AFebruary 08 1900
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, February 08, 1900
CABLE MATCH CANDIDATES.
Chess Experts Available for Vacancies in Manhattan, Philadelphia and Boston.
FIRST QUAKER TOURNEY ROUND.
Ex-Champion Steinitz Again in a Hospital—Marshall vs. Medinus—Pillsbury Wanted in Cuba.
One of the most important chess tournaments held annually in this country, taking into consideration the average equality of all the contestants in the matter of skill and reputation, is the championship event of the Franklin Chess Club of Philadelphia, the first round of which has just been completed. Still greater importance attaches to it in view of the fact that already some very valuable material has been recruited therefrom for the purposes of the international cable chess match with Great Britain and that it is just possible that a further draft may be made upon that source in case the Brooklyn committee should deem it advisable to make any changes in the personnel of the American team.
H. G. Voigt and C. J. Newman were the two men who represented Philadelphia on the team last year. Of these Voigt demonstrated beyond cavil his entire fitness to take care of Board No. 6. He is absent from the list of this year's Franklin Club competitors. Newman, on the other hand, is figuring in it and is fourth on the list, tied with Morgan. It is fairly probable, however, that the game fight he made for a draw at Board No. 9 will assure his retention as a defender of the trophy. The men ahead of him in the Franklin Club contest are Bampton, Kemeny and Shipley. Kemeny is of foreign birth and, therefore, ineligible. Shipley has definitely stated that he is not available on the ground that, while his moral support is wholly with the match committee, he does not seek a place on the team, whereas there are others, considered by him as his equals in playing strength, who would not be averse to accepting a position, if offered. Consequently, Bampton is the only Quaker candidate for a possible vacancy.
The two logical candidates from the Manhattan Chess Club are Major J. M. Hanham and E. Delmar, respectively the winner of and runner up in that club's recently concluded championship tourney. Subsequently Delmar defeated the Major in the series for the Martinez trophy by 3 to 1. He was laid off the cable team last year after having played three times, with a record of one victory, a defeat and a draw. This was due to his being in unusually poor form just prior to the match.
The other men deserving consideration in this connection are G. H. Walcott and E. E. Southard, the two Boston substitutes of last year, and C. Medinus of Chicago, who is now giving Marshall, the Brooklyn champion, such a great fight.
Appended herewith is a record of the first round's play in the Franklin Chess Club's tournament, above referred to:
Total Points Players. Won. Lost. Dr'n. Won. Lost. S. W. Bampton 6 1 2 7 2 E. Kemeny 6 1 2 7 2 W. P. Shipley 6 1 2 7 2 C. J. Newman 4 3 2 5 4 M. Morgan 4 3 2 5 4 D. Stuart 3 5 1 3½ 5½ R. B. Griffith 3 6 0 3 6 J. F. Magee, Jr. 2 5 2 3 6 J. W. Young 1 5 3 2½ 6½ J. A. Kaiser 1 6 2 2 7
Bampton lost to Kemeny; drew with Morgan and Kaiser.
Kemeny lost to Shipley: drew with Newman and Stuart.
Shipley lost to Bampton: drew with Newman and Young.
Newman lost to Bampton, Stuart and Griffith: drew with Kemeny and Shipley.
Morgan lost to Kemeny, Shipley and Newman; drew with Bampton and Young.
March 08 1900
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, March 08, 1900
CABLE TEAM STRENGTHENED
Belief That the Philadelphian Will Improve America's Chances for the Chess Trophy.
SOMETHING ABOUT HIS PLAY.
Continuous Tourney Scores at the Brooklyn Club—An Interesting Consultation Game.
Caption: S.W. Bampton of Philadelphia.
The New Member of the American Team for the Cable Chess Match.
The great satisfaction felt by the chess community of Philadelphia over the selection of S. W. Bampton for the American team is the fifth cable match for the defense of the Newnes trophy is shared by followers of the game the country over, inasmuch as the newcomer in the international ranks is considered one of the most capable and reliable of the many experts in that Pennsylvania stronghold of American chess. On the score of all around ability, experience and his record of continuous successes, he should prove as serviceable a man as any of his comrades in arms, all of whom have before figured in this annual contest with Great Britain. No misgivings are entertained by any one but that he will acquit himself creditably on this occasion.
Samuel Warren Bampton was born in Philadelphia, September 3, 1862. In June, 1880, he graduated second from the Hancock Grammar School, where he was always first in mathematics. Since 1887 he has been connected with the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania.
Bampton first learned the moves of chess when 14 years old from his father, but his chief preceptor was Henry Chadwick, the well known authority on base ball and cricket. He took an interest in problem solving about 1881 and developed at once into a quick and brilliant solver. The well known problem composer, W. E. Tinney, gave him the nickname of “Happy Dasher,” because of his quickness in detecting the key move of any problem. He started to play hard chess in the year 1885, being one of the original corporate members of the Franklin Chess Club. The following year he joined the Junior Chess Club of Philadelphia, and, with but one exception, has participated in every tournament of both these clubs. He has captured first prize in the Junior Chess Club for the past six years with the exception of the last year, when he tied for first with D. Stuart Robinson of Philadelphia, and this, notwithstanding the fact that such well known players as M. Morgan, D. Stuart Robinson, J. W. Young, W. P. Shipley and other strong players competed in several of the tournaments. In the championship tournaments of the Franklin Chess Club, with but a few exceptions, he was a prize winner.
In the years 1895 and 1896 he took part in the general tournament of the New York State Chess Association and won first prize in both tournaments.
He also played on the team of the Pennsylvania State Chess Association in all of its matches with the New York State Chess Association, with a winning score each time, and has figured on all the Franklin Club teams in the important series of Decoration Day matches with the Manhattan Chess Club.
