Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati), 1883 (7th Problem Tourney)

While the referenced sources are titled Cincinnati Commercial the column itself uses the title Commercial Gazette. The change of name seems to be partially corroborated by its page on the Chronicling America web site. It appears that the change of title was relatively short-lived: in July 1883, the title was changed again, this time to Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, but this change is not reflected in the chess column. (For full verification, the title pages of the cited sources would need to be available.)

The number of competing problems was not documented, and due to three missing columns in the used source only 11 #2 and 13 #3 can be verified. The number of endgame was documented to be two, which corresponds with the result of a manual check.

The solving tourney produced 8 winners in the problem solving section, and 2 winners in the endgame section. These winners were asked to vote for the best original problems (separate votes for #2 and #3) and endgames, respectively.

Five votes (of 8) are reported for best problems. Two judges abstained from voting. The vote for best #3 was unanimous.

Two judges voted for best endgame. One of the judges first voted for a reproduced endgame, and was asked to vote again, but no verdict has been found, probably due to further lacunas in the used source. (The two competing endgames were endgame 120 by W. H. Lyons (solution in #4) and endgame 123 by H., E. and J. Bettman.)


On further examination, the endgame by W. H. Lyons turns out not to be an original. It was published in Dubuque Chess Journal, i. 69 (December, 1875), p. 605, prb. 1262 by Guerilla (a pseudonym connected with Lyons in a biographical sketch published in The Daily American, (Nashville) vol. 12, i. 3997 (1887-08-21, p. 11), and probably reprinted from Kentucky State Journal).