American Chess and Problem Association, 1878: Additional Awards
These are the additional prizes and tourneys associated with the
American Chess and Problem Association 1878 Tourney that are known at present.
Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice: Most Difficult Problem
Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice: Most Original, Clever or Peculiar Problem
Dubuque Chess Journal
Hartford Globe
Hartford Weekly Times: Most Difficult Problem
Scientific American: Most Beautiful Problem
Scientific American: Letter Tourney
St. Louis Globe-Democrat: Best Problem
Turf, Field and Farm: Best Problem
The prize was donated by S. Loyd, who also expressed a wish that two judges be appointed,
J. H. Finlinson and C. A. Gilberg accepted the role of judges, though it is not clear how they judged
The prize was donated by S. Loyd, who also expressed a wish that G. E. Carpenter would be one of the judges. (Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice, 1877-12-23)
No further information has been found so far.
On 1878-08-01, the judge was identified to be C. H. Waterbury; at this time the prize is reported to be restricted to #3 only.
The judge apparently responded immediately that of the 9 problems he has received, the #3 of the set Che Sara, Sara was the most difficult. Prompted to provide a little more detail, on 1878-08-22 he seems to reply that faulty problems were not excluded on that account alone, but says little more of substance. He does note that in some cases very faulty problems might be considered the most difficult, but does not say if that was an issue for the prize.
In his report, he does identify a second solution to the #4 of the same set, though.
As the set won the 4th prize of the tourney, the winning #3 will be found on the main tourney page.
The prize was donated by W. A. Ballantine, and the basis of judgement was defined as:
No further information has been found.
No more exactly expressed closing date has been found. The letter in which the judges of the main tourney informed the tourney committee of the awards is dated 1878-06-14, and should serve as a reasonable approximation.
The judge was C. A. Gilberg; his report was published in Scientific American Supplement, 1876-08-03. The names of the competitors were not relevaled apart from prize winners, which were printed together with the report in the last installation of the column. Loyd mentions plans to issue the column as a book with corrections—it is not known if those plans were successful.
There are one or two unresolved questions. While the requirements referenced above state that problems should be received by Scientific American (or its Supplement), there are problems reprinted from other columns (such as American Chess Journal, v. 3, May 1878, p. 63, prb. 63 which appears to reference Lebanon Herald as source). Was the chess editor examination network of the main tourney used also for this tourney, or is this perhaps a case of a competitor not reading the requirements in detail?
Note: This tourney has no obvious official connection with the A.C.P.A. or its tourney of 1878. While it is often referred to as the A.C.P.A. Letter Tourney, it seems that it might be more appropriate to view it as a tourney arranged by the Scientific American chess editor.
A result is announced on 1878-07-07 where it says (p. 9) that S. Loyd receives the prize for the best problem contributed through the columns of the Globe-Democrat.
While the problem is not identified, it is almost certainly the #3 of the 1st prize set.
Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice: Most Difficult Problem
Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice: Most Original, Clever or Peculiar Problem
Dubuque Chess Journal
Hartford Globe
Hartford Weekly Times: Most Difficult Problem
Scientific American: Most Beautiful Problem
Scientific American: Letter Tourney
St. Louis Globe-Democrat: Best Problem
Turf, Field and Farm: Best Problem
Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice: Most Difficult Problem
A prize for the most difficult problem contributed to the A.C.P.A. tourney through the column.The prize was donated by S. Loyd, who also expressed a wish that two judges be appointed,
one from the other side of the water, and one from this side.He also appears to have suggested solving time should be used as a basis for adjudication. (Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice, 1877-11-11.)
J. H. Finlinson and C. A. Gilberg accepted the role of judges, though it is not clear how they judged
difficulty,or even that they used the same method. Their respective reports were printed in Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice on 1879-01-12. Both judges, apparently independently, award the prize to the same problem.
Special Prize: C. F. Wennerberg (Motto: Quid faciendum)
#2
Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice: Most Original, Clever or Peculiar Problem
A prize for the most original, or clever, or peculiar problem contributed to the column for the A.C.P.A. tourney.The prize was donated by S. Loyd, who also expressed a wish that G. E. Carpenter would be one of the judges. (Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice, 1877-12-23)
No further information has been found so far.
Dubuque Chess Journal: ???
Mentioned in American Chess Journal, v. 3, Mar. 1878, p. 7. No further details known.Hartford Globe: ???
Mentioned in American Chess Journal, v. 3, Mar. 1878, p. 7. No further details known.Hartford Weekly Times: Most Difficult Problem
A prize for the most difficult problem contributed to the column for the A.C.P.A. tourney. (Hartford Weekly Times, 1877-12-06).On 1878-08-01, the judge was identified to be C. H. Waterbury; at this time the prize is reported to be restricted to #3 only.
The judge apparently responded immediately that of the 9 problems he has received, the #3 of the set Che Sara, Sara was the most difficult. Prompted to provide a little more detail, on 1878-08-22 he seems to reply that faulty problems were not excluded on that account alone, but says little more of substance. He does note that in some cases very faulty problems might be considered the most difficult, but does not say if that was an issue for the prize.
In his report, he does identify a second solution to the #4 of the same set, though.
As the set won the 4th prize of the tourney, the winning #3 will be found on the main tourney page.
Scientific American: Most Beautiful Problem
A prize for the most beautiful problem of the A.C.P.A. tourney.The prize was donated by W. A. Ballantine, and the basis of judgement was defined as:
difficulty of solution, effected by a limited number of pieces.Difficulty would be graded from 1–50, from which score points would be removed for each piece used in the problem. (Scientific American Supplement, 1878-01-05).
No further information has been found.
Scientific American: Letter Tourney
C. C. Moore, the Secretary of the A.C.P.A., announced a prize for the best letter problem received by Scientific American prior to the date of the awarding of the Association Prizes. (Scientific American Supplement, 1877-12-08.) S. Loyd donated two additional prizes.No more exactly expressed closing date has been found. The letter in which the judges of the main tourney informed the tourney committee of the awards is dated 1878-06-14, and should serve as a reasonable approximation.
The judge was C. A. Gilberg; his report was published in Scientific American Supplement, 1876-08-03. The names of the competitors were not relevaled apart from prize winners, which were printed together with the report in the last installation of the column. Loyd mentions plans to issue the column as a book with corrections—it is not known if those plans were successful.
There are one or two unresolved questions. While the requirements referenced above state that problems should be received by Scientific American (or its Supplement), there are problems reprinted from other columns (such as American Chess Journal, v. 3, May 1878, p. 63, prb. 63 which appears to reference Lebanon Herald as source). Was the chess editor examination network of the main tourney used also for this tourney, or is this perhaps a case of a competitor not reading the requirements in detail?
Note: This tourney has no obvious official connection with the A.C.P.A. or its tourney of 1878. While it is often referred to as the A.C.P.A. Letter Tourney, it seems that it might be more appropriate to view it as a tourney arranged by the Scientific American chess editor.
Prizes
1 Prize: S. Loyd
#3
2 Prize: A. Finch, Jr.
#3
3 Prize: C. C. Moore
#3
St. Louis Globe-Democrat: Best Problem
Prize for best problem contributed the A.C.P.A. tourney through this paper. (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 3/176 (1877-11-11), p. 9.)A result is announced on 1878-07-07 where it says (p. 9) that S. Loyd receives the prize for the best problem contributed through the columns of the Globe-Democrat.
While the problem is not identified, it is almost certainly the #3 of the 1st prize set.