Hampshire County Matches 1932 / 33

The SCCU made further changes for the 1932-33 season with the introduction of the Stevenson Trophy. At this time this was really a Plate competition, for the losers of the 1st round of the Montague Jones Cup. The main aim for the competition was to ensure that “minor” counties were not limited to one match a season, if they were knocked out of the Montague Jones Cup.

Hampshire received a bye in the first round of the Montague Jones Cup, and their first match against Somerset, who had defeated Dorset 9½ – 6½ in the first round. This was not the worse result for Dorset though, as they would go on to win the new Stevenson Trophy. They beat Wiltshire 10 – 6 in the West section, and Suffolk 9½ – 7½ in the final. Worth noting that the Western Morning News is an excellent source for chess in the West of England, specifically Devon (as based in Plymouth). The Hampshire Advertiser and Portsmouth Evening News are probably the best sources for Hampshire Chess.

Hampshire had another excellent season, retaining the Montague Jones Cup they won the previous season. They also put up a good performance in the final of the Shannon Championship, scoring 6½ points against one of the heavyweights, Surrey in the final. With Hampshire’s ever present board one Joseph Blake retiring from county chess this season, this must have been a worry for Hampshire. But his replacement was an even stronger player, Conel Alexander, who had taken up a professorship at Winchester college. He came into the season as the runner up at the British Chess Championship, finishing half a point behind Sultan Khan and a point ahead of Sir George Thomas, who was third.

Alexander was a two time British Chess Champion in 1938 and 1956, as well as representing England in six Olympiads. Alexander would represent Hampshire 16 times from 1932 to 1946 all on board one, with the exception of the final of the 1936/37 season against Cambridgeshire when he played behind Sir George Thomas.

---

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 10½ – Somerset 5½ – 3rd Dec 1932 – Westbury

Due to Hampshire’s 1st round bye their first match was not until December 1932, when then played Somerset for the first time since 1926. Hampshire had narrowly lost their previous two matches to Somerset (7½ – 8½), both in the final of the Montague Jones Cup. This time Hampshire had a comfortable five point win.

The adjourned game from the AB Coe – J Palmer was published in the Hampshire Advertiser. Due to frequency of the Coe games’s by the “East Anglian” in the newspaper I think this person was either Mr Coe, or someone who received a lot of post from him. It is a shame there were not games from other players, but still great to have these games available.

At the time of the article the score was 8 – 5 with three adjourned games. Two of these were Hampshire wins, and one of them drawn. Of note was the adjudicator of these three games, Mrs Vera Menchik!

Hampshire winners were CHOD Alexander, HD Lloyd, AB Coe, JS West, Revd AR West, LA Amphlett, M Clifford and HL Parsons. Also of note on board 7 for Somerset was Lesley Vine, who a few years later would be playing for Hampshire (1936 to 1972). He was also a future Hampshire Individual Champion in 1952 and maybe 1953, although I cannot confirm this yet (not on trophy and no newspaper record).

I also presume he was based in the are this year, as he played in the 1933 President’s Trophy, losing in the quarter final. In this match he was paired against the new HCA President CF Chapman and the game was drawn.

---

Hampshire 10 – Devon 6 – 4th February 1933 – Salisbury

Once again, Hampshire met Devon in the semi-final of the Montague Jones Cup. The match report from the Hampshire Advertiser mentioned that Hampshire took an early lead and that the match was won after tea. Berkshire had beaten Norfolk and Hampshire were to meet them in the final. Both teams were affected by the influenza epidemic with regards to players availability.

Hampshire winners were CHOD Alexander, HA Way, Revd HF Hawkes, WA Way, GP Britton, FL Taylor and Revd AR Witt.

---

Hampshire 8½ – Berkshire 7½ – 11th March 1933 – London

Hampshire met Berkshire in the final of the Montague Jones Club at the City of London Chess Club and Hampshire had a few late replacements, which maybe due to the Influenza epidemic? Hampshire won by the narrowest of margins in what was obviously a very competitive match.

The match was reported in the Hampshire Advertiser and mentioned the debut of RG Stansfield of King Edwards V1 school. He would only play one more time for Hampshire, in the friendly against Dorset, he won both times.

Hampshire winners were FJH Elwell, AB Coe, HA Way, AS Dance and RG Stansfield.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Berkshire	Result
1	CHOD Alexander	½	FW Neale	½
2	FJH Elwell	1	PJ Lawrence	0
3	WJ Fry	0	DM Polley	1
4	AB Coe	1	JH Van Meurs	0
5	HA Way	1	LA Rumble	0
6	CF Chapman	0	WOC Stuchbery	1
7	HM Southon	½	H Lyford	½
8	JS West	½	GH Caws	½
9	Capt GP Britton	½	B Hamilton	½
10	AS Dance	1	H Runham	0
11	AH Yerbury	½	RA Defraites	½
12	FL Taylor	½	W Bell	½
13	Revd AR Witt	0	EJ Brooks	1
14	LC Whetham	½	W Davis	½
15	RG Stansfield	1	S Dobson	0
16	LA Amphlett	0	GM Arrowsmith	1
	Total	8½	Total	7½

---

Hampshire 11 – Dorset 9 – 1st April 1933 – Bournemouth

It was good to see that the match against Dorset was held again, as although only a friendly, this gave both counties an opportunity for more county chess. This seems to have replaced the friendlies which were played against Wiltshire on and off from 1892 to 1913. These matches also allowed Hampshire to play players who were not strong enough for the SCCU matches.

The match was very competitive with Hampshire winning by 2 points in the 20 board match. The Hampshire Advertiser reported on the match, which also stated that Dorset had won the Stevenson Trophy.

Hampshire winners were FJH Elwell, CT Bennett, RG Duce, RG Stansfield, JW Webster, LLA Gibbs, M Clifford,

Board	Hampshire	Result	Dorset	Result
1	FJH Elwell	1	H Streeter	0
2	WJ Fry	½	DH Napper	½
3	AB Coe	½	AF Thomas	½
4	CF Chapman	½	GH Smith	½
5	CT Bennett	1	WH Curtis	0
6	H Grover	0	EL Raymond	1
7	TY Carter	½	Dr EH Kitchin	½
8	Dr P Kitchen	0	Dr BE Sendermore	1
9	FJ Tinkler	½	DB Kitchin	½
10	RG Duce	1	A Gray-Wallis	0
11	LA Amphlett	0	FWC Mitchener	1
12	EG Parsons	½	FB Wilkins	½
13	ACE Hughes	½	Capt PH di Marco	½
14	RG Stansfield	1	EL Millward	0
15	S Lemsley	0	P Ward	1
16	JW Webster	1	Revd WS Clarke	0
17	LLA Gibbs	1	HF Hawkins	0
18	Miss ML Harrison	0	L Bridge	1
19	M Clifford	1	LF Underwood	0
20	JP Kirby	½	FR Wadman	½
	Total	11	Total	9

---

Hampshire 6½ – Surrey 9½- 13th May 1933 – London

Hampshire met Surrey in the final of the Shannon competition and again fell short against another of the SCCU heavyweights. The performance was much better than the previous year where they only scored three points. A much more respectable six and half points were obtained in this match.

Surrey had beaten holders Middlesex 11 – 5, which put Hampshire’s performance is perspective, although Surrey had objected to Sultan Khan’s inclusion, and he was excluded from selection. This was not the case the previous year when he did play.

The top two boards for Surrey had played in the 1932 British Championship (where CHOD Alexander had finished 2nd).

Hampshire actually did best on the bottom boards, scoring 4 points from board 11 to 16. Hampshire winners were FL Taylor and GT Lloyd. As the report in the Hampshire Advertiser stated maybe with the inclusion of some other players Hampshire may have won the match.

Board	Hampshire	Result	Surrey	Result
1	CHOD Alexander	½	RP Michell	½
2	FJH Elwell	½	FFL Alexander	½
3	WJ Fry	½	HC Griffiths	½
4	AB Coe	0	L Alexander	1
5	HA Way	½	H Brown	½
6	CF Chapman	0	EG Twitchett	1
7	WA Way	½	G Wernick	½
8	H Grover	0	R Hartnett	1
9	JS West	0	G Tregaskis	1
10	Capt GP Britton	0	J Hunter	1
11	HM Southon	½	GA Felce	½
12	AS Dance	½	AD Barlow	½
13	FJ Tinkler	½	AJW Down	½
14	FL Taylor	1	W Evans	0
15	RG Duce	½	HP James	½
16	GT Lloyd	1	F Vincent	0
	Total	6½	Total	9½

---

President’s Cup

A new competition was held in 1933, the President’s Cup. This was introduced by the current President CF Chapman of Sandown. This was a knockout tournament with 68 entrants and therefore unlike the Hampshire Individual was not restricted to just the club champions.

This was won by WJ Fry, who also won the Hampshire Individual this year. His strength can be seen as he was playing third board for Hampshire behind Alexander and Elwell.

A fuller article on this tournament has been completed.

---

Summary

Hampshire retained the Montague Jones Cup and made a good showing in the Shannon final against Surrey.

After only the one correspondence match last season there was an additional one this season, where Hampshire took on the Sunday Referee¹ newspaper in a 50 board match. Hampshire finished 15th from 24 entries in the Counties tournament (won by Cambridgeshire), and beat the newspaper 33½ – 16½.

The individual results for the Counties championship can be seen in the FA Taylor document. If a 50 board match was not enough, there were plans to play a 100 board match against the Glasgow Herald the following season.

In the Hampshire league Old Tauntonians won Division One and Basingstoke Division Two.

There was a new winner of the HCA Individual Championship in Southampton’s WJ Fry. It is worth checking the list of Southampton Chess Club champions from this period, with FJH Elwell and WJ Fry winning most years. Southampton Club champions go back further than the first one mentioned in 1921 though, although it could be the tournament names were slightly different.

The HCA AGM was reported in the Hampshire Advertiser. On the whole it would seem Hampshire were in a very positive position, a new active President, a strong county team which was able to almost challenge the south powerhouses. There were also other activities for the off season and a 100 board correspondence match against the Glasgow Herald to look forward to.

The Southampton clubs had the Southampton Chess League to play in and the Hampshire League had settled down to two divisions, allowing competitive chess for clubs from all areas of Hampshire.

---

The HCA officers remained unchanged:

• JH Blake – President
• AB Coe – Hon. Secretary and Treasurer
• JH Blake – Match Captain
• FJH Elwell, HW Benest – Hon. Auditors
• JH Blake, HA Way & AB Coe – SCCU Delegates

---

Acknowledgements and Sources

---

1. The matches against the Sunday Referee were under the Hampshire Advertiser, but as per FL Taylor these were organised by the HCA, and therefore count as Hampshire ones. ↩︎