clayton on board 13, when he was three boards higher against Sussex. The match was close, but Hampshire lost by the narrowest of margins.

It could be said that Hampshire lost due to Badminton, as Sir George Thomas was not available due to playing in the Irish Badminton Championship. Although Blake had been Hampshire’s board one for all but one county match since 1887 (TE Haydon 1902 / 03 Surrey match), he probably would have been on board two in this match. Both Thomas and Blake played in the British Chess Championship in 1920, with Thomas finishing in 2nd place and Blake last.

If Thomas had played, this would have giving Hampshire a very impressive top four boards. I feel this would have been enough to sway the match Hampshire’s way.

The top boards went Hampshire way, with three points from the top four boards, but below these Hampshire only won two additional games.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Essex	Result
1	JH Blake	1	F Nettleton	0
2	W Winter	½	EW Osler	½
3	FJH Elwell	1	FW Marwick	0
4	RF Barlow	½	EJ Randall	½
5	JW Cooper	0	EG Twitchett	1
6	HD Osborn	0	EJ Price	1
7	WS Mackie	1	FJ Whitmarsh	0
8	HA Way	½	SGF Hawkins	½
9	JS Flower	0	EJ Gibbs	1
10	L Illingworth	½	E Scamp	½
11	WJ Fry	½	RH Bayley	½
12	FA Joyce	½	V Rush	½
13	E Clayton	1	WH Taylor	0
14	FG Binning	0	G Hayes	1
15	GC Ives	½	WG Elsmore	½
16	AS Dance	0	CA Thorogood	1
	Total	7½	Total	9½

British Chess Championship

It is worth picking up on the 1920 British Chess Championship which was held for the first time since 1914 (the 1919 competition had international players and was won by future World Champion José Raúl Capablanca). The 1920 Championship was held in August 1920, and both Sir George Thomas and Joseph Blake played. Although their residence is London, I still count them as Hampshire. For full information see Britbase for a comprehensive article on this (and every) championship.

Thomas had an excellent tournament finishing, in clear second, whereas Blake had the opposite with his worst performance, finishing in last place. In their individual game Thomas played to his strength with a positional game, where he put pressure on Blake who eventually lost from a slightly worse position.

Summary

Hampshire losing both OTB matches was not the best result, but is not as bad as it first looks. They certainly gave Essex a good run for their money in their match. The winners of the SCCU Championship this season were Sussex, which puts into perspective Hampshire’s large loss to them. Sussex came out on top against Essex, winning 10 – 6 in that match.

In the final Sussex met Middlesex and won in a close match. The match report from BCM explains the issues Middlesex had in travelling to Hastings, and you cannot but think the match would have gone their way, if these issues were not there.

Sussex Middlesex 1921 - BCM — **Sussex Middlesex 1921 – BCM**

In other Hampshire Chess activities, as mentioned Hampshire played two Correspondence matches, beating Berkshire (22 – 21) and drawing with Devon 15 – 15, but winning on elimination as Hampshire scored more points on the top 15 boards.

**HCA Correspondence 1920 21** **– HCA Archives**

The individual results were detailed in BCM and a number of the county OTB players were playing.

Hants v Devon 1920 21 Correspondence - BCM — **Hants v Devon 1920 21 Correspondence – BCM**

The Hampsh ire Trop hy in the 1920/21 season attracted ten teams from six clubs, and included Bournemouth for the first time (I think). The NW. Division was won by Southampton C whilst the SE. Division was won by Portsmouth A. In the final, the match was played at Fareham and Portsmouth won 4 – 2

In the Hampshire League five teams from three clubs competed and Southampton B won all their matches to win comfortably.

The Hampshire Advertiser had a match report for the Hampshire Trophy as well as detailing the individual board results. Surprisingly JS West who played as high as board three for Hampshire lost in 14 moves against L Illingworth, although this was not enough for Southampton to win the match.