Williamson Shield 1925: A hat trick of victories
The Williamson Shield for the year 1925 had five entrants, as in the previous year's renewal, but W.H. Lloyd, the representative of the Belfast Chess Club, never played any games, leaving just four players to contest the Championship of Belfast. In the first round of matches, the defending champion W. J. Allen, with the advantage of the White pieces defeated Alexander Orr while the only newcomer to the competition, P. J. McMahon, playing White, won against R. A. Heaney, the 1924 runner-up.
Orr bounced back from his first round loss by defeating both McMahon and Heaney. With Allen losing to McMahon and only drawing with Heaney, the champion trailed both McMahon and Orr at the end of the first half of the tournament.
Scores after 3 of the 6 Rounds:
1=2. P. J. McMahon and A. Orr 2.0; 3. W. J. Allen 1.5; 4. R. A. Heaney 0.5
In Round 4 Allen started to make up lost ground with a victory over Orr. The latter then completed his programme by beating McMahon but then losing to back-marker Heaney to finish on 3 points out of 6. With Allen drawing with Heaney, this left only McMahon (on 2 out of 4) and Allen (3 out of 5) with a chance of ultimate victory.
The Belfast News-Letter for 2nd July 1925 chronicles the vital game to decide first place:
"What proved to be the deciding game in the Williamson Shield and Belfast Championship Tournament was played on Saturday [27th June] when W. J. Allen, with the white pieces, defeated P. J. McMahon and thus won the championship for the third year in succession. The game was very even until near the finish.... One game [Heaney-McMahon] is still to play but will not affect the result."
|
WILLIAMSON SHIELD 1925 FINAL CROSS-TABLE |
|||||
|
PLAYER |
WJA |
AO |
PJM |
RAH |
TOTAL |
|
W. J. ALLEN |
XX |
11 |
01 |
== |
4.0 |
|
A. ORR |
00 |
XX |
11 |
10 |
3.0 |
|
P.J. McMAHON |
10 |
00 |
XX |
1* |
2.0 |
|
R. A. HEANEY |
== |
01 |
0* |
XX |
2.0 |
|
* No record of game having been played |
|||||
W. J. Allen - Alexander Orr: Williamson Shield, Belfast 1925
Source: Belfast News-Letter 26th February 1925
In this game from the first round Allen plays the opening poorly, allowing his kingside pawns to be shattered. Gradually, however, he improves his game and begins to use the open g-file to his advantage and finishes off with a simple but effective combination.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 d6 5.d3 Bg4 6.c3 Nf6 7.Qb3
Better here would be 7.Nbd2.
7...0-0 8.Be3
White might have won the b-pawn but there is always loss of time in extricating the Queen. (Allen)
8...Na5 9.Qa4 Nxc4 10.Qxc4 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Bb6 12.Kh1 Nh5 13.Rg1 Qf6 14.Nd2 Nf4 15.d4
An advance that frees White's game considerably. (Allen)
15...exd4 16.cxd4 c6 17.Bxf4 Qxf4 18.Qc3 Qf6 19.e5 dxe5 20.Ne4 Qd8 21.dxe5 Kh8 22.Rad1 Qe7 23.f4 f6 24.Qh3 fxe5
Overlooking the effect of White's next move. The mistake is fatal. (Allen)
25.Rd7 Qb4
26.Qg2