Beginning on Monday, December 28 there will be held at the Columbia Grammar School https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat... in New York City the fifth annual intercollegiate chess tournament between Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton. The first of these tournaments occurred during the Christmas holidays of 1892, the idea of holding them having been originated by Mr. E. A. Caswell, of Yale '66. Through the instrumentality of Mr. Caswell, a championship cup has been offered to the college winning the championship for ten years. This cup weighs about seventy-five ounces, and is fourteen inches high. The back of the vase has black shields for the inscription of the names of the competing colleges, with dates and scores of tournaments. This cup was purchased from Tiffany and Co. at a cost of $400. Each member of the winning team also receives a silver medal on which is engraved his name and the date. At the tournament of 1892, Hymes of Columbia made the best individual score, and the Columbia team won the tournament. In 1893, Hymes of Columbia again made the highest individual score, and Columbia again received the cup for a year's custody. In 1894, Ballou and Van Kleeck of Harvard tied for the highest individual score, and Harvard won the tournament. In 1895, Ross of Columbia made the highest score, though Harvard won the tournament.
The tournament this year will be under the immediate control of Mr. Caswell. Play will begin each day at 2.30 P. M., and if the games are not decided by 10.30 P. M., they will be judged by the referees, who will this year be Mr. Samuel Lloyd and Mr. Eugene Delmar. Each player plays one game with each other contestant, and fifteen moves must be played within the hour. P121

The preliminary college contests for the chess tournament, at Christmas, are now almost completed.
Contestants from Princeton will be taken from H. L. Bassett '98, M. D. Morehouse '98, <E. B. Seymour '98> , J. A. Ely '98, <W. W. Young '99>, H. J. Brandt '00, F. W. Jarvis '00, C. W. Gordon '99, W. L. Johnson '97.
The contestants from Yale will be chosen from <F. A. Lehlbach '98>, H. C. Robbins '99, L. A. Cook '00, C. F. Andrews '00, <W. M. Murdoch '98 S>.
Contestants from Harvard will be chosen from W. C. Arensberg, '00, C. L. Barnard '97, C. H. Dunn, Medicine, E. P. Fay, Law, H. C. Ffoulke '98, J. Hewins '98, <A. W. Ryder '97>, <E. E. Southard '97>, F. E. Thayer '99.
The contestants from Columbia will be chosen from J. Eskins, College, M. R. Moffatt, College, G. R. Jacobus, College, J. C. Knapp, College, E. G. Leneck, College, <G. Parker, College>, <A. W. Parker, Jr., Mines>, G. O. Seward, Mines, Kroeber, Philosophy, <A. M. Price, Law>. P108

Round 1 see The Sun. New York, 1896-12-29, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
The fifth annual Intercollegiate tournament between two students from Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton universities began at the Columbia Grammar School, 34 and 30 East Fifty-first street, yesterday afternoon. With the exception of George O. Seward of Columbia all the originally selected players were present. ln the place of Seward A. M. Price, who represented Columbia last year, was substituted.
The teams were made up as follows:
Columbia—A. W. Parker and A. M. Price.
Harvard—A. W. Ryder and E. E. Southard.
Yale—F. A. Lehlbach and William M. Murdock.
Princeton—E. B. Seymour and William W. Young.
Of these five have contested in previous intercollegiate tournaments, while it was the first appearance of Parker, Lehlbach, and Young. Parker has a good record, winning second prize in the annual championship tournament at Columbia. Lehlbach comes from Yale with a high-class reputation as a player, while Young is considered to be one of Princeton's strongest players. He won the annual handicap of the university last Spring, and tied for second prize in the championship tournament in the fall.
The Harvard team is composed of the same men who won the Intercollegiate championship last year.
Considering that some of the players have had good practice, the Columbia and Yale men being coached by <Pillsbury> and <Major Hanham> respectively, it was generally expected that the quality of the play would be superior to that in former tournaments.
E. A. Caswell is the honorary manager of the tournament, and T. R. Stark the director of play. There was a large attendance of local chess magnates present, including H. N. Pillsbury, J. W. Baird, Eugene Delmar, Major J. N. Hanham, J. Feibel, champion of the Metropolitan club, L. Hein, and Edward Hymes.
B. H. Campbell, principal of the Columbia Grammar school, in an address of welcome to the students, expressed the hope that even the losers would be worthy of praise at the close of the tournament. …

Round 2 see The Sun. New York, 1896-12-30, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...

Round 3 see The Sun. New York, 1896-12-31, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/... .

Round 4 see The Sun. New York, 1897-01-01, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/... .

Round 5 see The Sun. New York, 1897-01-02, p. 6. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
For the third consecutlve time Harvard University won the Intercollegiate chess championship yesterday after the fifth round had been played. Although the tournament is not ended, the Crimson's record of eight wins cannot be equalled. …

… As Parker was sick from the mental and physical strain of the tournament, his place was taken by his brother on Friday, … P122

Round 6 see The Sun. New York, 1897-01-03, p. 8. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
The fifth annual intercollegiate chess tournament ended at the Columbia Grammar School yesterday. Harvard winning with ten games; Princeton second with five and one-half; and Columbia and Yale tying with four games.
During the afternoon play was stopped for a few minutes in order to allow W. F. Freeland of Harvard school to present the cups to the Harvard University representatives. After Southard had responded to the congratulatory remarks of principal Freeland. E. A. Caswell, the honorary manager of the tournament, presented medals to the Harvard men for having made the best individual scores. …

… Although the Harvard players showed superiority over the other contestants, all the matches were close and interesting and the quality of the play throughout was very high. The work of Princeton's representatives was excellent, considering the fact that they had received no special coaching, and Young, by defeating Ryder, won one of the two games lost by Harvard. P122 .

COMMENTS ON COLLEGE CHESS. — In a recent interview, Mr. E. A. Caswell, the honorary manager of the intercollegiate chess tournament, expressed his opinions on chess in general and on the sources of weakness among the colleges. His remarks in substance were: "If there is any game which denotes true intellectual development and careful mental training that game is chess. This fact does not seem to be generally recognized among college students. A few years ago the game was not uncommonly ridiculed and this idea seems now to exist to a certain extent.
The importance of athletics should be in no way under-rated, but should athletics be considered of so much more importance than a game which requires intellect alone ? A man is supposed to go to college for mental development, chess is a most excellent test of this, while football, rowing and other sports are not. The fact is that the colleges, as a whole, do not support their teams.
If a half of the enthusiasm and spirit which are displayed towards athletes, were extended toward the chess teams, the clubs would have more financial support. This would secure the services of a competent coach and would also cause stronger competition for places on the teams."
In speaking of the tournament he said: "Better chess was played this year than last, or in any of the preceding contests, and more general interest was taken. Over one hundred tickets were sold and many complimentary tickets were issued.'' P133

5th Intercollegiate Chess Tournament
Columbia Grammar School, New York, NY USA, 1896.12.28 - 1897.01.02``
    Player                        Score     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
---
 1: Southard, Elmer Ernest       6.0 /  6   X . 1 1 1 1 1 . 1
 2: Ryder, Arthur William        4.0 /  6   . X 0 1 1 0 1 . 1
 3: Price, Arthur Meyer          3.5 /  6   0 1 X = 0 1 1 . .
 4: Seymour, Edmund Bayly        3.0 /  6   0 0 = X = . 1 . 1
 5: Murdoch, William Moorhead    2.5 /  6   0 0 1 = X 1 . 0 .
 6: Young, William Wallace       2.5 /  6   0 1 0 . 0 X = 1 .
 7: Lehlbach, Frederick August   1.5 /  6   0 0 0 0 . = X . 1
 8: Parker, Gordon               1.0 /  2   . . . . 1 0 . X .
 9: Parker, Asa Warren           0.0 /  4   0 0 . 0 . . 0 . X
---
24 games: +7 -14 =3

Sources

P108 Daily Princetonian 21(108), 7 December 1896. https://papersofprinceton.princeton...
P121 Daily Princetonian 21(121), 22 December 1896. https://papersofprinceton.princeton...
P122 Daily Princetonian 21(122), 8 January 1897. https://papersofprinceton.princeton...
P133 Daily Princetonian 21(133), 21 January 1897. https://papersofprinceton.princeton...
S120 The Sun. New York, 1896-12-29, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
S121 The Sun. New York, 1896-12-30, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
S122 The Sun. New York, 1896-12-31, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
S123 The Sun. New York, 1897-01-01, p. 4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
S124 The Sun. New York, 1897-01-02, p. 6. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
S125 The Sun. New York, 1897-01-03, p. 8. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...