As far as I know, this is one of the first chess tournament held in Australia, albeit restricted to players from Ballarat. It probably was the longest ever played, lasting over a period of no less than 8 months (i.e. September 1866-April 1867), and ending in a beautifully reported controversy.
Amongst the players was the winner Charles M. Fisher, one of the strongest players in the ‘colony’ of Victoria. A database of 47 of his games can be found on the internet: https://www.chessgames.com/player/charles_marshall_fisher.html. They are amongst the oldest recorded games of Australia.
The old newspaper reports include beautiful and flowery descriptions of the chess-scene in Ballarat, more than 150 years ago.
Bas van Riel
“The Ballarat Star” dated 17 Sept 1866
The chess tournament has at length been finally arranged, under the most favorable auspices, and it has been decided by the committee that play shall commence on the evening of Tuesday, 11th September, at the Mechanics’ Institute. Fourteen days will be allowed for the first set of matches to be played off, and it is hoped members will not exceed that time, as by doing so the tournament will be protracted and the other competitors will be delayed from commencing the second series of matches. It has been arranged for the winners in the first set to play for the first, second and third prizes.
The committee, with the view of equalizing the play, has taken great pains to discover the relative strength of the respective players, so that neither should have any undue advantage, and has accordingly divided them into four classes- the first class giving the second a pawn and move, the third a pawn and two moves, and the fourth class a knight.
The following is the list of entries, together with their classification:-
First Class – Messrs J.M.Connell, C.Fisher, and A.G.M’Combe.
Second Class – Messrs W.H.Batten, R.Bristow, H.Deveril, T.W.Gaggin, J.A.Harvey, W.Hogarth, R.S.Mitchell, A.Mongredien, D.O’Connor, J.B.Partridge, F.W.Tatham, and C.M.Watson
Third Class – Messrs Davey, Kennedy, H.M.Pascoe and J.Taylor
Fourth Class – Messrs J.Campbell, J.P.Fennings, G.Fisher, J.Holdes, and J.A.Wilson.
The players have been paired as follows by lot:-
Batten – Holdes 0-1
Bristow-Gaggin
Campbell-M’Combe
Connell-Taylor 1-0
Davey-Partridge 1-0
Deveril-O’Connor 1-0
Fennings-Hogarth
C.Fisher-Pascoe
G.Fisher-Harvey 0-1
Kennedy-Mitchell
Mongredien-Tatham 0.5-0.5
Watson-Wilson 0.5-0.5
“The Ballarat Star” dated 25th September 1866.
The chess tournament, since its commencement has progressed favorably, and the chess-room is almost every evening crowded with players. Already no less than nine games have been played off, and more would probably have been concluded were it not that many of the competitors refrain from playing to the last moment, in order to make themselves proficient in the openings. The following is the list of the games already finished:- (see Part 1, BvR).
We give in detail the game played by Messrs O’Connor (white) and Deveril (black):-
(The comments in the game about some moves were actually made by the original reporter in 1866! BvR)
The Star offices on Sturt St. Ballarat