AAdditional Games
Harvard Chess Men Preparing For Intercollegiate Tournament
The chess enthusiasts at Harvard are greatly interested just now in the big annual tournament that will decide the intercollegiate championship for another year. The contest will take place at the rooms of the West Side republican club, in New York, on Dec. 22, 23 and 24.
Harvard is the present holder of the chess championship, and as she has taken a back seat recently in so many other departments of intercollegiate competition a large number of graduates and undergraduates are extremely anxious to have the Crimson team win in the coming struggle.
The work of arranging for the tournament is now going rapidly forward at Cambridge. Early in the college year the usual call was issued for candidates for the team. From those who responded after careful consideration, seven men were selected to have their names sent to the committee in charge of the contest, as the squad from which the four players who are ultimately to make up the team will be picked.
These seven men are Percy W. Bridgeman 1 G, Laurence P. Carr 1 L. Quincy A. Brackett '06, Graham T. McClure '06, S. Wilder Howland 1 L. W. Cleveland Cogswell '06, and Kenneth S. Johnson '07.
The make-up of this provisional squad is very satisfactory to those who are familiar with the skill and ability of the different men.
Bridgman was captain of last year's team, and will fill the same position for another term. Carr has taken part in three intercollegiate contests, winning every one of his games in last season's competition, but it is very doubtful whether his services will continue to be available, as his health is poor.
Brackett and McClure are accomplished and reliable, and both did excellent work in the last similar contest in New York last winter. Howland and Johnson are new to championship tournaments, but have both played well in dual competitions with Yale.
Cogswell has tried for the team for several years, and has “made” it, but for personal reasons has never taken the position to which he was entitled.
The seven candidates are now engaged in a round robin contest, the result of which will decide which of them shall take part in the battle for the great victory in New York. This competition began Dec 1 and will end about Dec. 15.
The participants in the intercollegiate tournament will be Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton. In addition to the title of champion the winning team will have transferred to it the ownership of the handsome silver cup that is emblematic of leadership, and each individual player will receive a silver medal.
Should the Harvard squad be victorious, each member of it will be given a second silver medal presented by A. G. White, Harvard graduate, who is deeply interested in the game.
Americans In Lead In Chess Cable Match 22 Mar 1908, Sun The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) Newspapers.com
Americans In Lead In Chess Cable Match.
Have One Point Advantage in Intercollegiate Contest With England.
TWO GAMES STILL UNDECIDED
Louis J. Wolff of Columbia Plays Brilliantly Against Cambridge Opponent—Play by Boards.
Philadelphia, March 21—Bent on winning back the laurels lost by the British chess players in the match of a week ago, the team representing Oxford and Cambridge in London faced the sextet representing Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Brown and Pennsylvania, in the eighth of the series of intercollegiate contests by cable for the Rice trophy to-day. When play ceased, at 6:30 o'clock this evening, the Americans had the advantage, with a score of 2½ points to 1½, two games remaining unfinished. Thereupon draws were offered to the Britons on the two boards, but the latter declined, preferring that they be adjudicated upon by Referee Walter Penn Shipley of this city. Mr. Shipley would not give his decision on the spot, and stated it might be a week before his opinion was given. The opinion is freely expressed by experts in attendance here to-night that the Americans will retain their lead after the adjudication, and in that way win the match and the trophy.
Louis J. Wolff, captain of the Columbia varsity team, pulled his game out of a very complicated situation, and scored for America, as did C. Williams of Princeton, who found a flaw in the combination of his opponent. W. H. Hughes of Pennsylvania was beaten at the top board by N. J. Roughton of Oxford, K. S. Johnson of Harvard drew his game with B. H. R. Stower of Cambridge, the draw being agreed to at the close of the match.
The match was played from the hall of the Houston Club and the Inns of Court Hotel, the two places being connected by direct commercial cables. Not a hitch occurred the entire day. It was the first time that play on this side has taken place on the campus of a university.
Play began shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning, with the two sextets paired in the following order:
Board 1—W. H. Hughes, Pennsylvania, vs. N. J. Broughton, New College, Oxford.
Board 2—L. J. Wolff, Columbia, vs. L. Illingworth, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Board 3—K. S. Johnson, Harvard, vs. B. H. R. Stower, Queens College, Cambridge.
Board 4—N. Blumberg, Columbia, vs. H. Lob, King's College, Oxford.
Board 5—I. Ash, Pennsylvania, vs. C. G. Woodhouse, Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Board 6—C. Williams, Princeton, vs. R. Petrie, Balliol College, Oxford.
Walter Penn Shipley of this city, umpire for the British collegians, won the toss for move, and elected that Oxford and Cambridge play the white pieces on the odd numbered boards. The Americans, therefore, had the choice of openings on boards 2, 4 and 6. The Ruy Lopez, or Spanish attack, was chosen by the players at the five top boards, but the variations followed were not at all monotonous. At the sixth board, the Englishman resorted to the Petroff defense.
Owing the absence of R. T. Black of Cornell, I. Ash of the University of Pennsylvania, who played in the recent state tournament, was called upon to fill the vacancy.
Wolff of Columbia was pitted against the same player whom he defeated in the match a year ago, and the first seven moves made to-day were identical with those of their game of a year ago. Then it was Illingworth who varied.
Of the Americans who defended the Ruy Lopez, Hughes and Ash both chose the Berlin defense. The former lost some time with his queen's bishop, which retarded his development somewhat, but Ash obtained a satisfactory position from a book line of play. Johnson defended with 5. … P-QR3 defense, and his opponent continued with the steady attack initiated by the advance of the queen's pawn one square. Wolff was met by the 3. … P-QR3 defense, and opened the queen's rook file, but otherwise his adversary established a good position. Blumberg faced the interesting counter attack of 3. … P-B4, from which Lob built up an excellent game. In the Petroff defense at the sixth board, Williams neglected an opportunity of advancing his king's rook pawn on the tenth move with effect, and, as a result, a black knight was entrenched strongly in the Princeton player's field.
Hughes' position went from bad to worse, until finally on the twenty-fifth move Boughton sacrificed a knight in brilliant fashion. The Englishman's rooks and queen obtained access to the black king, and Hughes was forced to resign after twenty-nine moves.
Wolff succeeded in winning his opponent's weak queen's knight's pawn, but, in the end, had to give his king's pawn in return. While Wolff was left with a passed pawn on the queen's wing, Illingworth had a formidable center.
Stower had a passed pawn at K6 against Johnson of Harvard, and the latter did not get a very promising game.
Blumberg castled on the queen's side, exchanging queens on the seventeenth move. He had slightly the better position.
Lively play was witnessed between Woodhouse and Ash, but equality was maintained, although Ash's queen's bishop was out of play.
The misfortunes which befell Hughes was offset at the sixth board, where Williams of Princeton won a piece on the seventeenth move in consequence of an unsound combination made by Petrie.
The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, Monday, March 23, 1908
Kenneth S. Johnson who represented Harvard in the international college chess match at New York Saturday, is a resident and son of Justice Edward F. Johnson.
The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, Friday, Dec 18, 1908
Harvard Unusually Strong In Chess Talent This Year
HARVARD CHESS TEAM
Standing, Left to Right—W. M. Mitchell 2L, D. B. Priest '10, A. S. Jones '09, R. M. Davis 1GB, M. L. Masius 1G.
Sitting—F. P. Byerly '11, E. H. Gruening 2M, K. S. Johnson 2G (Capt), D. B. Childs '10, J. L. Clark 3L.
The number of Harvard men who are playing chess this year is greater than for several years past, due in part to the new rooms which the club has secured in Gray's hall. No. 20 has been hired for the year and fitted with tables and boards and all other conveniences which the chess player demands. Until this year the team had to conduct all its practice play and team matches in the game room of the Union, and as games of cards or checkers are often going on there at the same time chess is being played, the situation was not ideal for those men who wanted quiet during their matches.
Early in the year the first match with Technology resulted in a victory for the Harvard team. The team also won in the next match played on six boards with the representatives of the Boston Young Men's Christian union, Nov 6. On the night before the Dartmouth football game a five-board match was played with the Dartmouth club, which also resulted in victory for Harvard.
The match with the Yale club, played in New Haven Nov. 20, was so easy that the members of the team thought it little better than a practice tournament among themselves. Harvard won 8 to 2, losing only one game and drawing in two. Bruening, who is now in his second year at the medical school, is one of the most reliable players on the team.
Johnson, the captain, has also been played for several years and is a good man. Of the others Parshley and Clark are about the only ones who have played this year in more than one tournament and both are fair. The others have played in match tournaments from time to time and are about the best of the club. There are several others of ability who have not the time to keep in the game and so are not always in shape to show at their best in matches.
The team to represent Harvard in the Intercollegiate match to be held in New York at the West Side Republican club, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, will be made up of E. H. Gruening 2M., K. S. Johnson 2G, W. W. Parshley '09, F. P. Byerley '11, and D. B. Childs '10. Childs will go as substitute.
Two of the men who will represent Harvard in the New York tournament were on the team last year, Capt. K. S. Johnson 2G and W. W. Parshley '09. Johnson won one game and drew one out of his three contests in 1907, and Parshley won two out of his three games. Gruening has played on the teams more or less for the past three years, and F. P. Byerly '11 is a new man in intercollegiate chess.
Play starts Monday afternoon at 1 'o clock in the rooms of the West Side republican club, and continues to 6 o'clock, with an evening session from 8 to 10. Monday the university team will meet Yale, each man playing against one opponent on the other team. Columbia and Princeton play at the same time. Tuesday it will be Harvard against Columbia and Yale against Princeton, and in the final day's play on Wednesday Harvard meets Princeton and Yale plays Columbia. All games unfinished at the close of the day's playing will be decided by the referee, H. Helms, and the adjudicator, J. Finn. A. W. Fox will be director of play.
The winning of the tournament carries with it the possession for one year of the intercollegiate cup, now held by Columbia. Harvard has had the championship nine times, Columbia seven and Yale once. The members of the winning team will also receive silver medals as individual trophies.
