Canadian Championship 1898 prizes

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  • Canadian Championship 1898 prizes

    From the "American Chess Magazine" 1897-98:

    http://www.archive.org/details/ameri...ssma00unkngoog

    Here are the prizes for the 1898 Canadian Championship "to be held this Easter at Toronto" (lots of other Canadian content as well - check the index at the beginning):

    1st: silver trophy donated by the Orillia CC ("at present held by J.E. Narraway of Ottawa"), and gold medal.
    2nd: "travelling dressing portmanteau".
    3rd: gold medal.
    4th: "travelling clock in leather case".
    5th: "Statu Quo" chessmen and board.
    6th: "set of Staunton's chessmen".

    Intermediate group:

    1st: gold medal.
    2nd: travelling clock in leather case.
    3rd: case of silver-mounted pipes.
    4th: case of razors.
    5th and 6th: set of Staunton's chessmen.

  • #2
    Re: Canadian Championship 1898 prizes

    There had certainly been cash prizes in the Canadian championship before this time and soon would be again, but the turn of the century seems to have corresponded to a time of debate about amateurism versus professionalism in chess, hence the non-monetary prizes. In 1899 Thomas Piper of Victoria challenged the new champion Magnus Smith to a match for a large monetary stake; the challenge was widely decried as turning chess into a professional game. The Montreal press noted that if Smith

    "were to accept Mr. Piper’s challenge, he would have to have backers, and all the nauseous machinery of professionalism. There is no game where it would be more unwelcome. We do not want to have chess players sneering at each other like pugilists, and clamoring for higher stakes. The chess professional in Canada is not much in evidence, for the very good reason that he is not wanted. An occasional visit from the leading exponents of the game is appreciated, but it has been made very clear that the hangers-on at the clubs, on the lookout for quarter or half-dollar games, is not welcome.... Altogether, Canada is a most unpromising field for the chess professional, and there is no use disguising the fact. It is no cause for shame, or even for regret. When chess becomes a business, it ceases to be a recreation, so far as the players of Canada are concerned."

    (Full discussion in BCCF Bulletin #158)

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