London, England 1889 (1)




Results
 
Crosstable scores
Name   Edo    Dev.   Score  /  Games    Class 
Lee, Francis    2378 (36) 11.5 / 14 
Bird, Henry    2461 (24) 10.5 / 14 
Loman, Rudolf    2301 (37) 9.5 / 14 
Müller, Oscar    2325 (39) 9.5 / 14 
Rolland    1949 (66) 9 / 14 
Smith, Stephen    2107 (54) 9 / 14 
Gibbons, Thomas    2102 (45) 8 / 14 
Pollock, William    2393 (29) 8 / 14 
Cole (1)    1571 (121) 4 / 14 
 
  Odds for class difference of 1: pawn and move
  Odds for class difference of 2: pawn and two moves
  Odds for class difference of 3: a knight
  Odds for class difference of 4: a rook
 

Event table notes

Event data
Name: Simpson's Divan Handicap Tournament
Place: London, England
Start date: 1 Nov. 1888
End date: Jan. 1889
 
Notes:
Only partial results available. The report in the British Chess Magazine (Feb. 1889, pp.52-53) gives total scores for the top 6 players, also given in the Chess Player's Chronicle (16 Jan. 1889, p.353). The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of 12 Jan. 1889 (p.468) gives all 15 players, their handicap class and their scores to date, though not all players had finished their games at that point. I give the scores of those for whom we have scores out of all 14 games. The British Chess Magazine puts Rolland in class 5 on p.53, but in class 4 on p.2, and the Chess Player's Chronicle and the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News put him in class 4. The odds given between classes is not given: I assume the usual scale of Pawn and Move, Pawn and Two Moves, Knight, and Rook for class differences of 1,2,3, and 4 respectively. This seems to be the right scale for the early 1890 Simpson's Divan Handicap (where Lee of class 1 gave Pawn and Move to Sellon of class 2), but the 1888 event used a different scale: Two Moves, Pawn and Move, Pawn and Two Moves, and Knight, so I may have this wrong here. Müller's score is given as +8-2=3 but must have been +8-3=3 to make his score equal to Loman's, with whom he shared 3rd and 4th prizes. It is possible that the missing point may have been due to a forfeited game against a player lower down the list, but I have no way of knowing, so I will just assume that he scored +8-3=3 like Loman. The date of the final report in the British Chess Magazine suggests that it lasted into January 1889.
 
References
Books
   Sergeant, Century of British Chess, page 209
Periodicals
   [BCM], vol. 8, no. 11, Nov. 1888, page 439
   [BCM], vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 1889, page 2
   [BCM], vol. 9, no. 2, Feb. 1889, page 52
   [CPC], vol. 10, no. 353, 16 Jan. 1889, page 353
   [ISDN], 8 Dec. 1888, page 338
   [ISDN], 22 Dec. 1888, page 403
   [ISDN], 12 Jan. 1889, page 486

Tournament information updated: 19 Aug. 2022