The "Whole" Chess Community

Memphis Chess Club Looks For Tomorrow's World Champ

By Philip Maclin

Memphis Press-Scimitar Staff writer 

(Year:1974)

Somewhere in Memphis there may be a 12 year-old who will challenge American Bobby Fischer for the world chess championship in 1984, and the Memphis Chess Club wants him to have that opportunity.

"The critical period in the development of a chess master is between the ages 13 and 19," said a statistical survey in the U.S. Chess Federation magazine last July (1973.)  "For a player to develop the strength of a Grandmaster he must be playing at master level (2200 rating) by the age of 18 – at most 19," the study said.

"You have to get the young people started early, and the Memphis Chess Club intends to reach all the youngsters possible in Memphis," said James Little, club vice president and chief director of a new massive teaching program for all ages.  "In the past three months we have started several beginning chess classes to introduce chess to all ages," Little said.

The chess classes sponsored by the Memphis Chess club Inc. include:

• Lewis Center for Senior Citizens at 1188 N. Parkway, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Mondays, beginning chess.
•  Shelby County Penal Farm on Mullins Station Road, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, beginning and elementary chess for inmates.

  

  Shelby County Penal Farm

• Veterans Administration Hospital, 1030 Jefferson, 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, beginning chess for patients in auditorium and on closed circuit television for bed patients.

  

  VA Memphis

• Lewis Highland Heights Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, 894 Isabelle, 7 p.m. Fridays, weekly meeting of chess club, plus lectures on chess for all ages.

  

  Jack Sprague: Chess Problem Composer

• McFarland Community Center, 4955 Cottonwood, 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays, beginning chess for all ages.
  
• Memphis Public Library, main branch at 1850 Peabody, 9 a.m. on Saturdays, elementary and high-school chess.

"Of course we don't expect everyone to become a chess master," said Little.  "It's a sad mistake that in America we put so much emphasis on winning.  You can have a lot of fun with chess and not be the winner all the time.  The club hopes to introduce average players to chess as well as provide youngsters with the opportunity of going all the way to a world title some day."   The Memphis Chess Club reached the "100 active members" mark last Friday night, Little said.

                                                                                 –Press-Scimitar Staff Photo by Glenn Peterson

CHESS OCCUPIES MOST OF THEIR TIME

James C. Little, vice president of Memphis Chess Club Inc.,

plays a game with Robert Holyfield, one of the city's most 

promising young players.  The chess club has started a drive

to introduce more Memphians to the game.

One of the bright young hopefuls in Memphis is Robert Holyfield,  a 15-year-old sophomore at Harding Academy who has been playing chess since he was 4.  Robert just passed the 1600 mark in his U.S.C.F tournament rating.  If he can pass 1700 within the next six months before he's 16, he's sure  to be in the top 15 in the nation for the below 16 age category.  The national rating average for tournament players of all ages is 1362.

"I really don't know how many hours a week I spend on chess, but it's a lot," said young Holyfield.  "I'll be playing a lot of tournament chess in the next few months to improve that rating."

In the city qualifying tournament this year (1974) Holyfield placed ahead of Eddie Middleton, top ranked in the club, and John Hurt, who has won both the city and state titles.  However, in the round-robin tournament for the city title Middleton won.  But Holyfield has shown he is already a threat in every tournament here.

The Club Calendar

From the 1970's until the 1990's, the Memphis Chess Club would mail out a club events calendar which gave the area's players the opportunity to plan ahead for Friday night and weekend tournaments.  The example below is from the year 1980.  As you can see below, the Memphis City Championship was played with one round taking place each Friday, allowing those who qualified the chance to book-up on their opponent during the week.  

For the club's current weekend and Friday calendars please click these links:

http://www.memphischess.com/calendar2.html

http://www.memphischess.com/Local-Club-Calendar.html

---------

Memphis Chess Club's 1980 Calendar

• * represents events at the club on Friday Nights
• # represents events at the club on Weekends
• $ represents events at a hotel on Weekends

 January 1980 
        *4    Memphis City Championship Candidates Tournament, Rd. 1 8pm
        #5     Memphis City Championship Candidates, Rds. 2-4; 9-2-7 pm
        #6     Memphis City Championship Candidates, Rd. 5; 2pm
        *11    Memphis Amateur, Rd. 1;     Memphis City Championship, Rd. 1
        *18     Memphis Amateur, Rd. 2;    Memphis City Championship, Rd. 2
        *25     Memphis Amateur, Rd. 3;    Memphis City Championship, Rd. 3
February  
        *1     Memphis Amateur, Rd. 4;     Memphis City Championship, Rd. 4
        *8     Memphis Amateur, Rd. 5;     Memphis City Championship, Rd. 5
        *15    Speed Chess Tourney #1 ;    Memphis City Championship, Rd. 6
        *22    Intra-Class Tourney Rd.1;    Memphis City Championship, Rd. 7
  $ 23-24    7th BLUFF CITY OPEN
        *29    Intra-Class Tourney Rd. 2  
March      
        *7    Intra-Class Tourney Rd. 3
        *14     Intra-Class Tourney Rd. 4
        *21    Speed Chess Tournament # 2
        #22    SEVENTH M.C.C. AWARDS BANQUET
        *28    Emerald Knights Tournament ( 2 Sections) ;     Rd. 1
April      
        *4    Club Closed For GOOD FRIDAY
        *11    Emerald Knights Tournament            Rd. 2
        *18    Emerald Knights Tournament            Rd. 3
 $ 19-20    8th ANNUAL KING COTTON OPEN
        *25    Emerald Knights Tournament            Rd. 4
May      
        *2    Emerald Knights Tournament              Rd. 5
        *9    Speed Chess Tournament # 3
        *16    3rd Solid Gold Dedication Tournament        Rd. 1
        *23     3rd Solid Gold Dedication Tournament       Rd. 2
  $ 24-25    Third Region VIII Open, Amateur, & Novice (Tentative)
        *30     3rd Solid Gold Dedication Tournament       Rd. 3
June      
        *6    3rd Solid Gold Dedication Tournament          Rd. 4
        *13    3rd Solid Gold Dedication Tournament        Rd. 5
        *20    Speed Chess Tournament # 4
        *27    Speed Chess Tournament # 5
July      
        *4    CLOSED FOR HOLIDAY
        *11    Memphis Quads I;  Rd. 1
        *18    Memphis Quads     Rd. 2
        *25     Memphis Quads    Rd. 3
August  
        *1     Speed Chess Tournament # 6
        *8      Memphis Quads II  Rd.1
        *15    Memphis Quads     Rd.2
        *22    Memphis Quads    Rd.3
        *29    Speed Chess Tournament # 7
September  
        *5    Speed Chess Tournament # 8
       6-8    TENNESSEE OPEN in Nashville
        *12    Memphis Fall Classics;    Rd. 1
        *19    Memphis Fall Classics;    Rd. 2
        *26     Memphis Fall Classics;   Rd. 3
October  
        *3     Memphis Fall Classics;     Rd. 4
        *10    Memphis Fall Classics;    Rd. 5
        *17    Speed Chess Tournament # 9
        *24    4th Ivory Pawn Dedication Tournament    Rd. 1
        *31    4th Ivory Pawn Dedication Tournament    Rd. 2
November  
        *7     4th Ivory Pawn Dedication Tournament    Rd. 3
        *14     4th Ivory Pawn Dedication Tournament  Rd. 4
        *21    4th Ivory Pawn Dedication Tournament   Rd. 5      
 $  28-30      21st ANNUAL MID-SOUTH OPEN
December  
        *5     Memphis Quads III    Rd.1
        *12    Memphis Quads       Rd.2
        *19    Memphis Quads       Rd.3
        *26    CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS

**
To Qualify for competition in the Fourth annual Memphis City Speed Championship you must either be the tournament's defending champion or else win one of the nine 1980 Speed Chess Tournaments.  Once qualified, you must compete in subsequent tournament; a tournament winner, however, shall be the top scorer who has not yet qualified to compete.  Site for the 1980 meet shall be decided at a later date.

Time limits:

Except where otherwise indicated, the time control for all USCF rated events will be 50 moves in two hours with a second time control of 30 moves in one hour.  Speed chess events will be 5 min.

 ----------

For more old club calendars, use these links:

http://www.memphischess.com/files/Memorabilia/1987_Memphis_Chess_Club_Calendar-0-Front.pdf

http://www.memphischess.com/files/Memorabilia/1987_Memphis_Chess_Club_Calendar-1-Back.pdf

http://www.memphischess.com/files/Memorabilia/1988_Calendar_of_Events_pg1front.pdf

http://www.memphischess.com/files/Memorabilia/1988_Calendar_of_Events_pg2back.pdf

http://www.memphischess.com/files/Memorabilia/1990_Memphis_Chess_Club_Calendar-1-Front.pdf

http://www.memphischess.com/files/Memorabilia/1990_Memphis_Chess_Club_Calendar-1-Back.pdf

Centennial Hallmark–Memphian Captured Western Championship

 Top: Left to Right–Friedlander, Ellis, Daniels, Schrivener, Hine, Harry Lee (referee); Michelsen, Hahlbohm, Crew, Palmer, Widmeyer.  

Seated: Left to Right–Shapiro, Gessner, Winter, Elliott, Morrison, Jefferson, Phillips, Beckner.

 

    It was 100 hundred years ago today – on August 24, 1913 – that Bradford B. (“B.B.”) Jefferson, a Memphis businessman, stepped out of the shadows to assume his rightful place in the national chess limelight. With a score of 13.5 – 3.5, Jefferson claimed the championship of the Western Chess Association and a prominent place in chess history. The tournament, the forerunner of the U.S. Open, was held Aug. 18 – 24 at the Kenwood Chess Club in Chicago.
    At the time, the Western Chess Association encompassed basically the entire nation south and west of New York, including part of Canada. The winner was immediately acknowledged as one of the premier players in the nation.
    For years, B.B. had been well known in Memphis and throughout the South as a great player, dominating all visitors to the Memphis Chess Club. He also had an enviable record against top grandmasters in simultaneous exhibitions, twice defeating Harry Nelson Pillsbury, beating and drawing Geza Maroczy, and even drawing with World Champion Emanuel Lasker. In 1907, he acted as Referee for the three games of the World Chess Championship match that were played in Memphis between Emanuel Lasker and Frank Marshall.
    Until the 1913 Western Championship, however, B.B. had apparently never ventured outside of Memphis to test himself against the best. He defended his championship the next year, when the Western Chess Association Tournament came to Memphis. But that is another story.

     Two games reported here have been unearthed from the files of the Memphis Commercial Appeal and seem to be unknown. The games are:

John Taliaferro Beckner – Einar Michelsen
John Taliaferro Beckner – William Widmeyer

     Games with obviously corrupt notation have been corrected and verified using Vektor3 for Mac.

     For a more detailed account of Jefferson’s victory in the 1913 Western Championship, watch for the September 2013 issue of the Chess Advocate.

 -- Thanks to Memphis Chess Club member Frank Wranovix for his assistance with this post.

Memphis News Scimitar, August 25, 1913

Put Memphis on the Chess Map
 

Bradford B. Jefferson

Robert S. Scrivener

By the brilliant showing made by Bradford Jefferson and Robert Scrivener, two of the members of the team representing the Memphis Chess Club at the fourteenth annual tourney of the Western Chess Association, held the past week in Chicago, Memphis has been placed in the limelight of the chess world.

Jefferson was returned the 1913 champion while Scrivener, the newly elected president of the association, finished fifth.  Through the medium of their good showing it was decided that the 1914 tourney should be held in this city.

The new Western champion has for some time been the recognized champion of the South, and upon his entry into the tourney at Chicago it was predicted that he would finish high in the play.

Scrivener seemed to get away with a bad start, but the brace during the latter part of the week placed him above many of the Eastern experts at the finish.


The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 4, 1913

Western Tourney Game



The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 28, 1913

Southerner in the Saddle

Rosa B. Jefferson

As reported in a special dispatch from Chicago to the Eagle Monday, the championship tournament of the Western Chess Association was captured by B. B. Jefferson of Memphis, Tenn, long known as one of the best players in the South.  The Western Champion is a brother of Miss Rosa B. Jefferson, chess editor of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, herself a very talented player, writer, and musician.  In December next Miss Jefferson will have completed ten years as conductor of the chess department referred to.  The following smartly played game was the result of Jefferson's encounter with G. Gessner of Chicago.







Memphis Commercial Appeal, September 7, 1913

Games from Northwestern Tourney–Next Meeting in Memphis

The recent championship tourney of the Western Chess Association, held in Chicago at the Kenwood Club, and won by B. B. Jefferson, chess king of the South, attracted widespread interest.

The tourney started in Chicago on Monday morning, August 18, at 11 o'clock.  There were 18 crack players entered from different states.  Tennessee was represented by B. B. Jefferson and R. S. Scrivener of Memphis, Missouri by J. Daniels of Kansas City, Minnesota by E. P. Elliott of Minneapolis, Kentucky by J. T. Beckner of Winchester, Ohio by S. H. Shapiro of Cleveland, Nebraska by Cooper Ellis of Bloomfield, Iowa by A. E. Crew of Marion and Marvin Palmer of Tama; Canada sent J. S. Morrison of Toronto, the Canadian Champion; Illinois was represented by six of the best players in Chicago, C. W. Phillips, champion of the Chicago Chess and Checker Club; John Winter, ex-champion of the club; H. Hahlbohm, champion of the Northwest Chess Club; E. Michelsen, ex-champion of the association; George Gessner, ex-champion of the Kennwood Club, and J. Friedlander.

Cornell Trophy–MCC's Most Honored Relic

The victory was a big one, not for Memphis, but for Tennessee, and Jefferson deserves unstinted praise for winning chief honors against such strong opposition.  Chicago has held the "championship cup" always and this year had six experts entered to make a big fight to hold it.  That Memphis should have captured it the first time is a double honor for the local expert.

The next tourney will be held in Memphis during the summer of 1914, and if Jefferson should win the cup then it will become the property of the Memphis Chess Club.

It is a rule of the association that in case the cup is won twice in succession by the same player it becomes the property of the club represented by that player.  As yet no player has won the coveted honor twice in succession.

Robert S. Scrivener, the local expert who also made a brilliant showing, was elected president of the association for the ensuing year, and will have charge of the arrangements for the next meeting.
 
Mr. Scrivener has already begun to plan to make the Memphis tourney a memorable one and to have it go on record as the best one in the history of the North-Western Association.  In all of his plans he will have the hearty co-operation of the players of Memphis.  In fact, it is expected that chess players throughout the south will come forward and help make the meeting an overwhelming success.

Mr. Scrivener won fifth place in the tourney, and by his brilliant play also helped to sustain the reputation of the local club.  He made a splendid showing the first part of the tourney, and for several days took the lead.

Special praise is due him for the fact that he won games from the very best players in the tourney.

On the sixth day of the match, after the completion of the fourteenth round, Scrivener also made a good advance and took third place.  The Chicago papers spoke of the advance of the "Memphis Expert" as the most notable event of the thirteenth and fourteenth rounds.

It was the strain of Sunday's play that brought Scrivener to fifth place.

Jefferson, from a poor showing the first two days, finally worked his way to first place, which he held to the finish.  He did not seem to be in good form until the third day, when he gave evidence of his unusual strength.

An exciting stage of play was reached when, by defeating Judge Hine, Freidlander and Daniels in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth rounds, Jefferson took the lead and left E. P. Elliott one point behind.  His score stood at this point at 9 1/2 games won and 2 1/2 lost.  Elliott had 9 games won and 3 lost.  Morison also stood 9 games won and 3 lost.  Hahlbohn, Gessner, and Scrivener each had a score of 8 won and 4 lost.

The conclusion of the seventh, the final round, found Jefferson still in the lead with E. P. Elliott and J. S. Morrison tied for second place.

Jefferson was widely praised for his strength.  The papers gave him full credit for wresting the title by "strong, brilliant play."

Says the Chicago Tribune:  "B. B. Jefferson of Memphis won the championship in the tournament of the Western Chess Association, which closed at the Kenwood Club yesterday.  Jefferson, who is the strongest player in the south, was expected to take high rank even after making a poor start.  His victory was a popular one and his style of play was much admired.  He and his associates from Memphis added much to the success of the meeting.  The final scores were as follows:

 –––––––––––––––––––––Won–––––––Lost
Jefferson––––––––––––––– 13 1/2         3 1/2
Elliott–––––––––––––––––– 13               4
Morrison–––––––––––––––  13               4
Phillips––––––––––––––––– 12 1/2         4 1/2
Scrivener––––––––––––––– 11               6
Michelsen–––––––––––––––11               6
Gessner–––––––––––––––– 10 1/2         6 1/2
Hahlbohm–––––––––––––––10               7
Winter–––––––––––––––––– 9 1/2          7 1/2
Friedlander–––––––––––––––9                8
Beckner––––––––––––––––– 9                8
Daniels––––––––––––––––––7 1/2          9 1/2
Shapiro––––––––––––––––––6               11
Widmeyer––––––––––––––––5               12
Crew––––––––––––––––––––4 1/2         12 1/2
Hine–––––––––––––––––––– 3               14
Ellis–––––––––––––––––––––2 1/2        14 1/2
Palmer–––––––––––––––––– 2 1/2        14 1/2


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