Mid-South Chess Moments

Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sat. Nov. 29, 1997

The tournament pictured above was indeed history in the making, as the traditional post-Thanksgiving Mid-South Open chess tournament moved from Memphis to Tunica, Mississippi.   Twenty-seven players participated in what was called the 37th Mid-South Open tournament in MS, and they were from AR, NC, NY, MS, AL, TX, FL – the winner was Andy Reeder from Alabama. (This tourney was actually the 38th Mid-South Open as someone had gotten off count, which was not corrected until 2011.)

From the 1st Mid-South Chess Advocate, December, 1974:  

 
There were 64 participants in the 15th Annual Mid-South Open (25 players in the Open & 39 players in the Amateur) from 10 states in the two- section tournament held at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis over Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a smoothly run tournament, quite enjoyable, and as always, The Peabody provided an excellent playing site with its convenient accommodations.




Vernon Vix of Nashville won on tie breaks over Warren Porter of MS, first place with equal scores of 5.  Placing 3rd was Niels Bostrom of Lexington, KY, with a score of 4 1/2.  Fourth was Eddie Middleton of Memphis on tie breaks over Fred Lindsay of Ann Arbor, Michigan with equal scores of 4 points.




From the Tennessee Chess News, January 1975: 

Albert Bowen of Nashville was the winner of the Mid-South Amateur with 5 1/2.  Second was Kent Meadows also of Nashville with a score of 5.  Four players tied for third in this order of tie-break: 3rd Mike Sulcer (Ark), 4th Jack Smith (Memphis), 5th Mark McLaughlin (Memphis), and 6th Jerry Wheeler (Nashville); all had 4 1/2 points.

John Hurt vs Kenny Thomas at the 10th Mid-South Open-1969

Games of Knights and Kings

(from the Commercial Appeal November 29, 1969)

Checker and chess fans began matching skills yesterday as the Memphis Chess Club and Tennessee Chess Association (Mid-South Open) Tournament opened at the Downtowner, and the annual Memphis Open Checker Tournament got underway at the Chisca Plaza.  Former tournament winner John, Hurt, 55, and Kenneth Thomas, 14, the 1968 city high school champion, faced each other at the Downtowner.  Both tournaments continue through tomorrow. 

From the Tennessee Chess News, January 1970: 

The 10th Mid-South Open in Memphis, after Thanksgiving, was topped by two Louisiana players this year. (Last year the event was dominated by Alabama players.)  Winner was Joseph Katz of LSU who scored 4 1/2 points by winning three and drawing three games.  Runner-up was E.T.C. Lewis of Covington, La.  who scored the same by the same means.  Four players scored four points in this order of tie-breaks: 3rd John Hurt (Memphis), 4th Tony Estes (Nashville), 5th Bill Willwers (Lavaca, Arkansas) and 6th Paul Hargett (Sheffield, Alabama).

The 12 player Amateur was won by Doug Ralston of Madison, a suburb of Nashville, with 5 points.  Three players tied with 4 points: Garner and Felt of Memphis and Cornwell of Madison, Tennessee.

There were thirty-one players in both events this year. Nashville actually edged the home team in attendance with 12 players to 11.  That was not too good for the Memphis delegation.  Also discouraging was the small number of players from Alabama (none from Huntsville) and Arkansas.  We were glad to see Louisiana and Mississippi represented this year.  Frank Garner did an excellent job in directing the event.

From the Tennessee Chess News, January 1969:

Alabamians had a field day at Memphis in the 9th Mid-South Open as they swept the field three places to get even with the Tennesseans winning their tournaments.  Winner was the pre-tournament favorite, Milan Momic of Muscle Shoals, scoring 5 points, yielding only two draws with Martin Appleberry and John Hurt.  Martin Appleberry of Huntsville was a clear second with 4 1/2 points.  Third place was taken by Charles Bonner, also of Huntsville with four points.  Fourth thru sixth went to Majood Hahas of Lake Hamilton, Arkansas, ahead of James Wright, Millington, Tennessee, and John Roh of Huntsville.  All had 3 1/2.  This was one of the most successful  Mid-Souths in recent years, thanks in part to the participation of members of the Junior Chess Club of Nashville.  In all there were eight players from Nashville.  Memphis, as host, had only eleven players.  As expected there were many surprises and upsets.  Perhaps the greatest was John Hurt of Memphis being upset by lower rated Nashvillians Tony Estos and Joe Jones.

The Amateur was also won by an Alabama player; Paul Hargett of Sheffield with five points.

"Uncle Bob," 84, at the 7th Mid-South with Susan Garner, 17

Mid-South Chess Stars Clash in Quiet Contest

(from The Memphis Press-Scimitar, November 26, 1966)

Thirty-one men and boys are engaged in a mental duel to the finish this weekend at the Hotel Claridge.

This is the seventh annual Mid-South Open Chess Tournament, sponsored by the Memphis Chess Club. The players range in age from 16 to 84 and they come from Illinois, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and other states.

Four boys are 16.  The 84 year-old player is "Uncle Bob" Scrivener, Nesbit, Mississippi, a tournament favorite. Scrivener is a retired, former personnel manager of Delta Airlines, and is recognized as dean of Mid-South chess buffs.

Among those from Memphis playing is Frank Garner, president of the Memphis Chess Club. "Chess players take the game seriously," Garner whispered. "It gets to be an obsession with us."

Chess players look down their noses at bridge players, who are also known for their intense dedication and concentration. "There's a difference between the two," said Garner. "Bridge players yield to destiny and we control it."

There were two rounds yesterday, two more today and finals will be tomorrow.

 From the January 1967 Tennessee Chess News:

Steve Balsai of Hot Springs, Arkansas, was the winner of the seventh Mid-South Open tournament with a 5 1/2 score.  The event took place over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Second and third places were taken by Levine of New Orleans and Ken Williamson of Huntsville with 4 1/2 points.  Fourth and fifth places were taken by Hurt of Memphis and Belke of Little Rock with four points.

The tourney was well attended with thirty-three participants.  Only one player was from East Tennessee – Emanuel Tsitseklis from Knoxville and none from Middle Tennessee took part.

For games from this 1966 event click here:

http://www.memphischess.com/files/TCN/TCN1967/TCN-January-1967-Volume-9-No-1_pg4.pdf

Memphis' Stellar Chess Player

 Article from an August 6, 1972 Commercial Appeal, by Paul Coppock:

As Bobby Fischer brought the rook-pawn language back into the daily news, it revived a few long memories of another era, when Memphis had its own champion.  There was even the remarkable August of 1914 when chess news moved out of Memphis by telegraph instead of coming in from Iceland.

The Memphis Champion was Bradford B. Jefferson, who had his own real estate firm.  When the Memphis Chess and Checker Club was established in 1900, he won the city championship at 25, and he repeated winning every year.  In 1913 he entered the Western (Open) Tournament at Chicago for the first time and won it.  The "West" of chess included New York State, except for New York City, and outstretched through Omaha.

It was a title that carried prestige although bigger chess news was then being made by J.R. Capablanca and Dr. Emanuel Lasker.

Another fine Memphis player, Robert Scrivener, played at Chicago in 1913 and was elected president of the Western (Chess Association) group.  Jefferson and Scrivener brought the 1914 tournament to Memphis.

A week of play was scheduled, opening August 10, 1914.  There was a morning session from 9 to 1 and a night session from 7 to 11 with the afternoon reserved for adjourned games.  As the number of challengers was usually large, (19) players from Tampa to Toronto and from Syracuse to Kansas City, most of them state champions.  Mississippi was represented by Ed Hill of Cleveland, Mississippi.

The schedule had to be stretched over to include Wednesday of the following week when the result was an astounding four-way tie.  Scores of 14-4 were held by Jefferson, E.F. Schrader of Syracuse, H. Hahlbohm of Chicago, and G.H. Wolbrecht of St. Louis.  Wolbrecht twice won the Western title and four times represented the United States in annual matches with England, winning them all.

So a playoff was held, and it resulted in another tie between Jefferson and Wolbrecht.  Another playoff was set up.  The second full week had been used up for a one-week tournament.  These players were amateurs paying their own expenses, but most of them had stayed to see who was the best player, and how he deployed his forces on the chess board.

In the second playoff, Jefferson and Wolbrecht played to a draw on Sunday.  The Monday meeting was indecisive.  On the third Tuesday of the meet, they met again and Jefferson, playing with a disadvantage of black, won 2½ to 1½.

1900-14 Western Open Trophy

1914 Western Brilliancy Trophy

The principal trophy was a silver loving cup which had changed hands annually during the 15 years of the Western Open title play.  All the time it was offered as the permanent possession of the chess master who could win the title two years in a row.  B. B. Jefferson of Memphis was the first man to do so, and he did it in his home town.  Jefferson continued to be the undisputed champion among Memphis players. (Editor: Bradford Jefferson also won the Brilliancy Prize trophy, offered by the Business Men's Club, for the best game played at the 1914 Western Open.)

The Memphis Chess and Checker Club originally was an offshoot of the Business Men's Club, predecessor of the Chamber of Commerce.  The business men met for lunch weekly in their own building at 79-81 Monroe, and some stayed after lunch to play chess.  The Business Men's Club was the scene of the 1914 battle.

When the Chamber of Commerce moved, the Chess and Checker Club rented space on the 10th floor of the Falls Building.  They paid $15 a month.

Bradford B. Jefferson

B. B. Jefferson's obituary  (died May 14, 1963) recalled his Western Open titles and the fact that he once beat Lasker.
It also mentioned the death, only five months before, of his remarkable sister, Miss Rosa Jefferson.  She was long considered the best woman player in the South although competition between women chess players is rare.

She was best known as the .  .  . (Chess News) columnist for the Commercial Appeal.  Each Sunday issue (starting on December 6, 1903) until about 1932, her name appeared over a column that usually included a problem,  the solution of the previous week's problem, and the play of some game by a master.

Rosa's column was well established when her brother won (the Western Open) in Chicago and reports on the Memphis tournament was given generous space and good position in papers overflowing with huge headlines, maps and news analysis of the start of World War I.  The Kaiser had just invaded Belgium.  The Commercial Appeal even found space for a four-column picture of all the (tournament's chess) players.

The 1914 Western Chess Association's Western Open Tournament players, Memphis, TN, hosted at the Business Men's Club (B. Jefferson: 2nd person standing from the top far left (cigar in hand) G. Wolbrecht: 2nd person seated from far right side)

The Jefferson home was at 609 Vance when the Chess and Checker Club was young.  In later years, they lived at 1352 Vinton.  These Jeffersons were distant relatives of President Jefferson himself.

More importantly, they were children of John Wesley Jefferson, a good chess player, and grandchildren of Silas Jefferson, who came from Virginia with such appreciation of the game of kings and queens that he taught the children how to play with a chess set he had carved out of potatoes.

You may also enjoy another post entitled "Chess War" 1914–Memphis, TN" at this link:

http://memphischessclub.blogspot.com/2014/10/chess-war-1914memphis-tennessee.html