Here’s some hot news from Redhill Chess Club, just 120 years ago.
There are a few interesting things to note here. At this time, Surrey League matches, just like the London League today, took place at central London venues, rather than on a home and away basis.
You’ll also spot that, as so often in their matches at this time, Richmond failed to field a full team. They frequently either had a couple of absentees at the bottom or a couple of nominated players who failed to turn up.
The impression I get is that the club was very ambitious, choosing to play in the Surrey Trophy against stronger opposition rather than the calmer waters of the Beaumont Cup. Their administrative skills, though, didn’t seem to match their ambitions. Chess clubs (and, no doubt most other clubs as well) are as good as their organisers, not as good as their players.
Regular readers will already have met Thomas Etheridge Harper and Charles Redway, and heard a brief mention of club founder Horace Lyddon Pring, but there are other members of this team who are of interest.
In particular, there’s a new name playing on top board, although he was probably losing his game against Leonard Percy Rees, one of the most important figures in early 20th century English chess and one well worth a future Minor Piece.
In the first decade of the 20th century there were a lot of strong British amateurs with retrospective ratings round about 2300-2400, so, by today’s standards, FM to IM strength. They rarely if ever played in major international tournaments so, except for those of us who spend much of our time in the dusty recesses of old books and magazines, or perhaps visiting BritBase, their names are largely forgotten today.
As it happens, many of these players had links with our area, West and South West London. You’ve already met George Edward Wainwright here, here, here and here. Now I must introduce you to William Ward.
Researching him isn’t so easy. Cursed with one of the most popular male first names of his day, no middle names and a very common surname, any search for W Ward will turn up much of no relevance. In addition he came from a small family which has been little researched by genealogists: the few online trees I’ve been able to find don’t mention any chess connection and, if they give it at all, get his mother’s maiden name wrong.
Our William, 35 years old at the time of the above match, was born on 3 March 1867 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, just north of Watford and now a large commuter village, and baptised there on 18 April the same year.
The 1871 census finds the Ward family there. William Ward senior is aged 27, a farmer of 184 acres employing 4 men and a boy, Ann (née Barford) is aged 26 and their two sons are William (4) and Mark (1). The family also have two servants. The parents were both born in Hatfield (the enumerator incorrectly recorded their sons as having been born there as well) and must have moved to Abbots Langley after their marriage. A third son, George Langton Ward, would be born early the following year. The family would later move to the Luton area, first to the small village of King’s Walden, and then to Lewsey, now a Luton suburb alongside the M1.
By 1881 young William is at boarding school in London: he’s recorded at 7 Highgate Road Kentish Town along with a Schoolmaster and a lot of other boys, including, exotically, three brothers from Quito (none of them, sadly, named Amos).
While his brothers followed in their father’s footsteps, pursuing a career in farming, William took a different route. The 1891 census finds him, now aged 24, living in a boarding house at 50 Finsbury Park Road in North London, not all that far from Kentish Town, and working as a solicitor.
At some point in the mid 1880s, then, he must have studied Law, and perhaps, at the same time, taken up the game of chess. We first find him in 1890 playing in the 3rd class in a handicap tournament at Simpson’s Divan, which tells us he wasn’t a strong player. No child prodigy, then, but a young man who was attracted to the game, and, over the next few years, would discover a real talent.
Ward made rapid strides during the 1890s, soon playing matches for the famous City of London club (in their 1894-5 championship he reached the final stages) and taking part in representative matches for the South of England against the North.
His first external tournament was the Southern Counties Chess Union (SCCU) Championship in Southampton in 1897. Henry Ernest Atkins was a convincing winner on 8½/10, while William’s score of 4/10 was relatively modest, but no disgrace for a newcomer to chess at this level.
In the 1897-8 edition of the City of London Championship Ward finished in third place behind Thomas Francis Lawrence and Lucien Serraillier: by now he was clearly one of the capital’s strongest players.
In this game he demonstrates excellent opening knowledge, capping a fine performance with some sparkling tactics to force through a passed pawn. (If you click on any move in any game in this article a pop-up board will magically appear, enabling you to play through the game.)
[pgn]
[Event “City of London CC Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1897.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Jones, Edward Owen”]
[Black “Ward, William”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “D55”]
[Annotator “Tactical Analysis 5.2 (1s)”]
[PlyCount “92”]
[SourceVersionDate “2022.06.10”]
1. d4 {ChessBase} d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 b6 7. cxd5
exd5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rc1 c5 11. Re1 {[#]} Ne4 $146 {D55: Queen’s
Gambit Declined: 4 Bg5 Be7: Lines without …h6 and 6…h6 7 Bxf6.} ({
Predecessor:} 11… c4 12. Bb1 a6 13. Ne5 b5 14. f4 Re8 15. Qf3 Nf8 16. Ne2 Ne4
17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Qg3 {1-0 (52) Pillsbury,H-Tarrasch,S Hastings
1895 MainBase [ChessBase]}) 12. Bf4 Nxc3 13. bxc3 c4 {White has an edge.} 14.
Bb1 Nf6 15. Ne5 Ba3 16. Rc2 (16. Bg5 {looks sharper.} Qd6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Nd7
) 16… b5 17. Rce2 $2 (17. Bg5 $16 {keeps the pressure on.}) 17… Ne4 $17 18.
Bxe4 dxe4 19. Qb1 Qd5 {Hoping for …f6.} 20. f3 f6 ({Much weaker is} 20…
exf3 $6 {[#]} 21. e4 $1 Qd6 22. gxf3 $11) 21. fxe4 Qxe4 22. Nf3 Bc6 {A strong
pair of Bishops.} 23. Nd2 Qd3 {& Black is much more active.} 24. Qxd3 cxd3 25.
Rf2 Bd5 26. e4 Bc4 ({Don’t take} 26… Bxa2 27. Ra1 $16) 27. Nxc4 bxc4 28. Rb1
$2 {Now White is beyond hope.} (28. h4 $17 {is a better defense.}) 28… Rae8
$19 29. Rb7 $2 (29. e5 Rf7 30. Kf1) 29… Rxe4 {Black is clearly winning.} 30.
Rxa7 {[#]} Rfe8 $1 31. Bd2 {[#]} (31. g3 Re1+) 31… Re1+ $1 32. Rf1 R1e2 33.
Rd1 Bb2 {And now …Rxd2! would win.} 34. Rc7 {[#]} Rxd2 $1 35. Rxd2 Bxc3 {
Endgame KRR-KRB} 36. Rd1 d2 {…Re1+ is the strong threat.} 37. Rxd2 Bxd2 38.
Rxc4 {KRB-KR} Be3+ 39. Kf1 Rd8 40. Ke2 Bxd4 41. a4 Rd7 42. Kd3 Bb6+ 43. Ke4 Kf7
44. Rc6 Rd4+ 45. Kf3 Ba5 46. Ra6 Rxa4 {Weighted Error Value: White=0.64/
Black=0.22 (precise)} 0-1
[/pgn]
The following year, the SCCU Championship in Salisbury was a very different story from the previous year. William shared 1st place with Joseph Henry Blake on 7½/10, with strong players such as Gunston, Bellingham, Loman and Sherrard trailing in their wake.
In this exciting drawn game, against the Dutch organist Rudolf Loman, both players displayed extensive awareness of contemporary theory in the very sharp Max Lange Attack. Ward had the better of the early exchanges but, in a very complex middlegame failed to make the most of his chances. The knight ending was still difficult for both players, and here Loman missed an opportunity.
[pgn]
[Event “SCCU Championship Salisbury”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1898.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Loman, Rudolf Johannes”]
[Black “Ward, William”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “C56”]
[Annotator “Tactical Analysis 5.2 (1s)”]
[PlyCount “102”]
[SourceVersionDate “2022.06.10”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5
4. O-O Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 Qd5 10. Nc3 Qf5
11. Nce4 Bb6 (11… gxf6 12. g4 $1 Qg6 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Nxc5 $16) (11… O-O-O
$5) 12. Ng3 {Pair of Knights! C56: Two Knights: 4 d4 exd4 5 0-0 Nxe4.} Qg6 {
Strongly threatening …0-0-0.} (12… Qxf6 $2 13. Nh5 Qg6 14. Nxe6 $18) 13.
Nxe6 {& White is more active.} fxe6 14. Rxe6+ {White is clearly better.} Kd7 {
[#]} 15. fxg7 $146 ({Predecessor:} 15. Nh5 Rhe8 16. Nf4 Qf7 17. Qf3 Rad8 18.
Bd2 gxf6 19. Rae1 Rxe6 20. Nxe6 Re8 21. Ng5 Rxe1+ 22. Bxe1 {1-0 (31) Chigorin,
M-Charousek,R Budapest 1896 EXT 2018 [Tartakower/du Mont/Chigorin/Bogoljubow/
Maroczy]}) 15… Qxe6 16. gxh8=Q Rxh8 17. Bd2 Rf8 18. f4 Kc8 19. Kh1 c3 $36 {
Keeping White busy.} 20. bxc3 dxc3 21. Bxc3 Rxf4 22. Qh5 Qg6 23. Qd5 Qh6 $2 (
23… a5 $19 {and Black stays clearly on top.} 24. Qd1 (24. Rd1 Kb8 $17) 24…
Rf2) 24. Nf5 (24. Rd1 $2 {gets mated.} Qxh2+ $3 25. Kxh2 Rh4#) 24… Qf8 {
Prevents Qg8.} 25. Qe6+ Kb8 26. Ng3 a6 27. Re1 h5 $2 (27… Ka7 $19 {And now ..
.Rf2 would win.} 28. Bd2 Rf2) 28. Qg6 $2 (28. Qe8+ $11 Qxe8 29. Rxe8+ Ka7 30.
Re4 Rxe4 31. Nxe4) 28… Qc5 29. Bd2 Rf8 30. Be3 {Prevents Qf2.} (30. Bh6 Qa5
31. Rd1) 30… Qc3 (30… Qb4 $19 {has better winning chances.} 31. c3 Qxc3)
31. Rf1 $17 Rxf1+ ({But not} 31… Qxe3 32. Rxf8+ Ka7 33. Rf1 $14) 32. Nxf1
Bxe3 33. Qe8+ Ka7 34. Qxe3+ Qxe3 35. Nxe3 $11 {Endgame h4 is the strong threat.
KN-KN} Nd4 36. h4 {aiming for g4.} Kb6 37. g4 hxg4 38. h5 Ne6 $1 39. Nd5+ {
White has compensation.} Kc6 {[#]} 40. h6 $1 Ng5 (40… Kxd5 $2 41. h7 $18) (
40… Nf8 $5 41. Nf6 Kd6 $11) (40… Nf8 41. Nf6) 41. Nf6 a5 42. Kg2 {Hoping
for Kg3.} Nf7 {[#]} 43. Nxg4 {[#]} (43. h7 $1 $18) 43… Nxh6 $1 44. Nxh6 $18 {
KN-K3P} Kc5 45. Nf5 Kb4 46. Ne3 a4 47. Nd5+ Ka3 {Black is slightly better.} 48.
Nxc7 Kxa2 49. Kf3 Kb2 50. Nb5 Kxc2 51. Ke3 Kb2 {Never resign too early!
Weighted Error Value: White=0.50/Black=0.44} (51… Kb3 $5 52. Kd4 b6 $11)
1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
The 1898-9 City of London Championship proved a slight disappointment when he narrowly failed to make the final pool, but the 1899-1900 edition, held again as an all-play-all, was a different story. Lawrence was the winner on 14½/17, with Ward just half a point behind and the rest nowhere.
In 1900 William made his international debut, being selected to play in the 5th Anglo-American Cable Match, where he drew his game against Charles John Newman.
Rod Edwards’ retrospective ratings for 1900 put him on 2397, ranked 74th in the world.
A few days later he took part in an invitation tournament run by the City of London club, in which their members took on a bunch of international players based in London at the time. As you’ll see here, he scored an outstanding 8½/12, just behind Teichmann (9½), Mason and Gunsberg (9). While the winner hadn’t yet reached his peak and the runners-up were past their best, they were all genuine grandmasterly players. He was particularly devastating against the weaker competitors.
By now he was using the increasingly popular Queen’s Gambit with the white pieces, an opening which suited his style of controlled aggression perfectly.
Here he found himself with an IQP position out of the opening: understanding this pawn formation is still of vital importance to all serious competitive players today.
[pgn]
[Event “London City Club Invitation”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1900.04.10”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Ward, William”]
[Black “Lawrence, Thomas Francis”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D40”]
[Annotator “Tactical Analysis 5.2 (1s)”]
[PlyCount “71”]
[EventDate “1900.04.05”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “13”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “HCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c5 5. e3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 cxd4 7. exd4 Nc6 8.
Nf3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Rc1 h6 11. Be3 Nb4 12. Bf4 a6 13. a3 {D40: Queen’s
Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch with 5 e3.} Nc6 (13… b5 $5) 14. Ba2 {& White
is more active.} Qa5 15. Bb1 {aiming for Ne5. White is clearly better.} Rd8 16.
Qd3 Qh5 17. Bc7 Rd7 18. Bg3 g6 19. Ne2 {[#] Threatens to win with Rxc6!} Bd6 {
Loses the game.} 20. Rfd1 Bxg3 21. Nxg3 Qg4 22. Qe3 {Inhibits Qf4. Black must
now prevent h3.} Nh5 23. h3 ({Not} 23. Qxh6 Nxg3 24. fxg3 (24. hxg3 Rd5 $16)
24… Rd5 $18) 23… Qf4 24. Nxh5 Qxe3 25. fxe3 gxh5 26. e4 {And now d5 would
win.} Rd8 27. Rc5 e5 $2 (27… Bd7 28. Rxh5 Kg7) 28. d5 $18 {White is clearly
winning.} f6 29. Ba2 Kg7 30. Rdc1 Ne7 31. Rc7 Kf8 32. Rf1 Ng6 {[#]} 33. Ng5 $1
{White threatens Nh7+ and mate.} f5 (33… Rd7 34. Rxf6+) 34. Nh7+ Ke8 35. Nf6+
Kf8 36. d6 {Weighted Error Value: White=0.49/Black=0.94} 1-0
[/pgn]
Against the artist and pianist Thomas Physick (from a family of sculptors) he chose a delayed exchange variation: another pawn formation which still plays a critical role in 21st century chess.
[pgn]
[Event “London City Club Invitation”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1900.04.30”]
[Round “11”]
[White “Ward, William”]
[Black “Physick, Thomas”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D55”]
[Annotator “Tactical Analysis 5.2 (1s)”]
[PlyCount “91”]
[EventDate “1900.04.05”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “13”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “HCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. Qb3 c6 {D55: Queen’s Gambit Declined: 4 Bg5 Be7: Lines without …
h6 and 6…h6 7 Bxf6.} 10. Bd3 Qb6 11. Qc2 Na6 {aiming for …Nb4. The
position is equal.} 12. Qd2 Nb4 13. Bb1 a5 14. a3 Na6 15. O-O Bg4 16. Bd3 Rfe8
17. Rac1 Qd8 18. Bxa6 Rxa6 19. Na4 Ra8 20. Nc5 Qe7 21. Nd3 Bf5 22. Nf4 Qd6 23.
Nh5 Bd8 24. Ng3 Bh7 25. Ne5 f6 26. Nd3 Bc7 27. Nc5 Qe7 28. Rc3 f5 29. f4 a4 30.
Qd1 {& White is more active.} Ba5 31. Rd3 b5 32. Qf3 Bb6 33. Rc1 Qa7 34. Nf1 {
Pair of Knights!} Re7 35. Rdd1 {And now Nd3 would win.} Rae8 36. Kh1 Qa8 37.
Nd3 Rc8 38. Ne5 {Rxc6! is the strong threat.} Rec7 39. Rc3 c5 40. dxc5 $1 Bxc5
(40… Rxc5 41. Rxc5 Bxc5 42. Rxd5 $16) 41. Rxd5 {Black must now prevent Rcxc5!
} ({Not} 41. Qxd5+ Qxd5 42. Rxd5 Kh8 $16) 41… Qa7 {[#]} (41… Bb6 42. Rxc7 (
42. Rxb5 Rxc3 43. bxc3 Qxf3 $16) 42… Bxc7 43. Rxb5 Bxe5) 42. Rcd3 (42. Rdxc5
$142 $1 Rxc5 {[#]} 43. Qd5+ $3 Kh8 44. Nf7+ Kg8 45. Nxh6+ Kh8 46. Nf7+ Kg8 47.
Nd6+ Kf8 48. Nxc8 $1 Rxd5 49. Nxa7) 42… Bf8 $2 (42… Qa8 {was called for.}
43. Qh5 Bf8) 43. Rd8 $18 {White is clearly winning.} Rc5 {Against Qd5+} 44.
Rxc8 Rxc8 45. Qd5+ Kh8 46. Nf7+ {Weighted Error Value: White=0.41/Black=0.52}
1-0
[/pgn]
William Ward was again amongst the medals in the 1900-01 City of London Championship. Lawrence won again, with Herbert Levi Jacobs taking the silver and Ward the bronze. Edward Bagehot Schwann, coming to the end of his short life, was among the also-rans.
By now it was time for the census enumerator to call again. What we find is rather intriguing. William was in Kenley, Surrey, east of Coulsdon and south of Purley, visiting Isidore Wiener, a 41-year-old unmarried Hide Merchant’s Factor born in Holland but a British Subject. Also in the household were a housekeeper and a servant.
I’ve recently become interested in the significance of the word ‘visitor’ in census returns. Your census address is where you’re staying overnight. If you’re being paid to be there you’ll be described as a ‘servant’ or something similar. If you’re paying to be there you’ll be a ‘boarder’ or a ‘lodger’. A ‘visitor’ will often be a family member, but there might be other reasons. I can find no evidence that Isidore was a chess player, so perhaps he had some complicated legal business which required his solicitor to stay overnight. Perhaps they were just good friends. Who knows?
Anyway, in 1906 Isidore married 40-year-old Annie Sonnex (interesting surname) from Lancashire, continuing to live, now with his wife, in Kenley. A very late first marriage for both partners. They had their only child, a daughter named Albertine, a year later. In 1918, like many families with Germanic surnames at the time, they changed their name from Wiener to Winner. Albertine became a Winner in more ways than one, as you’ll see here.
And then we reach 1902, when we find William playing for Richmond Chess Club against Redhill. Had he moved to the Richmond area? Or did he have friends in the club who invited him to join and play in matches in central London? At present I don’t know.
It looks like he never owned his own property, living in lodgings and moving round various parts of London. I can find no further reference to Ward in association with Richmond Chess Club, but it’s quite possible that there may be more information online once the Richmond & Twickenham Times is digitised.
You’ll find out what happened to William Ward after 1902 in my next Minor Piece.
Sources:
ancestry.co.uk
findmypast.co.uk
MegaBase 2022 (analysis by Stockfish 15)
Britbase
EdoChess (William Ward’s page here.)
The City of London Chess Club Championship (Roger Leslie Paige 2005)
Other websites referenced in the text.