American Chess and Problem Association, 1878
The earliest announcement found so far is from Chicago Tribune, 1877-10-28.
Competitors were recommended to send each problem to different
chess columns to allow competition to start quickly, and
presumably also to avoid popular columns to become bottlenecks.
21 problemists participated, but one set was incomplete and so
was disqualified. Of the remaining, seven sets were found to
be faulty. All names of problemists who sent in complete sets were published (except for the incomplete set).
There was some controversy after the publication of the awards in that S. Loyd
was claimed (in Turf, Field and Farm? not verified) to have entered multiple sets for competition. The publication of the full list of participants may be
in response to such claims.
As problems were published in multiple sources, and because columns
occasionally reprinted contributed problems from other sources,
there is no complete source information available.
The source information for the diagrams is based on the information
published in American Chess Journal. However, A.C.J. is not an
impeccable source, so verification seemed desirable.
If a problem could be located,
the source details include full date; if it could not be found
with available sources, a '?' has been placed before the source details.
In some cases, early reprints provide a terminus ante quem for when the original was printed.
In other cases, a '?' has been placed after a source date.
This usually indicates a problem found in a cutting book,
with date added in longhand, or with dates in the column head
that probably
reflect when the editor finished the column, but not necessarily when
it was actually published.)
Prizes
Prize: 1 pr. S. Loyd
Prize: 2 pr. W. A. Shinkman
Prize: 3 pr. C. C. Moore
Prize: 4 pr. W. Coates
Prize: 5 pr. X. Hawkins
Prize: Best problem S. Loyd
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