Scottish Championship 1900

The seventeenth annual Congress of the Scottish Chess Association opened at the Dundee Chess Club on Friday, April 13th. A notable absentee from the lineup was the local Dundee player W.N. Walker, who was indisposed.

The Scotsman of April 14 noted that one of the attractions of the meeting would be the 'patent self recording table, the property of Mr H. Macaulay, Edinburgh, who will exhibit it at work.'

From The Scotsman, Monday 16th April 1900, page 4:

The annual meeting of the Scottish Chess Association will be held this evening at 5 P.M.; the Rev. Dr. Grant, the president, in the chair. On Saturday, Mr R. Macaulay, Edinburgh, gave an exhibition of the recording table invented by him. Each square of this board has thimble, with a spring bottom sunk in it, into which a stop projecting from the base of each man is inserted. When moving, the man is pressed down first on his old square and makes his mark on the paper below, and next in his new slot, the result being afterwards decipherable, according to the very simple German notation, from the travelling indicating paper below, which is impelled by a handwheel on each move.

 

Championship 1900		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Pts
1	D.Y. Mills	■	1	0	1	1	1	1	5
2	Dr Macdonald	0	■	1	1	1	1	1	5
3	J. Longwill	1	0	■	½	½	½	1	3½
4	H.L. Forbes	0	0	½	■	1	½	1	3
5	Sheriff Spens	0	0	½	0	■	1	1	2½
6	H.J. Thoms	0	0	½	½	0	■	0	1
7	T. Lupton	0	0	0	0	0	1	■	1

 

From The Scotsman, Thursday 19th April 1900, page 7:

No arrangements whatever have yet been made to decide the tie between Mr Mills and Dr Macdonald. The Doctor is agreeable to divide the honour, but this would clearly be an unsatisfactory proceeding. Mr Mills suggests that a match consisting of perhaps five games be played off, and to this Dr Macdonald may agree. In any event, the rules reserve power to the Playing Committee to determine whether the tie shall be played off by one or more games.

The BCM of 1900 later reported (pp 231-2) that no progress had been made with regard to a play-off match. Dr Macdonald and Mills had apparently agreed to meet at Perth, but the doctor was having difficulty finding the time for the match, due to his professional responsibilities.

At the time of writing, I have not found any report of a play-off match. It may have taken place, or Dr Macdonald may have conceded the title.

Macdonald - Longwill [C63]
Scottish Championship Dundee, 1900
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d3 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.a3 fxe4 8.dxe4 Be6 9.Ng5 Qd7 10.Nxe6 Qxe6 11.Nd5 0-0-0 12.f3 Nd4 13.Bc4 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Qd7 15.c3 c6 16.Ba2 Ne6 17.Be3 b6 18.a4 d5 19.exd5 cxd5 20.Re1 Bf6 21.Qe2 Nc7 22.a5 d4 23.axb6 axb6 24.cxd4 exd4 25.Rac1 d3 26.Qd2 Kb7 27.Bc4 Rhe8 28.Bxb6 Bd4+ 29.Bxd4 Qxd4+ 30.Kh1 Re2 31.Qb4+ Qb6 32.Qxb6+ Kxb6 33.Rcd1 Rxb2 34.Rxd3 Rxd3 35.Bxd3 h6 36.Ra1 Rd2 37.Be4 Rd6 38.Kg1 Ne6 39.Kf2 Ng5 40.Ke3 Ne6 41.h4 Nc5 42.h5 Re6 43.Rb1+ Kc7 44.Kd4 Nxe4 45.fxe4 Kd8 46.Rb7 g6 47.Kd5 Ra6 48.hxg6 Rxg6 49.Rb2 Ke7 50.e5 Ke8 51.Ke4 Kf7 52.Kf4 Ke8 53.g4 Kf7 54.Rb7+ Kf8 55.Kf5 Rg5+ 56.Kf6 Ke8 57.e6 1-0

Mills - Longwill [C82]
Scottish Championship Dundee, 1900
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Nbd2 Nxd2 11.Qxd2 Qd7 12.Qg5 Be7 13.Qg3 0-0-0 14.a4 Kb7 15.axb5 axb5 16.Be3 g5 17.Nd4 Nxd4 18.cxd4 h5 19.f3 f5 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Ra2 h4 22.Qf2 Ra8 23.Rxa8 Rxa8 24.Qd2 Qg7 25.Rc1 Be7 26.Qc2 c5 27.dxc5 Kc6 28.Qe2 Bg8 29.Rd1 Qe5 30.Qd2 Bf6 31.f4 gxf4 32.Bxf4 Qe4 33.Bc2 Qc4 34.b3 Qxc5+ 35.Be3 Qc3 36.Qe2 Re8 37.Bd3 Kb7 38.Kh1 Bg5 39.Bd4 The Scotsman showed 39. Q-Q4 in error. 39...Qxb3 40.Qf1 Rf8 41.Qg1 h3 42.Be2 Bh7 43.Qe1 hxg2+ 0-1

Spens,W - Macdonald,R [D20]
Scottish Championship Dundee, 1900
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.d5 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd6 6.Bxc4 0-0 7.Nf3 a6 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.a3 Re8 10.Bd3 Nf8 11.Ne2 Ng6 12.Ng3 Nf4 13.Bc2 Bd7 14.b4 Rc8 15.Re1 c6 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.e5 fxg3 18.hxg3 Bxb4 19.axb4 Nxd5 20.Re4 Nc3 21.Qd3 Nxe4 22.Qxe4 g6 23.Rd1 Qe7 24.Qf4 Rcd8 25.Re1 Be6 26.Qh6 Qf8 27.Qh4 Bd5 28.Ng5 h6 29.Ne4 Bxe4 30.Rxe4 Rd5 31.f4 a5 32.bxa5 Qc5+ 0-1

Macdonald - Forbes [C67]
Scottish Championship Dundee (1), 1900
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Qe2 Nd6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.dxe5 Nb7 9.Nc3 Nc5 10.b3 Ba6 11.Qe3 Bxf1 12.Kxf1 Ne6 13.Bb2 Bc5 14.Qd3 Qe7 15.Ne4 Rd8 16.Rd1 Bb6 17.Ng3 d5 18.Nf5 Qc5 19.Qd2 a5 20.c3 Rd7 21.N3d4 Nxd4 22.cxd4 Qb5+ 23.Kg1 0-0 24.Ba3 c5 25.Qg5 f6 26.Qg4 fxe5 27.dxe5 Re8 28.Nh6+ Kf8 29.Qf5+ Ke7 30.e6 Rdd8 31.Qf7+ Kd6 32.e7 ...and the newspaper report ended with 'R moves and mate in two", which is not strictly correct as after 32...Rd7 it would be a mate in 4. Black also has many other ways to lose. 1-0

Spens - Mills [D20]
Scottish Championship Dundee (1), 1900
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.d5 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bd6 6.Bxc4 Nbd7 7.Nf3 a6 8.0-0 0-0 9.a3 Re8 10.h3 Nf8 11.Re1 Ng6 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bd2 Nh5 14.Ne2 Bd7 15.Ng3 Nhf4 16.Nf5 Qf6 17.Qc2 Bxf5 18.exf5 Ne7 19.g3 Nxh3+ 20.Kg2 Ng5 21.Nh4 e4 22.f4 exf3+ 23.Kh1 Bxg3 24.Bc3 Qd6 25.Rxe7 Qxe7 26.Ng6 Qe4 27.Bd3 Qg4 0-1

Thoms - Spens [B00]
Scottish Championship Dundee (6), 1900
1.e4 b6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 e5 5.d5 d6 6.Bd3 Ne7 7.g4 Nd7 8.b4 0-0 9.h4 Nf6 10.f3 h5 11.Bg5 c6 12.Qe2 a5 13.b5 cxd5 14.exd5 e4 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 16.Bxe7 Bc3+ 17.Kd1 Qxe7 18.Rb1 Nf2+ 19.Qxf2 hxg4 20.Kc2 Qf6 21.Qg3 Be5 22.Qg2 Ba1 23.Qd2 g3 24.Ne2 Be5 25.f4 g2 26.Rh2 Bd4 27.Rxg2 Bc5 28.h5 Bf5 29.Rg5 Bb4 30.Qd1 Rfc8 31.Kb3 Re8 32.Bxf5 Rxe2 33.Qd3 a4+ 34.Kxb4 Rb2+ 35.Ka3 Rxb1 36.Qc2 Qd4 and wins, according to the Scotsman, White resigns, says the BCM. 0-1

Minor Tournament

The Minor event was a tie between Mr D. Spankie, Dundee and Mr D. Simpson, Falkirk, each with 5 points. Mr Simpson would later play a prominent role with Edinburgh Chess Club.

Sources:
Various issues of The Scotsman as shown above
BCM 1900, p 191 (crosstable), pp 231-2

Compiled by Alan McGowan