The Frère Problem Tournament, 1858 (Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper)

R:
a:
#3 (1 pr.)
 
b:
#4 (1 pr.)
 
c:
#5 (1 pr.)
d:
single #3 + portrait of composer (1 pr.)
(For this section, no motto was requested.)
 
C:
1858-09-01
 
J:
T. Lichtenhein, W. Horner, B. I. Raphael
 
A:
a:
pr. G. N. Cheney (motto: She stoops to conquer)
 
b:
pr. J. H. Morrison (Multiflore)
 
c:
pr. T. M. Brown (He laughs best who laughs last)
d:
pr. T. M. Brown
 
S:
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
1858-04-24: announcement
1858-05-08: fourth prize announced (section d)
1858-06-12: summary of announcements
1858-09-25: summary of sendings
1858-12-04: status report (in correspondence)
1859-01-01: report
 
 
N:
The announcement called this “The Frank Leslie Problem Tournament”. It also stated “This offer is made by the Chess Editor, T. Frère, personally”, and later information confirms the personal responsibility for prize offerings, which probably explains why it later was referred to as “The Frère Problem Tournament.”

Section d was announced on 1858-05-08: composers who sent a single #3 problem together with a daguerrotype or photographic portrait would be competing for a supplementary prize, consisting of the collection of portraits sent in. No motto requirement is mentioned; no mottos seem to have been published for these problems.

Judges were chosen to be:

... three well-known Chess players, not Problem composers. We prefer players to composers as a committee, because we want all composers to compete.
(This may have misfired: two of the prize-winning problems have been found to be faulty.)

83 problems were received. Eleven competitors entered for the 'portrait prize' (section d). According to the final report, the awards were unanimous, and reached without consultation among judges.

In Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper all problems from the tournament are reported as taken from the tournament book, yet the book is still not published on 1859-01-28. According to the Clipper chess column, the book appeared around 1859-02-20. (On 1859-02-19, the book is reported as forthcoming, on 1859-02-26 it is reported to have been published.) For this reason, the problems in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper are considered to be the earliest publication.
 

Awards

Section A: #3

Prize: G. N. Cheney

#3

[*] = Faulty: Multiple key moves

Section B: #4

Prize: J. H. Morrison

#4

[+] = Faulty: No solution

Section C: #5

Prize: T. M. Brown

#5

Section D: #3

Prize: T. M. Brown

#3