Yorkshire Chess History

Contents:

1864: Huddersfield-Bradford Match 1 (2 legs: April 2^nd and 16^th)

Home

Narrative

The Huddersfield Chronicle of Saturday 23rd April 1864 carried on page 8 the following article:

MATCH AT CHESS BETWEEN HUDDERSFIELD AND BRADFORD. – This important match, which has of late excited much interest among the Yorkshire Chess Clubs, was concluded on Saturday last at Bradford. The terms of the match were that two meetings for play should take place – one at Huddersfield and one at Bradford; that on each occasion nine players should represent each club; that each couple of competitors should contest three games; and that the club winning the majority of games should be entitled to a set of Staunton chessmen, value £2 2s. The pairing was by ballot, each club first dividing their players into sections, according to their relative strength of play. We append the full score, by which it will be seen that Huddersfield was victorious by a decided majority, namely, 32 games to 18, with four drawn games:-

Played at Huddersfield, April 2nd.

Huddersfield		Bradford		Drawn
Mr. J. Watkinson	3	Mr. Knowles	0
Mr. D. Marsden	1	Mr. Petty	2
Mr. J. Eastwood*	1	Mr. Tegeler	1	1
Mr. J. R. Robinson	0	Mr. Ammelburg	1	2
Mr. G. Brook, jun.	1	Mr. Werner	2
Mr. J. Eastwood	1	Mr. Cohuitz	2
Mr. A. Campbell	2	Mr. Fieldsend	1
Mr. J. P. Roberton	2	Mr. Heselton	1
Mr. J. R. Dore	2	Mr. Richardson	1
	13		11	3

* Substitute for Dr. Scott unavoidably absent.

Played at Bradford, April 16th.

Huddersfield		Bradford		Drawn
Mr. J. Watkinson	3	Mr. Petty	0
Mr. D. Marsden	2	Mr. Ammelburg	0	1
	0	Mr. Werner	3*
Mr. J. R. Robinson	2	Mr. Knowles	1
Mr. G. Brook, jun.	3	Mr. Tegeler	0
Mr. J. Eastwood	2	Mr. Cohuitz	1
Mr. Finlinson	3	Mr. Heynemann	0
Mr. A. Campbell	1	Mr. Fieldsend	2
Mr. J. P Roberton	3	Mr. Richardson	0
	19		7	1

* These games were resigned in consequence of

the absence of the Huddersfield player.

Total in both matches:- Huddersfield 32 games,

Bradford 18, drawn 4.

This report was clearly by a Huddersfield writer, as no initials were supplied with any Bradford surname. The writer might have been John Watkinson, though he might have been expected to be more attentive as to detail like Bradford players’ initials. The same report was printed was also printed in the Leeds Mercury of 19/04/1864, on page 3. The Bradford Observer of 21/04/1864 printed most of the introductory paragraph, but omitted the following detailed results.

It seems that J Eastwood played his own three games against “Cohuitz”, and played three as a substitute for the absent Dr. William Scott against Tegeler. It’s hard to believe he played against both opponents simultaneously. A more-probable possibility is that a player such as JH Finlinson had been promoted from board seven of the original board order, that Campbell and Roberton had been moved up a board accordingly, and that JR Dore had been drafted in from among onlookers to fill bottom board. (Alternative sources may clarify.)

“Cohuitz” (spelt thus both in the Huddersfield paper and the Leeds paper) is clearly a mis-transcription of “Cohnitz”.

The players name above are interpreted by the writer as being more specifically as follows:

Name above	Fuller name
Mr. Ammelburg	Hermann Ammelburg
Mr. G Brook, jun.	George Brook, junior
Mr. A Campbell	Archibald Campbell
Mr. Cohuitz	George Cohnitz
Mr. JR Dore	John Read Dore
Mr. J Eastwood	John Eastwood
Mr. Fieldsend	William (or Thomas) Fieldsend
Mr. Finlinson	Joseph Henry Scott Finlinson
Mr. Heselton	John Allison Heselton
Mr. Heynemann	Edward Heynemann
Mr. Knowles	Thomas Atkinson Knowles
Mr. D Marsden	David Marsden
Mr. Petty	Joshua Petty
Mr. Richardson	George Richardson
Mr. JP Roberton	James Paterson Roberton
Mr. JR Robinson	John Russell Robinson
Mr. Tegeler	Gottfried Tegeler
Mr. J Watkinson	John Watkinson
Mr. Werner	Maximilian Edward Werner

A “return” match was played in autumn 1864, and that was won by Bradford; click here for details.

Created

10/08/2012

Last Updated

10/08/2012