<11th Western Championship Chicago, Illinois
August 15-24, 1910>

"Chicago will be the scene of the annual meeting of the Western Chess Association and the dates are August 15-25. The chief feature will be the championship tournament for the Cornell Cub and a first prize of $100, in addition to a gold button. The entries and all correspondence should be addressed to the well-known secretary of the Association, Louis Uedemann, 1616 Marquette Building, chicago, Ill." 1

                               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11
1  George H. Wolbrecht        ** 11 11 1= 01 =1 11 11 11 11 11 18.0
2  Oscar Chajes               00 ** =0 == 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 15.5
3  Louis Uedemann             00 =1 ** 10 =1 1= 11 11 =1 11 11 15.0
4  Charles W Phillips         0= == 01 ** 11 00 11 11 1= 11 11 14.0
5  Harry Fowler Lee           10 00 =0 00 ** 11 01 =1 01 11 11 11.0
6  Edward Friederich Schrader =0 00 0= 11 00 ** 00 =1 1= 11 11 10.0
7  Eugene Wesley Shrader      00 00 00 00 10 11 ** 11 10 =1 11  9.5
8  George Gessner             00 00 00 00 =0 =0 00 ** 1= 1= 11  6.0
9  John Winter                00 00 =0 0= 10 0= 01 0= ** == 10  6.0
10 Kalman Erdeky              00 00 00 00 00 00 =0 0= == ** 10  3.0
11 John Klassen               00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 **  2.0

Erdeky withdrew due to illness before the second part of the tournament began in round 12. (ACB) Each remaining player was given a forfeit win over him, and the pairings redone so that the tournament could finish in nine additional rounds, thus saving a day of play. (There is an indication he may have ceased play as early as round nine. A first-half crosstable in the August 21 Chicao Tribune has three blanks spots in his row, corresponding the to the layers he would have met in rounds 9-11. They were all credited with full points against him.)

Gessner and Winter "left the tournament" in round 15. All there unplayed games were scored as wins for their opponets, except the game between themselves which was scored a draw. later, their forfeit wins against Erdeky were also changed to draws.

The Chicago Tribune published reports with full results, reports generally coming out the day after play. However, no eports were published for rounds 9-11, so a reconstruction of the pairing s has been prepared to fill in these gaps and suggest resolutions for other problem.

Round 1 (Monday August 15)
Winter-Bye
1 Erdeky 0 Phillips*
2 Dr. Shrader 1 Lee
3 Schrader 1/2 Wolbrecht
4 Chajes 1 Gessner
5 Uedemann 1 Klassen

Round 2 Monday, August 15)
Bye-Klassen
6 Gessner 0 Uedemann*
7 Wolbrecht 1 Chajes*
8 Lee 1 Schrader*
9 Phillips 1 Dr. Shrader
10 Winter 1/2 Erdeky

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1910. Results were incompoete, and stated in a paragraph form which did not consistently indicate color. The Tribune consistently distinguished "Dr. Shrader" and "E F Schrader" to avoid confusion between their similar names.

An asterisk (*) indicates a game in this collection.

Round 3 (TUesday, August 16)
Erdeky-Bye
11 Dr. Shrader 1 Winter
12 Schrader 1 Phillips
13 Chajes 1 Lee
14 Uedemann 0 Wolbrecht
15 Klassen 0 Gessner

Round 4 (Tuesday, August 16)
Bye-Gessner
16 Wolbrecht 1 Klassen
17 Lee 1/2 Uedemann
18 Phillips 1/2 Chajes
19 Winter 0 Schrader
20 Erdeky 1/2 Dr. Shrader

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 17, 1910.

Round 5 (Wednesday, August 17)
Dr. Shrader-Bye
21 Schrade4 1 Erdeky
22 Chajes 1 Winter
23 Uedemann 1 Phillips*
24 Klassen 0 Lee
25 Gessner 0 Wolbrecht

Round 6 (Wednesday, August 17)
Bye-Wolbrecht
26 Lee 1/2 Gessner
27 Phillips 1 Klassen
28 Winter 1/2 Uedemann
29 Erdeky 0 Chajes
30 Dr. Shrader 1 Schrader*

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 18, 1910. In the point standings, player names were given in a seemingly random order which turned to to match the player number order from the Berger Table, lending confidence in a reconstruction of the pairing.s

Round 7 (THursday,A ugust 18)
Schrader-Bye
31 Chajes 1 Dr. Shrader
32 Uedemann 1 Erdeky
33 Klassen 0 Winter
34 Gessner 0 Phillips,
35 Wolbrecht 0 Lee*

Round 8 (Thursday, August 18)
Bye-Lee
36 Phillips 0 Wolbrecht
37 Winter 0 Gessner
38 Erdeky 1 Klassen
39 Dr. Shrader 0 Uedemann
40 Schrader 0 Chajes

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1910.

Round 9 (Friday, August 19)
Chajes-Bye
41 Uedemann 1 Schrader
42 Klassen 0 Dr. Shrader
43 Gessner 1 Erdeky
44 Wolbrecht 1 Winter
45 Lee 0 Phillips

Round 10 (Friday, August 19)
Bye-Phillips
46 Winter 1 Lee
47 Erdeky 0 Wolbrecht
48 Dr. Shrader 1 Gessner
49 Schrader 1 Klassen
50 Chajes 1/2 Uedemann

Round 11 (Saturday, August 20)
Uedemann-Bye
51 Klassen 0 Chajes
52 Gessner 1/2 Schrader
53 Wolbrecht 1 Dr. Shrader
54 Lee 1 Erdeky
55 Phillips 1 Winter*

The Chicago Tribune did not publish reports for rounds 9-11, so these pairings have been reconstructed using the Berger Table. There is an indication that such a table was used in in this tournament. The reports for rounds 5/6 and 7/8 give the players' names in an order that matches what would have been their Berger Table pairing number order.

It is possible that Erdeky may not have played in rounds 9-11. A first-half crosstable (Chcago Tribune, August 21) has three blank spaces in his line which correspond to his opponents in rounds 9-11. These oppoents, in turn, are credited with wins against Erdeky.

In any event, Erdeky withdrew due to illness before the start of the second half of the tournament in round 12. Each of the ten remaining player was credited with a forfeit win against him, and the pairings redone so that the tournament could finish in nine rounds, thus saving a day of play. For this reason, the pairings in the second half will not line up as they normally would in a double round tournament; for example, round 12 will not be a mirror image of round 1, having the same pairings with colors reversed.

A second reconstruction was prepared for these rounds, and has been to reconcile a few inconsistencies and gaps.

Round 12 (Saturday, August 20)
56 Winter 1/2 Phllips
57 Lee 1 Dr. Shrader
58 Wolbrecht 1 Schrader
59 Gessner 0 Chajes
60 Klasssen 0 Uedemann

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 21, 1910.

Round 13 (Sunday, August 21)
61 Uedemann 1 Gessner
62 Chajes 0 Wolbrecht
63 Schrader 0 Lee
64 Winter 1 Dr. Shrader
65 Klassen 0 Phillips

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1910.

Round 14 (Sunday, August 21)
66 Schrader 1/2 Winter
67 Lee 0 Chajes
68 Wolbrecht 1 Uedemann
659 Gessner 1 Klassen
70 Phillips 1 Dr. Shrader

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1910.

Winter and Gessner "left the tournament" at this point (ACB). Their remaining opponents received two additional forfeit wins, while their own unplayed game was officially scored as a draw. Later, their full-point forfeits against Erdeky were also counted as draws instead.

Round 15 (Monday, August 22)

71 Klassen 0 Wolbrecht
72 Uedemann 1 Lee
73 Schrader 0 Dr. Shrader
74 Chajes 1/2 Phillips
75 Gesssner 1/2 Winter (forfeit)

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1910. Beginning with this report, results for two rounds were printed under one heading, and it can be difficult to differentiate when a particular game was played. They also do not mention when Winter and Gessner's games were scheduled; these have been supplied from the reconstruction, and are included for the sake of clarity.

Round 16 (Monday, August 22)
76 Dr. Shrader 0 Chajes
77 Lee 1 Klassen
78 Phillips 0 Schrader
79 Winter 0 Uedemann (forfeit)
80 Wolbrecht 1 Gessner (forfeit)

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1910.

Round 17 (Tuesday, August 23)
81 Uedemann 1 Dr. Sharder
82 Chajes 1 Schrader
83 Wolbrecht 1/2 Phillps
84 Gesssner 0 Lee (forfeit)
85 Winter 0 Klassen (forfeit)

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1910.

Round 18 (Tuesday, August 23)
86 Uedemann 1/2 Schrader
87 Dr. Shrader 1 Klasssen
88 Lee 0 Wolbrecht
89 Phillips - Gesssner (forfeit)
90 Winter 0 Chajes (forfeit)

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1910.

Round 19 (Wednesday, August 24)
91 Uedemann 1 Chajes*
92 Phllips 1 Lee*
93 Klassen 0 Schrader
94 Winter 0 Wolbrecht (forfeit)
95 Gressner 0 Dr Schrader (forfeit)

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 25, 1910)

Round 20 (Wednesday, August 24)
96 Dr. Shrader 0 Wolbercht
97 Phillips 1 Uedemann
98 Chajes 1 Klasssen
99 Schrader 1 Gessner (forfeit)
100 Lee 1 Winter (forfeit)

Report: Chicago Tribune, August 25, 1910

The results for round 19 and 20 were scrambled in the report. In particular, it's not certain that wehter Shrader and Wolbrect played during round 19 or round 20. Since both received forfeit winds this day, they could have played at either time.

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Picture of George H. Wolbrecht: http://www.chessarch.com/excavation...

George H Wolbrecht claimed his second Western crown with a dominating performance. <Oscar Chajes> made a spirited effort to reclaim the title, but could not keep up the pace. <Louis Uedemann>'s third place finish marked his tenth appearance in the series, but was unfortunately his last as well.

A report from the <New York Sun>:

<"After leading throughout both sections of the tournament, George H. Wolbrecht of St. Louis, member of the American cable team and new president of the Western Chess Association, emerged winner of the Western championship with the remarkable record of 17 wins, 1 defeat and 2 drawn games, equivalent to a total of 18 points out of a possible 20. There were eleven entries in the contest at the rooms of the Chicago Chess and Checkers Club and Wolbrecht had to encounter each of his opponents twice. He led at the end of the first round with a score of 8 1/2 to 1 1/2, losing his only game to H.F. Lee of Chicago and drawing with E. Schrader of St. Louis.

"Wolbrecht maintained his splendid form throughout the second round, winning all of his return games with the exception of a draw against C. W. Phillips. The remarkable feature of Wolbrecht's play was the feat of winning both his games from O. Chajes, last year's champion, placed second on this occasion, as from L. Uedemann, another former champion, who finished third. Against C. W. Phillips, fourth prize winner, Wolbrecht made a score of 1 1/2. Chajes, Uedemann, Phillips and Lee, all Chicago players, had totals of 15 1/2, 15, 14, and 11 respetively....">

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MILESTONES

10: Louis Uedemann

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Thanks

To MissScarlett> for finding and submitting five games from the Chicago Tribune.

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References

1 "American Chess Bulletin", August 1910, p.202.

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Sources

American Chess Bulletin, October 1910, p. 234-236.

Chess Results 1901-1920 / Gino di Felice, p. 137.

New York Sun, September 4, 1910.

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Septemer 11, 18, 1910.

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 4, 1910

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