1924 British Chess Championship

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pts
1	Atkins,Henry Ernest	&;	1	½	1	½	1	0	1	1	1	½	1	8.5
2	Yates,Fred Dewhirst	0	&;	1	½	½	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	8.0
3	Thomas,George Alan	½	0	&;	½	1	1	½	1	0	1	1	1	7.5
4	Scott,Roland Henry Vaughan	0	½	½	&;	½	½	1	0	1	1	1	½	6.5
5	Saunders,Harold	½	½	0	½	&;	1	0	1	1	0	½	1	6.0
6	Price,Hubert Ernest	0	1	0	½	0	&;	1	1	1	0	0	1	5.5
7	Michell,Reginald Pryce	1	0	½	0	1	0	&;	0	½	½	½	1	5.0
8	Khadilkar,Vinayak Kashinath	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	&;	½	1	1	0	4.5
9	Spencer,Edmund	0	0	1	0	0	0	½	½	&;	1	½	1	4.5
10	Blake,Joseph Henry	0	0	0	0	1	1	½	0	0	&;	1	1	4.5
11	Fairhurst,William Albert	½	0	0	0	½	1	½	0	½	0	&;	1	4.0
12	Gibson,William P	0	0	0	½	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	&;	1.5

 

The 1924 British Championship was held in the same art gallery, at the top of the library building in Southport, as the 1905 championship. Here is a picture of the same galleries as they are in 2015 (photos copyright © 2015 John Saunders):

Exterior photo of Southport Library, 2015...

From the Manchester Guardian, 23 July 1924:

"British Championship: H. E. Atkins, Huddersfield; J, H. Blake, London; W. A. Fairhurst, Manchester; W. Gibson, Glasgow; V. K. Khadilkar, Bombay; R. P. Michell, Kingston; H. E. Price, Birmingham; H. Saunders, London; R. H. V. Scott, London; E. Spencer, Liverpool; Sir G. A. Thomas, London (holder); F. D. Yates, Leeds.
Major Open Tournament: J. A. J. Drewitt, Hastings; Cyril Duffield, Bristol; C. B. Heath. Dundee; G. W. Moses, Pontefract; O. C. Muller, London; H. G. Rhodes, Southport; A. Rubinstein, Poland; F. Schofield, Leeds; P. W. Sergeant, London; A. R. B. Thomas, Liverpool; W. H. Watts, London; G. Wright, York.
British Ladies’ Championship: Miss E. E. Abraham, Herne Bay; Mrs. R. A. Banting, London; Miss H. Cotton, London; Miss M. C. Forbes, Edinburgh; Miss M. D. Gilchrist, Glasgow; Mrs. E. M. Holloway, London; Mrs. M. Houlding, Wallingford; Miss F. Hutchison-Stirling, Edinburgh; Mrs. R. P. Michell, Kingston; Miss E. C. Price, London (holder); Mrs. A. Sollas, Oxford; Mrs. R. H. S. Stevenson, London.

"In the British championship Messrs. H. E. Atkins, a former champion. W. A. Fairhurst, Cheshire and Manchester champion, V. K. Khadilkar, Bombay, R. P. Michell and H. Saunders, London, and E. Spencer, Lancashire champion and winner four times in all, take the places of Messrs. Wainwright, Jacobs, Uber, Hamond, Steele, and Gooding, who played last year. It will be recalled that E. Spencer defeated Sir G. A. Thomas in the recent Weston-super-Mare tournament. A particularly interesting point will be to note the progress of Spencer and Fairhurst who make their ddbut in the championship.
In the ladies’ championship. Mrs. R. A. Banting, and Miss M. C. Forbes, take the places of Miss Andrews and Mrs. Brockett. The Major Open has no less than nine new names. Alekhine, the victor last year, is absent, but A. Rubinstein is playing, and he, of course, is much the strongest player at the Congress.
There is a good proportion of Northerners playing in the other events, and the outlook for the Congress generally is very favourable."

Results from the Manchester Guardian, 23 Aug 1924:

"Championship: H. E. Atkins 8½, F. D. Yates 8, Sir G. A. Thomas 7½, R. H. V. Scott 6½, H. Saunders 6, H. E. Price 5½, R. P. Michell 5, V. K. Khadilkar 4½, E. Spencer 4½, W. A. Fairhurst 4, W. Gibson 1½.
Major Open: A. Rubinstein 11/11, J. A. J. Drewitt 8, G. W. Moses 7½, H. J. Rhodes 7, O. C. Muller 6, C. B. Heath 5½, C. Duffield 5, A. R. B. Thomas 4, P. W. Sergeant 4, W. H. Watts 4, F. Schofield 3, G. Wright 1.
Ladies’ championship: Miss E. C. Price 9, Mrs. R. H. S. Stevenson 8, Mrs. E. M. Holloway 6½, Mrs. Michell 6½, Miss M. D. Gilchrist 6, Mrs. Sollas 6, Miss M. C. Forbes 5½, Mrs M. Houlding 5, Miss F. Hutchison-Stirling 4, Mrs. R. A. Banting 3½, Miss H. Cotton 3½, Miss E. E. Abrahams 2½.
First Class A: C. R. Gurnhill 10/11, E. W. Davies 7½, Major R. W. Barnett, M.P., 7½, H. J. Snowden 7½, H. J. M. Thoms 7½, W. R. Thomas 7, G. K. Nuttall 5, F. Wilkinson 4, G. Abrahams 3½, E. V. Strugnell 3½, Rev. E. Wells 3, L. Burland 0.
First Class B: J. H. Morrison 9/11, W. Atkinson 7½, F. C. Short 6½, J. E. Parry 6½, J. Cookson 6, Rev. A. P. Lacy Hulbert 6, J. Macallister 5, Col. C. Stuart Prince 5, S. G. Howell Smith 4, A. D. Barlow 3½, G. E. Hewson 3½, J. E. West 3½.
Second Class A: H. A. (Henfrey Austin) Turriff 9/9, A. C. Falkner 7, S. Osborne 6, C. H. Taylor 5, A. T. Cannell 4½, S. P. Lees 4, F. O. Nelson 4, L. Small 2½, Mrs. J. Brockett 2, W. L. Wakefield 1.
Second Class B: Newman Clissold 9/10, the Rev. E. J. E. Howlett 8½, Dr. V. H. Rutherford 7, G. Breese 5½, G. A. Youngman 5, H. N. S. Heath 5, W. Barker 4½, H. D. Osborn 3½, Miss M. Andrews 3, Miss H. F. Chater 2, H. E. Doran 2.
Third Class (1): E. H. Smith 9/11, the Rev. M. Hooppell 8½, G. W. Bedford 5, W. Lyon 4, J. E. Coleman 2½, Mrs. M. Healey 1.
Third Class (2): W. A. Aston 7/11, Mrs. A. Chase 7, Miss S. V. A. Malcolm 6½, A. J. Smith 6½, Miss L. G. Ogden 3, Mrs. MacVean 0."

Rubinstein Simultaneous Display, 22 August 1924: Akiba Rubinstein +19, =9, -4 (F.P. Wenman, A.C. Falkner, C.B. Heath, H.J.M. Thoms) (source of info: Manchester Guardian, 25 Aug 1924)

Lightning (10-seconds-a-move) Tournaments: (1) Date? - won by Rubinstein; (2) Played 16 August. 1 WA Fairhurst, 2 JH Morrison, 3 F Wilkinson, 4 Miss Andrews*. Rubinstein played but was knocked out at an earlier stage by Cyril Duffield; (3) ?? but must have been won by Rubinstein as the Guardian says he won three of these side events - JS; (4) 1 A Rubinstein, 2 JH Morrison, 3 JE West (Cambridge Univ captain), 4 Miss Andrews* (who won two prizes in the Lightning events); (5) 1 Edmund Spencer, 2 F Wilkinson, 3 Rev. AP Lacy-Hulbert, 4 ARB Thomas. (* presumably the same Miss M. Andrews who scored 3/11 in Second-Class B - JS)

Problem Solving Tourney (3-moves): 1 Brian Harley, 141 (max. points); 2 JW Dixon, 109; 3 John Keeble, 104; 4 FD Yates, 100.

Rubinstein received £16 for winning the Major Open.

Letter to the Editor, 7 September 1924: "BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP - Sir, I wish to point out an unfortunate peculiarity of the British Chess Federation Meeting, which has caused a considerable discontent. The Championship entries are limited to twelve, chosen by a committee. The same players, more or less, are selected year after year, with the result that the numerous strong amateurs throughout the country are hopelessly kept out. In no other country is there this limitation.

"The old British Chess Association placed no restriction. Is the condition referred to right? Is the responsible British Chess Federation doing its duty by the public? Of course, the explanation is convenience. But difficulties are things to overcome. If larger and unrestricted tournaments can be held in other countries, why not in England? I suggest the formation of an organisation prepared to hold a tournament without this absurd and unfair restriction: a championship tournament rational and national. I am, etc, S.F. Smith, Emperor's Gate Hotel, S.W." [presumably Dr. Stephen Francis Smith, born c1860, Ontario, Canada, died 12 May 1928, London, aged 67, played in the 1910 British Championship, champion of British Columbia in 1915, had been champion of the City of London club in 1895 and 3rd in the West of England Open in Tenby in 1928.]

---

Updates

Date	Notes
2015	First uploaded in its current format.
3 Oct 2015	Two more Major Open games contributed by Brian Denman, many thanks.
4 Oct 2015	Three games (Khadilkar-Atkins, Khadilkar-Gibson and Yates-Khadilkar) supplied by Andy Ansel, many thanks.
7 Oct 2015	Another six Championship games, and 13 more subsidiary event games, thanks to some assiduous work from Gerard Killoran.
19 Feb 2016	One game added: Watts-Moses (Rd 10). Thanks to Gerard Killoran.
7 March 2016	We now have all 66 games from the 1924 British Championship, and all of them are complete (though some have move order issues), thanks to my receipt of the Tinsley notebooks. Fairhurst-Yates (Rd 2) was missed out in the photocopying process but an appeal to Scottish archivist Alan McGowan secured the first half of the game, and there was a photocopy of the second half.
12 Apr 2016	I have added two ARB Thomas games from the Major Open: his tenth round loss to C Duffield, and the final part of his fifth round loss to Sergeant. Both were in BCM.
5 March 2019	One game supplied by Brian Denman - Wakefield-Falkner, Second Class A - for which many thanks.