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The 1870 annual
soirée of the Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club was held on Tuesday, 18th
October, in the Sheffield Athenaeum Club’s newsroom.
The
“soirée” was the opening evening for the coming season,
and included an evening meal. This was in contrast to the annual
general meeting at which reports would be read, accounts presented, officers
elected, and so on.
On this occasion
there was a “full” turn out of the membership, who with friends
totalled about fifty.
The president, Dr. John Charles Hall,
announced that a member had donated a chessboard, valued at two guineas,
which would be first prize in a handicap tournament which was being
arranged. The committee members were providing as second prize a set
and board, value £1 10s., and as third prize a set, value £1
5s. The entry fee was one shilling. The Chess Player’s
Quarterly Chronicle carried details of the workings of the handicap
tournament.
The president
congratulated the members on their victory in a correspondence match
with Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and on the increase in the membership and the
general satisfactory condition of the club.
It was also here
announced, or it soon came to pass that, the club had accepted a challenge from
the City of London Chess Club to contest a number of correspondence
games. Again, details were given by The Chess Player’s
Quarterly Chronicle.
The Sheffield
& Rotherham Independent of Thursday 20th October, 1870,
carried the following description of the soirée:
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SHEFFIELD ATHENAEUM
CHESS CLUB.
– The annual opening soirée of the above club was held on
Tuesday evening, in the spacious newsroom of the institution. There
was a full attendance, and after an excellent repast, served by the steward
in the dining room, the remainder of the evening was devoted to the game of
chess. The president, Dr. J.C. Hall, in a short speech, announced
that by the liberality of a member of the club, a handsome chess-board, of
the value of two guineas, has been placed at the disposal of the council,
and would form the principal prize in the tournament now being arranged;
and also complimented the members on the victory obtained over the
Newcastle Club., in the recent correspondence game, and upon the numerical
increase and generally satisfactory condition of the club.
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The Chess
Player’s Quarterly Chronicle of December 1870. pages 186-187,
carried the following description of the soirée:
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THE SHEFFIELD
ATHENAEUM CHESS CLUB.
The annual
soiree was held in the news-room, on Tuesday, the 18th October,
when about 50 members and their friends were present. The President
announced that the club was in a flourishing condition, both financially
and numerically, and that arrangements had been made for an annual Handicap
Tournament.
The prizes
in the Tournament are – 1st, Staunton Chess Board, value £2s.;
2nd, Staunton Men and Board, value £1 10s.; 3rd, Staunton Men, value
£1 5s.
Players are
divided into two divisions and each division into three classes. 1st
Class gives to 2nd P. and move; 2nd Class gives to 3rd
P. and two moves.
The winner
in each division to play again for 1st and 2nd prize. The two players
next to the winners (one in each division) to play again for the 3rd
prize. Each player to play two games with every other player in the
same division, drawn games counting half a game to each party.
Ten players
have entered in one division, and eleven in the other.
These
conditions have given general satisfaction, though somewhat different from those
in previous Tournaments.
The 1st
prize is given by a member, and the others by the Council, the entrance fee
being one shilling.
The Club has
accepted a challenge from the “City of London Club” to play a
series of games by correspondence, viz.: - One or more open to the entire
Club, others between two or three players on each side, and others where
one only is engaged on each side.
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The above
explanation of the workings of the handicap tournament seems to omit the odds
to be given by a 1st Class player to a 3rd Class player.
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