Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, 1886

R:
a
1–2 #2 (3 pr.)
b
1–2 #3 (3 pr.)
 
Open to the world. Competitors could enter up to two problems in each section. No mottos or sealed envelopes required.
 
J:
Prizes were awarded according to the number of marks given in the Selecting Competition.
 
C:
1886-09-30
 
A:
a: #2 1 pr. G. J. Slater (No. 35)
2 pr. H. Hosey Davis (No. 11)
3 pr. H. C. Evans (No. 49)
 
hm. H. Hosey Davis (No. 41)
T. Taverner (No. 27)
T. Taverner (No. 43)
 
b: #3 1 pr. E. J. Winter Wood (No. 36)
2 pr. G. J. Slater (No. 12)
3 pr. B. G. Laws (No. 50)
 
hm. W. Geary (No. 2)
E. J. Winter Wood (No. 44)
G. J. Slater (No. 14)
S:
Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
v. 70, i. 9962 (1886-08-07), weekly suppl., p. 5 : announcement and rules
v. ?, i. ? (1886-09-25), weekly suppl., p. 5 : reminder that Oct. 2nd was last day for problem entries.
v. ?, i. ? (1886-10-02), weekly suppl., p. 5 : first problems printed
v. ?, i. ? (1886-10-09), weekly suppl., p. 5 : info
v. 68, i. 10191 (1887-05-07), weekly suppl., p. 5 : selecting competition results, awards, list of competitors, 1st pr. prbs.
v. 68, i. 10197 (1887-05-14), weekly suppl., p. 5 : 2nd pr. prbs.
 

(Absence of volume and issue information is due to absence of title pages in the used source archive. The retrogression of volume numbers is as printed on the relevant title pages.)

 
N:

This problem composition tourney was associated with the 4th Solution Tourney of Sheffield & Rotherham Independent and is for that reason in other sources sometimes called the fourth problem composition tourney .

The #3 section of the Solution Tourney was announced as a competition for the title of Champion Solver of Great Britain. (The title was won by G. J. Slater.)

The Selection Tourney awarded prizes for the best guesses for the eventual prize winners of the composition tourney. The same guesses were also used to decide the prize winners by giving 3 marks to 1 pr guesses, 2 marks for 2 pr. guesses, and 1 mark for 3 pr. guesses. The sum of marks for each problems decided its rank. The tourney was discussed at some length in 1886, but no detailed description of exactly how it should proceed has been found; it is presumably in the missing part of the used source (see below). The report seems to indicate that only those solving tourney competitors who solved all problems were allowed to participate: 41 solvers sent in guesses for #2 awards, and 21 solvers for #3 awards.


At present, the main source used (at British Newspaper Archive) lacks issues from the first four months of 1887. This affects tourney problems 26–?, for which first publication can currently only be expressed as the guess '1887, before 05-07'. (There are indications that the problems may also have been published in the Weekly Supplement to the Bristol Mercury on the same date as in Sheffield Independent.) This means that all diagrams below are based on secondary sources, which has been indicated by (repr.) in the source reference.

The name of the 1 pr. #3 winner alternates between Winter Wood and Winter-Wood.

Todo:

Find copies for the first four months of 1887. Find title pages for the issues identified above. Find final details of selecting tourney.

Prizes

Section A: Two-move problems

1st Prize: G. J. Slater

#2

2nd Prize: H. Hosey Davies

#2

3rd Prize: H. C. Evans

#2

Section B: Three-move problems

1st Prize: E. J. Winter Wood

#3

2nd Prize: G. J. Slater

#3

3rd Prize: B. G. Laws

#3