The Time Traveller

Williamson Shield 1929 - The second series ends

The Williamson Shield was presented for competition in 1905. However, the first competition for the Shield did not take place until 1912. There was only time for two further tournaments until the Great War forced a cessation. In 1923 competition for the Shield recommenced. The 1929 renewal turned out to be the last in the second series.

The 1929 Williamson Shield had four entrants - P. J. McMahon and W. J. Allen, both three-time winners of the event, plus two debutants H. A. O'Callaghan and H. W. Calvert (the latter a member of Strandtown Chess Club, which had originally presented the trophy for competition). The usual format of a double-round all-play-all was followed. The first game of the tournament was between the reigning champion, McMahon and Calvert.

P.J. McMahon - H. W. Calvert: Williamson Shield, Belfast 1929
[Annotations by Allen in the Belfast News-Letter for 18th April 1929]

1.d4 c6 2.c4 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.Nf3 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.e5 e6 7.Bd3 Ne7 8.Nc3 Nbc6 9.Be3 Bd7
Black might have castled here with safety.
10.Nb5 Nc8
The threat of Nd6 actually causes Black to lose time, but he might have replied with 10...0–0 and if then 11.Nd6 Qc7 followed by Nc8.
11.0–0 a6 12.Nc3 Nb6 13.Rc1

13...Nc4
This attack is premature and leads to the loss of a Pawn.
14.Bxc4 dxc4 15.Ne4 b5
Black must lose a pawn in any case, and it would have been better to castle here and get the King's Rook into play.
16.Nd6+ Kf8 17.Ng5 Be8 18.Qf3 Qe7 19.Ngxf7 Bxf7 20.Nxf7 Qxf7 21.Qxc6 Qe8 22.Qf3+ Kg8 23.Bg5 Ra7
23...h6 followed by Kh7 was as good as anything.
24.b3 Rf7 25.Qc3 h6 26.Be3 cxb3 27.axb3 Kh7 28.Qc6 a5 29.Qxe8 Rxe8 30.Rc6 Ra7 31.Rb6 b4 32.Ra1 Kg8
Probably an oversight. 32...Bf8 was necessary, but White in turn could play 33.Bd2 and the Pawn must eventually fall.
33.Rxb4 axb4 34.Rxa7 Rc8 35.Rb7 Bf8 36.g3 Rc3 37.Rb8 g5
37...Kf7 was better.
38.h4 Rxb3 39.hxg5 hxg5 40.Bxg5 Kf7 41.Kg2 Rd3 42.Be3 b3 43.Kf3 1–0

If 43...Ba3 44.Ke2 Rc3 45.Bd2 and the advanced Pawn falls.

Allen missed a great opportunity to beat McMahon in the first of their two encounters.

W. J. Allen - P. J. McMahon: Williamson Shield, Belfast 1929
[Annotations by Allen in the Belfast News-Letter for 25th July 1929]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bd7 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.Qd3
Not immediately necessary since Black retook with the pawn.
8...a5 9.0–0 Be7 10.f4 0–0 11.e5 Nd5
Either dxe5 or Ne8 was better. The text move gives White an advantage
12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Nxd5 dxe5 14.Nxe7+ Qxe7 15.Qc3 Bb5 16.Re1 e4 17.Be3 Rfe8 18.Bd4 g6 19.Re3

19...Qb4
There was no necessity for this, which loses a pawn at once.
20.Qxb4 axb4 21.Bc5 Rab8 22.Bxb4 Ba4 23.c3
23.a3 was stronger and if 23...Bxc2 24.Rc1 recovering the pawn and remaining with two passed pawns. If 24...c5 25.Bxc5 Rxb2 26.Re2 wins a piece.
23...Bc2 24.b3 Ra8 25.c4 Red8 26.Bc3 f5 27.Be5 c6 28.c5 Rd3 29.Kf2 Rd5 30.b4 Ba4 31.Bc3 Rd1 32.a3 Rxa1
Being a pawn down Black naturally exchanges Rooks, hoping to draw with Bishops of opposite colour.
33.Bxa1 Bb5 34.Bb2 Rd8 35.Bc3 Kf7 36.Ke1 Ke6 37.Rh3 Rd7 38.Be5 Kd5 39.Rc3 Bd3 40.Kd2 Bf1 41.g3 Bb5 42.Kc2 Ba4+

This was the position at the adjournment. White subsequently exchanged off the pawns on the King's side, and Black made an oversight which lost the extra pawn on that side. Rooks were then exchanged, and the position at the end with Black to play was:

Black played
83...Kb3
[Allen does not give any analysis of what must have been a final, ingenious attempt to win. Capture of the bishop by 83...Kxc1 would have led to a White win after 84.Ka5! Kb2 85.a4 Bd3 86.b5
A) 86...cxb5 loses after 87.axb5 Kb3 88.b6 Be4 89.Kb5 (but not 89.Ka6? Kb4=) 89...Bd3+ 90.Kc6 Kb4 91.Kd6 (Moving the King to d5 or c7 also wins) 91...Be4 92.c6;
B) 86...Bf5 87.Kb6 cxb5 88.axb5 Kb3 89.Kc7 (89.c6? only draws) 89...Kb4 90.b6 Be4 91.c6 Kc5 92.b7]
84.Ka5 Ba4
and a draw was the only possible result.
1/2-1/2

As had unfortunately become the norm with the Shield, progress had been at a snail's pace and it had taken over three months to get halfway through the event. The cross-table after the first series of games was given in the Belfast News-Letter on the 25th July.

PLAYER	PJMcM	WJA	HAO'C	HWC	TOTAL
P.J. McMAHON	x	=	1	1	2.5
W.J. ALLEN	=	x	1	=	1.5
H.A. O'CALLAGHAN	0	0	x	1	1.0
H.W. CALVERT	0	=	0	x	0.5

On the 15th August the Belfast News-Letter reported that McMahon had drawn against Calvert and beaten Allen.

H. Calvert - P. J. McMahon: Williamson Shield, Belfast 1929
[Annotations by Allen in the Belfast News-Letter for 29th August 1929]

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.b3 c5 6.Bb2 Nc6 7.Nb5
Threatening Bxf6 with Nxd6 to follow, but it was hardly worth while, as the Knight cannot remain at b5. 7.d4 was probably better.
7...Be7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Rc1 b6 10.d4 a6 11.Nc3 Be6 12.dxc5 Bxc5
If 12...bxc5 13.Na4 and White would probably win a pawn.
13.Be2 0–0 14.0–0

14...d4
Black should have held this in reserve. The exchanges which follow lead to a rather uninteresting draw.
15.Na4 dxe3 16.Qxd8 exf2+ 17.Kh1 Nxd8 18.Nxc5 bxc5 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Rxc5 Nb7 21.Rcc1 Nd6 22.Nd2 Rfc8 23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Rxf2 Rc2 25.Bxa6 Rxa2 26.Bf1 Bxb3
Black is nominally a Pawn to the good, but he has no real advantage.
27.Kg1 Be6 28.Nf3 Ra1 29.Re2 Kg7 30.h3 Kg6 31.Re1 Ra3 32.Kh2 Kf5
It was not necessary to give up a Pawn in this way, but it makes really no difference.
33.Nd4+ Kg5 34.Nxe6+ fxe6 35.Rxe6 Nf5 36.Ra6 Rxa6 37.Bxa6 h5 1/2-1/2

Allen then beat Calvert and O'Callaghan to draw level at the top of the table with McMahon. However Allen had now completed all his games while the reigning champion had one game left against O'Callaghan. On the 19th September, the Belfast News-Letter reported on the result of that game:

"By defeating H. A. O'Callaghan this week P. J. McMahon finishes with a score of 5 out of 6 and wins the championship for another year. H. W. Calvert and H. A. O'Callaghan have still a game to play, but this does not affect the result.

PLAYER	PJMcM	WJA	HWC	HAO'C	TOTAL
P.J. McMAHON	xx	=1	1=	11	5.0
W.J. ALLEN	=0	xx	=1	11	4.0
H.W. CALVERT	0=	=0	xx	0*	1.0
H.A. O'CALLAGHAN	00	00	1*	xx	1.0

* game probably not played

McMahon had won his fourth straight Williamson Shield (and with it the title of Champion of Belfast), but competition for the Shield now ceased for a period of 16 years. There are probably two reasons for the long interval.

The custodians of the Shield were the Strandtown Chess Club, and this club seems to have folded shortly after the 1929 event. On the 14th November the Belfast News-Letter reported that Strandtown had only been able to muster 4 players for their first match of the 1929-1930 League campaign. Calvert, who was the club's Secretary turned up later in the evening and intimated to those present that Strandtown would probably withdraw from the tournament. In fact, that match turned out to be the last one ever played by the Strandtown Club. So the driving force behind the Williamson Shield was fading away.

There also seems to have been some dissatisfaction with the Rules for the Shield. Only the holder and one representative from each club was entitled to play. In early 1931 there was a movement among the Belfast clubs to open up the Belfast championship to all comers, and also to complete it within a much shorter time frame. That initiative eventually led to a revival of the Ulster Championship (last played for in 1902) in 1933.