Ulster Chess History

The Williamson Shield 1904-1914

A LONG PREAMBLE

The Belfast News-Letter chess column for the 5^th May 1904 reported on an event that had occurred at a recent meeting of one of the Belfast chess clubs:

Strandtown Club

Mr. H. B. Williamson, of New Zealand, who has been a member of the club during an extended visit to his native land, in the course of an address to the members, in which he congratulated them on the success of the season's meetings, surprised those present by presenting the club with an artistically designed silver shield, mounted on an oak ground and surrounded by silver name plates. The shield bears, in addition to a chess-board in enamel, representations of King, Queen, Rook, Bishop and Knight. The inscription reads:- Championship Challenge Chess Trophy, presented to the Strandtown Chess Club by H. B. Williamson, New Zealand. Dr. Leslie, in an eloquent speech, proposed, Mr. J. Bennett seconded, and Mr. Steele supported, a vote of thanks to the generous donor, which also carried amid hearty applause.

Subsequently the News-Letter reported that at the annual general meeting of the Strandtown Chess Club on Tuesday 1^st November:

A competition among chessists for the championship of Belfast, winner to hold the trophy presented by Mr H. B. Williamson, of New Zealand, was arranged, and will be held at the Strandtown Chess Rooms after Christmas.

A committee meeting of the Strandtown club followed the following Tuesday at which detailed rules were drawn up for the competition. On the 29^th of the month a further committee meeting was held at which a number of objections by the Belfast Chess Club to the rules were discussed and a number of amendments were made. The minute book of the Strandtown Chess Club gives the amended rules as follows:

The Trophy should be called the Williamson Shield.

That it should be competed for annually by 3 players to be selected by each club in Belfast and suburbs.

That the entrance fee for each competitor should be 2/6.

Chess players who are permanent residents in Belfast and unconnected with any club may compete on payment of an entrance fee of 5/-.

That the winner should be entitled to be called the champion of Belfast for the year and in addition to holding the shield and winner and runner-up should receive suitable mementoes.

That in the event of a player winning the trophy on more than one occasion, he should have the date of any future success engraved upon the medal already presented.

That Strandtown members play off all ties at their own club and the other competitors where they wish provided that it be in the rooms of a recognised chess club.

The chess column of the News-Letter for 19^th January 1905 carried the rules with the exception of number 7. Instead rule 6 finishes with the words, "The secretary of the Strandtown Chess Club will afford further information on application."

This was clearly no accident. The principal objection of the Belfast Chess Club to the original concept of the competition was that all play was to be in the rooms of the Strandtown club. Rule 7 was clearly an attempt to compromise on this issue [one major concession was that the final would not necessarily take place at Strandtown in the event of none of its players making the final] but it would appear that there were some doubts as to whether the Belfast club would be content with the Strandtown players still being at some advantage by being able to play all their games on home territory.

Meanwhile the Strandtown club continued to make arrangements for the competition. The minute book records that at a committee meeting on the 21^st February Dr. Leslie, Mr. W. Y. Chamberlain and Mr. G. Brown had been chosen to represent the club and detailed rules, specifically for the 1905 competition, had been finalised. The rules provided for a knock out format with two rounds to be played, in which each tie was to consist of a single game, with drawn games to be replayed, and then a three game Final. However any illusion that the competition had a fair wind was dispelled by this notice appearing only two days later in the News-Letter chess column:

Belfast Chess Club

The committee of the club, at its last meeting, adopted the following resolution:-

"That, while congratulating the Strandtown club upon the handsome trophy presented to them by Mr. Williamson, this club will not officially take any action whatever in regard to it, or recognise the competition as being one for the championship of Belfast.

This proved to be the death knell for any competition being held in 1905. The Strandtown club returned to the issue at a committee meeting on the 21^st November 1905, held immediately after the club's AGM. It was agreed that an invitation should be sent to the secretaries of the other chess clubs in Belfast to have a consultation as to the best method of competing for the Williamson Shield. However, this approach did not resolve the difficulties, as is clear from this report of a Strandtown committee meeting held just over a year later on the 4^th December 1906:

It was arranged to play for the Williamson Shield by ticket tournament, the winner to hold the shield for one year, Mr. Chamberlain kindly undertaking to draw up rules for the same.

This meant that the Strandtown club were intending to relegate the Williamson Shield to competition solely within the club. It would appear, however, that this proposal was not carried into effect. Neither the minutes of the Strandtown club nor the local press reports referred to such a competition for the Shield ever having taken place.

Five years passed.

Then the minute book of the Strandtown club reports that the AGM of the club for 1911 held on the 12^th October finally got round to drawing up rules for a ticket tournament for the club's members. No mention is made of the Williamson Shield being the prize, and it is soon becomes clear why. The next entry in the minute book reports on a meeting of club secretaries [the precise date of the meeting is not given, but it must have taken place not later than the middle of November] to sort out the details of competitive events in the Belfast area for the 1911-1912 season. The report of the meeting includes the following item:

[I]t was agreed that Strandtown be asked to draw up a set of rules governing the competition for the Williamson Shield which is to be competed for by two players to be selected from each club.

The Belfast News-Letter reported on the 1st February 1912 a successful outcome to this new attempt to get the Williamson Shield up and running:

At a meeting of the honorary secretaries of the various Belfast chess clubs held on the 29^th ult. In the Central Presbyterian Hall it was decided to revive the old scheme to establish a tournament the winner of which should bear the title of chess champion of Belfast. Some years ago Dr. Williamson, a Belfast man, now resident in New Zealand, presented a challenge shield to Strandtown Club for competition each year, possession of the trophy to carry with it the honour of the city championship. A condition, however, was that the games should be played in Strandtown Club Rooms, and as this proved objectionable to the other clubs, the scheme fell through. An arrangement has now been arrived at by which the place of play is left to the competitors themselves, and there is every prospect of having a very interesting series of games in the near future. The conditions may be summarised as follows:- Possession of the shield to be for one year only, ending 31^st December; the winner's name to be engraved on the trophy; each of the five clubs to send a representative, each of whom shall play one game with every other draws counting one half; the winner of the highest number of points to have possession of the shield, and to be styled Chess Champion of Belfast. In the event, however, of only half a point separating the two highest scores, a match of three games is to be played between these two persons, the result to be added to the points already scored; if a draw results the two shall continue playing until one defeats the other. Any dispute is to be settled by a committee consisting of the five honorary secretaries.
THE THREE COMPETITIONS BEFORE THE GREAT WAR

On the 27^th February 1912 the first game in the first Williamson Shield was finally played. On that night in the Victoria Chess Clubrooms the home team was playing Strandtown in the Ulster Trophy [the league competition for the clubs in Belfast and neighbouring towns]. The visitors lost 11/2 to 61/2 but their one victor, Joseph Carey, a well-known local artist, had something to celebrate, as can be seen from this excerpt from the report on the match two days later in the Belfast News-Letter:

The game between Mr. J. W. Carey and Mr J. McMeekin at board No. 2 also counts in the match for the championship of Belfast, and Mr. Carey therefore has the honour of making the first score in this competition.

The position with three games still to be played, as reported in the local press on the 11th April, was that Harold Thomas was leading with 3/3 and with 1 game to play, while Carey was second with 2/3. However, W. Kirkpatrick had by this stage some catching up to do as he still had three games to play, including games against the two leaders. Two days later Kirkpatrick played Thomas, and "at an early stage Thomas, through an oversight, lost a bishop, and although the game adjourned, he then resigned without further play." This put Kirkpatrick on two points. He next played Carey on the 2^nd May, but the game was not completed in the first session; two days later Kirkpatrick lost to William Allen, then, as appears in the Belfast News-Letter report on the 16^th May:

The adjourned game between Mr. J. W. Carey and Mr. W. Kirkpatrick was played out on the 9^th inst., and after some ups and downs the latter was able to force a draw by perpetual check. The score is now - Mr. Thomas 3, Mr. Carey and Mr. Kirkpatrick 21/2, and as by the conditions the winner must be a clear point ahead, another round will be necessary to decide the championship.
WILLIAMSON SHIELD 1912

	T	C	K	A	M	PTS
H.THOMAS	X	1	0	1	1	3.0
J.W.CAREY	0	X	=	1	1	2.5
W.KIRKPATRICK	1	=	X	0	1	2.5
W.J.ALLEN	0	0	1	X	1	2.0
J.McMEEKIN	0	0	0	0	X	0.0

Interestingly, the original conditions of play had erroneously assumed that only two people would compete in a play-off. No doubt a matter that would have to be considered by the club secretaries.

Six months passed.

On the 28^th November 1912 the Belfast News-Letter reported:

It will be recollected that last year's tourney for possession of the Williamson Challenge Shield remained undecided. According to the rules it was necessary to have a lead of 1 point in order to win and at the end of the tourney Mr. H.Thomas was only 1/2 point ahead of Mr, J. W. Carey and Mr. W. Kirkpatrick, these three had to play a deciding match. The season was then so far advanced that this match was allows to lie over until the present. Mr Kirkpatrick has, we understand, withdrawn, and the first game in the match between Mr. Thomas and Mr. Carey has resulted in favour of the former. There were some mistakes on both sides, and it was evident that neither player was in his usual form. Two games are still to be played and, as matters now stand, one win or two draws will be sufficient to secure the championship of the city for Mr. Thomas.

The last sentence suggests that the one of the rules, that points in the play-off were to be added to the original score, had either been forgotten, or dropped in favour of a straight play-off, because if the rule still applied then Thomas would only have needed to draw one of the final two games.

The Belfast News-Letter for the 26^th December brought news of the completion of the 81/2 year saga to find a name to put on one of the silver plates surrounding the Williamson Challenge Shield:

The second of the games between Mr Harold Thomas and Mr J. W. Carey to decide the tie for the chess championship of Belfast for 1912-3 has, after a prolonged contest, resulted in favour of the former, and as he has now won two out of three match games he thus becomes the holder of the Williamson Challenge Shield and champion of Belfast. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Belfast Chess Club, the championship of which he has also held for some years, and is generally recognised as the strongest chess player in the city. We congratulate him on attaining the new distinction, which his play so well merits.
Thomas,H - Carey,J [D35]
Williamson Shield Play-off Belfast (2), 1912
[Annotations from the Belfast News-Letter chess column for 2nd January 1913]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 Be7 5.Nf3 b6 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 c5 8.0-0 Bb7 9.Qe2 Nbd7 10.Rd1 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 0-0 12.b3 Qb8 13.Bb2 a6 14.a4 Rd8 15.Bd3 Nf8 16.Ne2 Ra7 17.dxc5 bxc5! 18.Bc4 Ng6 19.Qg3 Qxg3 20.Rxd8+ Bxd8 21.Nxg3 Be7 22.h3
To prevent Nfe5 via g4.
22...Nf8 23.Rd1 N8d7 24.e4 h6
If 24...e5 25.Nf5.
25.e5 Nh7 26.Bxa6 Nxe5 27.Bb5 Ng6 28.Rc1 Nf6 29.Ba3 Rc7 30.b4 Ne5 31.bxc5 Ned7 32.Bxd7 Nxd7 33.Ne4 Ra7! 34.c6

34...Bxa3 35.cxd7
Inferior to 35.c7 Nb6 36.c8Q+ Nxc8 37.Rxc8+ Bf8 38.Rc4.
35...Rxd7 36.Ra1 Bb4 37.a5 Ra7 38.a6 f5 39.Ng3 Kf7 40.Ne2 Bd6
Loss of time 40...Ra8 stopping the Knight getting across or 40...Ke7 was better.
41.Nd4 Bc5
If 41...Be5 42.Nc6 exchanging rooks and winning Bishop for a-pawn.
42.Nb5 Ra8 43.Rc1 Bb6 44.Nd6+ Kf6! 45.Ra1 Bd4 46.Ra2 e5 47.Kf1 Ke6 48.Nb5 Bb6 49.Ke2 Kd7 50.Kd3 Kc6 51.Kc4 Bc5 52.Nc3 Ra7 53.f3 Bb6 54.Nd5 Bd4 55.Ra5 Rd7 56.Rb5 Ra7 57.Nb4+ Kd6 If
57...Kc7 58.f4 winning the e-pawn.
58.Rb7! Rxb7 59.axb7 Kc7

60.b8Q+
An error which greatly prolonged the game. By 60.Nc6 Kxb7 61.Nxd4 exd4 62.Kxd4 White would have got rid of the Bishop. and gained the necessary start for capturing the Black Pawns with his King.
60...Kxb8 61.Nc6+ Kc7 62.Kd5
62.Nxd4 as in the last note is now useless, as Black having his King a square nearer could prevent the white King getting at his pawns.
62...Bc3 63.Nxe5
Giving Black the chance of drawing (see next note) 63.Ne7 instead would have maintained White's winning advantage.
63...Kd8 64.Ke6 f4 65.Ng6 Ke8 66.Nxf4 Kf8 67.Ng6+ Kg8 68.h4 Be1 69.h5 Bg3 70.Ne7+ Kf8 71.Ng6+ Ke8 72.Ne5 Kf8 73.Kf5 Ke7
Fatal. By 73...Kg8 and h7 he could have drawn as the white King could never have got to g6, the key of the position.
74.f4 Bh2
The game is lost in all variations. If 74...Kf8 instead of the text move, White plays 75.Nd3 and if then 75...Kf7 to hold the key square 76.Kg4 Bh2 77.Ne5+ followed by Nf3.
75.Kg6 Bxf4 76.Nd3 Bd2 77.Kxg7 Ke6 78.Kg6 Be3 79.Ne1 Ke5 80.Nf3+ Kf4 81.Kxh6 Kg3+ 82.Kg6 Kxg2 83.Ng5 1-0

If the first competition for the Shield had been slow to get off the ground, the local chess administrators were clearly keen to establish the competition on an annual basis. Even before the 1912 competition had been completed, the News-Letter was reporting that at a meeting of the secretaries of the Belfast clubs in the Central Hall, Rosemary Street on the 2^nd November

[N]ew conditions were drawn up for the tourney for the Williamson Challenge Shield, which carries with it the title of chess champion of Belfast. The chief alterations from last year's rules are -

(1) Each club may select two representatives (instead of one) to compete;

(2) each competitor plays two games (instead of one) with every other; and
(3) a lead of half a point is sufficient to win, whereas last year a whole point was necessary. The championship competitors must take part in the inter-club matches, the games in those to count in the championship.

The revised rules and conditions of play appeared in full in the News-Letter chess column on the 14^th November 1912. They were:-

The trophy shall be styled "The Williamson Challenge Shield" and shall be competed for annually between each 1^st October and the following 1^st May.

The competition shall be carried on under the direction of a committee consisting of a representative of each club in Belfast.

Each club may select a representative, who must be a club member and resident in Belfast, and who shall play in club matches, such games to count also as games for the championship. But the inability of a competitor to play in any match shall not debar or relieve him from playing in the championship contest.

Each competitor shall play two games with every other competitor.

If two or more competitors have equal scores they shall play a deciding match under rules to be arranged by the committee.

Competitors shall make their own arrangements before the games commence as to the procedure to be adopted in case an adjournment becomes necessary.

The winner of each game shall report the result to the honorary secretary of Strandtown Chess Club.

The winner shall be entitled to call himself the chess champion of Belfast for the year. He shall hold the shield from 1^st May, and have his name inscribed upon it as holder for that year.

Each club sending a representative shall annually pay half-a-crown towards the cost of inscribing the winner's name upon the shield.

The competition ran smoothly on this occasion, with all games played within the 1^st May deadline. The winner once again was Harold Thomas, though the game below shows him succumbing to an unusual opening.

Morton,T - Thomas,H [C20]
Williamson Shield Belfast, 17.04.1913
[Annotations from the Belfast News-Letter chess column for 1st May 1913]

7...Bb6
7...Bb4 looks better, as it compels White to defend his e-pawn.
8.Bxf4 Nc6 9.Be3 Qe7 10.Bf3 Bd7 11.Qd2 Ba5 12.Nge2 Ng4 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.h3 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Rhf8 16.Nf4 Qg5 17.h4
Black seems to have overlooked this very natural reply, and as a result he loses a couple of moves, of which White takes the fullest advantage.
17...Qe7 18.Ncd5 Qe8 19.Rd3 a6 20.Ne2 Nb4
This is the deciding mistake. The exchange of Knights opens the way to a strong attack on the Black King, which proves fatal. 20...f5 instead would have freed the Queen.
21.Nxb4 Bxb4 22.Rb3 Ba5 23.e5 Bc6 24.d5

24...Bb6
The advanced pawns are too strong, and there is nothing better to suggest. If 24...Ba4 then 25.Qa7 followed by 25...Bxb3 26.Bg4+ would win; 24...Bd7 is no better.
25.Rxb6 cxb6 26.dxc6 Kc7 27.cxb7 dxe5 28.Nc3! Rd6 29.Nd5+ Kb8 30.Nxb6 Qd8 31.Nc8
Threatening mate in two. A pretty finish.
1-0

WILLIAMSON SHIELD 1913

	T	A	R	C	M	PTS
H.THOMAS	XX	0=	11	11	01	5.5
W.J.ALLEN	1=	XX	01	01	10	4.5
A.S.ROPER	00	10	XX	11	10	4.0
J.W.CAREY	00	10	00	XX	11	3.0
T.E.MORTON	10	01	01	00	XX	3.0

The formal presentation of the Shield was described in the Belfast News-Letter on the 22^nd May 1913:

A large gathering of Belfast chess players assembled in Strandtown schoolroom on the 15^th inst., the occasion being the formal announcement of the result of the recent city championship tournament and presentation of the Williamson Shield to the winner, Mr. Harold Thomas. Dr. R.W. Leslie, as senior member of the club, presided, and extended a hearty welcome to the visitors. He explained for the benefit of those who were not members of the club that the shield he was about to hand over to Mr. Thomas had been presented by Mr. H.B. Williamson in 1904, on his departure for New Zealand, with the object of encouraging chess in Belfast, and he (the chairman) was pleased to be the medium of handing it over to Mr. Thomas. It was not the first time Mr. Thomas had won it, as he already held the championship for last year. He would have been even more pleased if it had been a member of Strandtown Club to whom he was handing he was handing the trophy, but on looking over the chess players of Belfast he knew of no man who deserved it better than Mr. Thomas, of the Belfast Club. The chairman then, admidst applause, handed the Shield to Mr. Thomas, who thanked those present for the very cordial manner in which his name had been received. Chess, he thought, was very much on the up-grade in Belfast, and in his opinion that was due to two causes. One was the action of the Strandtown Club - the result, of course, of Mr. Williamson's generous gift - in promoting that competition, and the other was the energetic and enthusiastic local Press, which by publishing and annotating local games increased the interest amongst Belfast players.

News of the competition had reached New Zealand and the donor of the Shield sent this letter to the winner of the first two competitions.

Havera
New Zealand
4 Sept 1913

Mr Thomas
City Chess Club
Belfast

Dear Sir

From a recent number of "The Chess Amateur" to hand accept my congratulations on your success as Champion of Belfast. This is the first intimation I have seen since presenting The Shield for that purpose to The Strandtown Club some years ago, naturally I was interested in result but heard nothing about it. Might I ask you to be good enough and let me know the winners since first Competition. Apologising for the trouble and with best wishes for your future victories.

I am

Yours very truly

H.B. Williamson

No doubt Harold Thomas was delighted to receive the congratulations, but perhaps less pleased that he would need the skills of a diplomat to explain that there had only been two competitions for the Shield!

The 1914 competition was a double round all-play-all with on this occasion four contestants for the Shield, among them the defending champion Harold Thomas. The following report on the crucial last round game appeared in the Belfast News-Letter for the 9^th April 1914:

The deciding game in the Belfast championship tourney was begun on the 4^th inst., when Mr. H. Thomas, the holder, met Mr. A.S. Roper. The latter being 1/2 point behind his opponent, had to play for the win, and after a stubbornly contested game, prolonged into a third sitting, he secured the advantage and won. Mr. Roper thus gains the title for the first time, and he is to be congratulated on his fine record of 5 wins out of 6 games played.

The Northern Whig on the same date provided a cross-table, reporting that the final game between the other two players had still to be played.

WILLIAMSON SHIELD 1914

	R	T	A	P	PTS
A.S.ROPER	XX	01	11	11	5.0
H.THOMAS	10	XX	=1	11	4.5
W.J.ALLEN	00	=0	XX	=*	1.0
T.PATTERSON	00	00	=*	XX	0.5

* Result unknown - game probably not played

Patterson,T - Roper,A [B01]
Williamson Shield Belfast, 1914
[Annotation from the Belfast News-Letter chess column for 30th April1914]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8
Or 3...Qa5. The text retains command of the d-file and avoids the annoying attack (if White is plucky enough) commencing 4.b4.
4.d4 c6 5.Bc4
Perhaps the best square for the Bishop, though 5.Bd3 prevents Black playing 5...Bf5.
5...Bf5
A great point in the defence is to play this bishop before e6 (Mason).
6.Nf3 Nf6 7.0-0 Qc7
Preparing to castle and get command of the open file with the Rook. The object of Black's 4th is now apparent.
8.g3
Very weak. Up to this move White has played accurately. 8.Re1 or 8.Ne5 and White has a good game.
8...e6 9.Ne5 Bd6 10.Bf4 Nbd7 11.Re1 0-0-0

Risky; the subsequent exchanges are not in Black's favour. Certainly he has a vigorous attack, but White does not play the best moves.
12.Nxf7 Bxf4 13.Nxd8 Rxd8 14.gxf4 Qxf4 15.Ne2 Qh4 16.Ng3
This does not stop the threat, and there are better moves. 16.Qc1 and if 16...Ne4 (or 16...Ng4 17.Qf4) 17.Qe3.
16...Ng4 17.Qf3

17...Rf8
[Black should first play 17...Qxh2+ 18.Kf1 and then Rf8 with a winning position - DMcA.]
18.Nxf5
18.Qg2 prevents disaster.
18...Qxh2+ 19.Kf1 Rxf5 20.Qxf5
Nothing better, and the game is virtually over as Black does not allow the rooks to come into play.
20...exf5 21.Ke2 Qxf2+ 22.Kd3 Qf3+ 23.Kd2 Nf2 24.c3 Ne4+ 25.Kc2 Ndf6 26.Rad1 Ng4 27.Kb3 Qf4 28.Bg8 h5 29.a3 Ngf2 30.Ra1 h4 31.Ka2 h3 32.Rf1 Ng3 33.Rh1 Nfe4 0-1

Alf Roper, having volunteered for service in the war, set sail on the evening of Thursday 6^th August 1914, destination unknown - now he was a pawn in someone else's hands.

The Williamson Shield would not be competed for again until 1923.