Queensland chess history (sf Brisbane Chess Club)

[antichrist]

Sat 8 Jul 1893 A “very interesting chess tournament” and a dispute that reformed the Brisbane Chess club. Mr A Wallace, Queensland Champion, resigns from the Brisbane club over a disagreement concerning arrangements for the current club tournament.

“Unfortunately what turned out to be a very serious altercation took place place between one of the members, Mr Syson on the one side, and Mr Taylour, the then secretary, and Mr Wallace on the other, in connection with the preliminaries of the tournament, which caused the resignation of the latter gentlemen as members of the club greatly to the regret of every member, and a serious loss it has been to the interests both of the tournament and the club”
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...archTerm=chess
.................................................. ............................

I wonder what was behind this? It was even a simul - two against one.

[blackbishop]

Sat 8 Jul 1893 A “very interesting chess tournament” and a dispute that reformed the Brisbane Chess club. Mr A Wallace, Queensland Champion, resigns from the Brisbane club over a disagreement concerning arrangements for the current club tournament.

“Unfortunately what turned out to be a very serious altercation took place place between one of the members, Mr Syson on the one side, and Mr Taylour, the then secretary, and Mr Wallace on the other, in connection with the preliminaries of the tournament, which caused the resignation of the latter gentlemen as members of the club greatly to the regret of every member, and a serious loss it has been to the interests both of the tournament and the club”
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...archTerm=chess
.................................................. ............................

I wonder what was behind this? It was even a simul - two against one.

I can’t find any explicit account of the disagreement. My main point was that the Brisbane Club was doing OK with some forty members before the club was reformed so that Walter Syson could not be said to have founded the Brisbane Chess Club.

Dr Charles Prentice would seem to provide a more fitting head for the Brisbane Chess Club to hang its historical hat on.

[antichrist]

I can’t find any explicit account of the disagreement. My main point was that the Brisbane Club was doing OK with some forty members before the club was reformed so that Walter Syson could not be said to have founded the Brisbane Chess Club.

Dr Charles Prentice would seem to provide a more fitting head for the Brisbane Chess Club to hang its historical hat on.

i thought they were referring to fist fights?

[blackbishop]

Noosa Chess Club Newsletters January 1998 - December 1999.


1. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-01.pdf

2. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-02.pdf

3. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-03.pdf

4. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-04.pdf

5. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-05.pdf

6. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-06.pdf

7. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-07.pdf

8. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-08.pdf

9. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-09.pdf

10. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News98-10.pdf

11. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News99-11.pdf

12. https://suncoastchess.webs.com/Newsl.../News99-12.pdf

[blackbishop]

Formation of the Gympie Chess Club.

In 1867 James Nash, discovered gold near the Mary River around 150 kilometres north of Brisbane. The result was a massive influx of chess players into the area. They came, they dug, they played chess then, in time, most of them left.
https://queenslandplaces.com.au/gympie

A meeting to form a chess club took place at Hyne’s Hotel in Gympie when around twenty people signed up to be members.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...archTerm=chess

By November 1871 they had found a room at the local School of Arts and held their first tournament.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...archTerm=chess

A match against the Brisbane club took place in August 1872 by telegraph with Gympie leading with one unresolved game.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...archTerm=chess

So eager were the miners to play chess, that a second club was established at ‘One Mile”. In another part of the diggings.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...Gympie%20Chess

They were still alive in 1891, journeying to Maryborough for a match against the locals which took place, you guessed it, at the local School of Arts.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/a...Gympie%20chess

[PaulNoosa]

The Queensland Chess zipfile that I uploaded to DropBox has been updated with the additional 4 issues referenced in #92 above - giving a total of 46 issues. The missing issues referenced above are still not there, but as I have mentioned I have copies in storage and when I settle I will tackle them (though that could be years away). Anyway, the full set of files that Ian uploaded has been rejigged as described above, but I also failed to mention another major improvement. Ian's scanning produced files of various resolutions, most of which resulted in page sizes larger than A4 (and hence larger files sizes). Queensland Chess had an A5 format (a folded A4), so I have resized all the files to an A5 page. The original link at #88 should give access to the updated zip file, but here is another one: https://www.dropbox.com/s/43v814n6cd...Chess.zip?dl=0

Since the October upload above, BlackKnight has pointed out that the March 1999 edition contains March 2000 content. In other words, the cover was March 1999, but the content March 2000. As I don't have digital access to the correct cover and my hard copies are in storage in Queensland I have made up a simple cover and replaced the original March 1999 edition, with the re-covered March 2000 edition. Links above will still all work, but the updated version of the zipfile can be accessed here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/43v814n6cd...Chess.zip?dl=0.

[blackbishop]

Paul collated and presented games from the QLD Seniors Championships for 2021 and did the same for the Bundaberg Chess Festival and Bundaberg Open. While his main interest is perhaps his humongous games database, he has also provided well written monthly newsletters, including club member’s games, for both the Bundaberg and Suncoast chess clubs as well as rejigging the Queensland Chess magazine scans.

You can view the lot from his Dropbox below.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dc5p2pwlh...57SFd3Mca?dl=0

[PaulNoosa]

Thx Allan!

[blackbishop]

Michael D’Arcy.

Michael is currently the Dean of Studies at Emmanuel College, a coeducational residential college on the main University of Queensland campus at St Lucia. He was the Secretary of the Chess Association of Queensland until the AGM of 2021.

“I have held the Publicity position since December 2012, but added Secretary and Junior Chess Coordinator to my portfolio at the AGM in December 2015. I produce minutes and agendas for meetings, respond to enquiries on behalf of the Association, attend to routine administrative matters, and produce and distribute newsletters.”

https://au.linkedin.com/in/michael-d-arcy-237aa075

https://www.emmanuel.uq.edu.au/who-we-are/

Meanwhile, in 2016 he qualified as a FIDE Arbiter and in 2019 as an International Arbiter. He has been the Chief Arbiter in events such as the Queensland Championships, Australian Junior Championships and Gold Coast FIDE Open. He has also acted as an Organizer in many events including the Queensland Championships.

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/3213641

Michael’s work for the CAQ and for junior chess has earned him the respect and thanks of the chess community.

[Desmond]

Michael’s work for the CAQ and for junior chess has earned him the respect and thanks of the chess community.

Hear hear