<15th WESTERN CHAMPIONSHIP Memphis, Tennessee
August 10-25, 1914>

The reigning Champion invited everybody over to his place for the 1914 tournament, and nineteen players popped in.

In the main tournament, two rounds were played daily from Monday, August 10 to Wednesday, August 19, except for one round on Sunday, August 16. Hours of play were 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM, avoiding the midday heat.

A hard fought battle left a four-way tie for first place. I have been unable to locate a full crosstable for this event; the following lists 117 of the 171 results. Following each player's name is their final score, then their results with a <?> indicating an unknown result. At the end are the total number of points represented in the crosstable, then the amount needed and the number of unknown games. For example, hahlbohm scored 14.0 (out of 18 games). His partial total in the crosstable is 8.0, meaning that he scored 6.0 in nine games with unknown results.

                               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  
1  Herman H Hahlbohm          14.0 x ? 1 ? ? 1 = ? = 1 ? ? ? ? ? 1 1 1 1  8.0 (6.0/9)
2  Bradford B Jefferson       14.0 ? x = ? = 0 = 1 1 ? 1 1 ? 1 ? 1 1 1 1 10.5 (3.5/5)
3  Edward Friederich Schrader 14.0 0 = x = ? ? 1 0 ? ? ? ? ? 1 1 1 1 1 1  8.0 (6.0/7)
4  George H Wolbrecht         14.0 ? ? = x ? 0 1 ? ? 1 ? = 1 ? ? 1 1 1 1  8.0 (6.0/8)
5  Wilbur Lyttleton Moorman   13.0 ? = ? ? x 0 ? ? ? 1 ? ? 1 ? 1 1 1 1 1  7.5 (5.5/9)
6  John Stuart Morrison       12.5 0 1 ? 1 1 x ? 0 ? ? ? 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1  9.0 (3.5/5)
7  William Nicoll Woodbury    11.0 = = 0 0 ? ? x 1 ? 1 0 ? 1 1 ? 1 1 1 1  9.0 (2.0/5)
8  John Taliaferro Beckner    10.5 ? 0 1 ? ? 1 0 x 0 0 ? ? 0 1 ? 1 1 1 1  7.0 (3.5/6)
9  Robert Scrivener            9.5 = 0 ? ? ? ? ? 1 x 0 1 0 1 ? = 1 1 1 1  8.0 (1.5/6)
10 John W Fry                  9.0 0 ? ? 0 0 ? 0 1 1 x 1 1 ? 0 0 1 1 1 1  8.0 (1.0/4)
11 Edward B Hill               9.0 ? 0 ? ? ? ? 1 ? 0 0 x ? 1 ? 1 1 1 1 1  7.0 (2.0/8)
12 Nestor Hernandez            8.5 ? 0 ? = ? 0 ? ? 1 0 ? x 0 ? 0 0 1 1 1  4.5 (4.0/7)
13 Willis Greely Hine          8.5 ? ? ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 ? 0 1 x = 1 1 1 1 1  7.5 (1.0/4)
14 Leon L Labatt               8.0 ? 0 0 ? ? 1 0 0 ? 1 ? ? = x ? = 1 1 1  6.0 (2.0/7)
15 James McClure               8.0 ? ? 0 ? 0 1 ? ? = 1 0 1 0 ? x 1 1 1 1  7.5 (0.5/6)
16 Victor Alderson             2.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 = 0 x 1 0 0  2.5 (0.0/0)
17 Arthur Ellwood Crew         2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x 1 1  2.0 (0.0/0)
18 E T Jamison                 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 x 1  2.0 (0.0/0)
19 Joseph Daniels              1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 x  1.0 (0.0/0)

PLAY-OFF

1 Jefferson XX 10 10 11 4.0
2 Wolbrecht 01 XX 11 01 4.0
3 Hahlbohm  01 00 XX 1- 2.0
4 Schrader  00 10 0- XX 1.0

Round 2 (Thursday, August 20: Jefferson beat Schrader, Wolbrecht 1 Hahlbohm

Round 3 (Friday, August 21): Jefferson beat Wolbrecht, Hahlbohm beat Schrader

Round 4 (Friday, Ausut 21): Hahlbohm beat Jefferson, Wolbrecht beat Schrader

Round 5 (Saturday, August 22): Jefferson beat Schrader, Hahlbohm 0 Wolbrecht

Round 6 (Saturday, August 22): Wolbrecht beat Jefferson

The double round play-off looked to be easy for Jefferson when he won his first three games, but Wolbrecht stormed back to force yet another tie by winning their last-round game. (The second game between Hahlbohm and Schrader was not played.)

FINAL PLAYOFF

Jefferson = 0 1 1 2.5
Wolbrecht = 1 0 0 1.5

The first game was played on Sunday August 23, games two and three on Monday, August 24, and the final game on on Tuesday, August 25. This time Wolbrecht took the lead, but home cooking paid off in the end and <Bradford B. Jefferson> became the first player to successfully defend the Western Championship title.

Prizes: 1st, $150; 2nd, $100; 3rd, $75; 4th, $50; 5th, $30, 6th, $20; 7th, $10. (Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 20, 1914)

This seems a good time to bring up the Cornell Cup. Back in 1907, this note appeared in the <American Chess Bulletin>:

"The Cornell trophy, after two years' delay, has been secured, and will be presented to the winner. The trophy is a handsome three-handled silver loving cup on a wooden pedestal. On the face of the cup is noted the fact that it is presented to the Western Chess Association by Mr. Frank B. Cornell, of Excelsior, Minn. On a second face of the cup is a list of the champions of the Association since its formation, beginning with the year 1900, down to 1906. The third face is reserved for the names of the winners of the cup from now on. When anyone has won it two successive years, it becomes the permanent property of such winner, and Mr. Cornell has generously offered to present the Association with another in that event. In recognition of Mr. Cornell's liberality, he was elected an honorary life member of the Association."

As the first person to win the tournament twice in a row, Jefferson won permanent possession of the Cornell Cup. It remains the property of the Memphis Chess Club to this day, and may be seen by clicking on this link, along with a bit about him but more about his sister Rosa, who conducted a local chess column in Memphis for about thirty years:

http://memphischessclub.blogspot.co...

-----

Thanks

To Andy Ansel for providing games from the Memphis Commercial Appeal of 1915.

-----

Sources:

American Chess Bulletin, August 1914, p. 166-167; September 1914, p. 202-205; October 1914, p. 218.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 27, 1914

Memphis Chess Club history blog, http://memphischessclub.blogspot.com

http://memphischessclub.blogspot.co... tournament details and group picture

Memphis Commercial Appeal, Chess column by Rosa Jefferson, April 25-May 9, 1915

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, September 6, 13, 20, 1914

-----

PREVIOUS: Game Collection: US Open 1913, Chicago = 14th Western Champ.

NEXT: Game Collection: US Open 1915, Excelsior = 16th Western Champ.

SEE ALSO: Game Collection: US Open Tournament Index