Yorkshire Chess History

The second Scarborough Whit Congress drew a stronger entry than the first. The “home” contingent was headed by Sir George Alan Thomas, who had been British Champion in 1923. A greater coup for the organisers, whoever, was to enlist Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine, who, though Russian-born, was by then domiciled in France. He had recently finished second, behind Spielman, at Semmering in March, and had similarly finished second, behind Nimzovich, at Dresden in April. It was not, of course, until the following year that Alekhine wrested the world championship from Capablanca, but even as in 1926 he was the biggest “name” any Scarborough chess congress has ever seen.

Organisation of the event was hampered by the general strike which ran from 04/05/1926 to 13/05/1926. This affected postal communications, and difficulties with travel were blamed in part for the reduced entry. Potential entrants would not know whether the strike’s threat to transport would be over by the time of the congress. A number of players originally lined up to play decided not to compete, presumably due, at least in part, to the effects of the strike.

The original plan was for the Premier tournament was to have 24 entrants arranged in four initial 6-player all-play-all sections, with play-offs for final placings. Nearer the event this had had to be altered to a more modest plan for two 8-player all-play-all sections (A & B), with play-offs for final placings. However, even then, Edmund Spencer (Liverpool), Adrian Garcia Conde (Mexico) and H B Uber (London) withdrew from the line-up for section A, while André Muffang (Valenciennes, France) and H. Bertrand (Paris) withdrew from the line-up for section B. To salvage the situation, the two Premier all-play-all sections were reduced to 7 players each, and the vacant places were filled with substituted players who would have played in lower sections, namely “S. Barass” (Russian sculptor living in Paris), Climenson Charles Yelverton Dawbarn (Liverpool) and congress secretary Gerald Mutrie Reid himself. It is evident that “S. Barass” was in fact Abraham Baratz, who carved the original likeness of Alekhine at the latter’s tomb in Montparnasse cemetery, Paris (since destroyed by a falling tree and replaced).

Premier Tournament

The 14-player Premier tournament was run as two 7-player all-play-all events, followed by play-offs to determine overall placings. Summarised results in the Premier tournament were as follows:

Section A (all-play-all once)
Player			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine	(Paris)	X	½	1	1	1	1	1	5½
2	Sir George Alan Thomas	(Godalming)	½	X	1	½	1	1	1	5
3	Victor Kahn	(Moscow)	0	0	X	1	½	1	1	3½
4	Maurice Edwards Goldstein	(London)	0	½	0	X	½	1	1	3
5	Salo Landau	(Rotterdam)	0	0	½	½	X	1	1	3
6	Gerald Mutrie Reid *	(Scarborough)	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	1
7	Climenson Charles Yelverton Dawbarn *	(Liverpool)	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	0

* substitute

Section B (all-play-all once)
Player			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Edgar Colle	(Belgium)	X	1	½	½	1	0	1	4 **
2	Harold Saunders	(London)	0	X	0	1	1	1	1	4
3	A [Jakob Adolf?] Seitz	(Augsberg)	½	1	X	½	½	0	1	3½
4	Eugene Alexandrovich Znosko‑Borovsky	(Russia)	½	0	½	X	½	1	1	3½
5	Abraham Baratz *	(Paris)	0	0	½	½	X	1	½	2½
6	Victor Buerger	(London)	1	0	1	0	0	X	0	2
7	John Harold Morrison	(London)	0	0	0	0	½	1	X	1½

* substitute

** first on basis of individual game

Alekhine then beat Colle 2-0 (best off 3 games) in the play-off for 1st and 2nd places, while Thomas beat Saunders 2-0 (best of 3 games) in the play-off for 3rd and 4th places, resulting in the following overall top placings in the Premier:

1st	Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
2nd	Edgar Colle
3rd	Sir George Alan Thomas
4th	Harold Saunders

Major Tournament

The Major tournament was split as before into three sections, “A”, “B” and “C”, but there were apparently no play-offs between the top players in each section. Section winners were as follows:

Section A
Player		Place
Philip Norman Wallis	(Altrincham)	1
F Davy	(Doncaster)	2

Section B
Player		Place
Patrick Charles Littlejohn	(Nuneaton)	1
Bernard John Barton‑Eckett	(Durham)	2

Section C
Player		Place
Mrs. Edith Martha Holloway	(Bromley)	1
Joshua Jackson	(Dewsbury)	2

The other competitors in the Major included Joe Rolland Deacon (Calverley), W. H. Jones (Rotherham), C. A. Mann (Leeds) and Robert Gillwood Tyzack (Leeds).

Minor Tournament

The Minor tournament seems to have been run as a single section, placings being as follows:

1st	Roland Albert Wale (Leicester)
2nd	A. T. Watson (Brighton)
3rd‑4th	Prof. Robert William Genese (Tunbridge Wells)
3rd-4th	Hon. Arthur James Beresford Lowther

The other participants in the Minor included Daniel Foster Byass (Scarborough), G Newton (York) and A Schofield (Pontefract).

Sources include:

Yorkshire Telegraph & Star of 22/05/1926, 29/05/1926 and 05/06/1926.

Created

05/04/2015

Stephen John Mann

Last Updated

05/04/2015