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Scottish Championship 1934
The 47th congress of the Scottish Chess Association opened on Friday, December 29, 1933 and ran to the following Tuesday. Although held under the auspices of Glasgow Ladies' Chess Club, the event was played in the rooms of the Glasgow CC at the Athenaeum.
Fairhurst won the championship for the third time in succession, though he was held to a draw by a newcomer to the competition, J.B. McGibbon, who would prove to be an awkward opponent for Fairhurst in later games. Despite that good start, though, McGibbon could not sustain the performance.
Aitken, then at Oxford University, would later prove to be Fairhurst's strongest rival in Scotland.
Combe made a serious oversight in his game with Aitken, and Page and Walsworth also made serious oversights which cost them points.
Scottish ch 1934 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pts 1. W.A. Fairhurst ■ 1 1 ½ 1 1 4½ 2. J.M. Aitken 0 ■ 1 1 1 1 4 3. R.F. Combe 0 0 ■ ½ ½ 1 2 4. J.B. McGibbon ½ 0 ½ ■ 0 ½ 1½ 5. G. Page 0 0 ½ 1 ■ 0 1½ 6. H.N.J. Walsworth 0 0 0 ½ 1 ■ 1½ There were only three entries for the Scottish Ladies' Championship, a particularly poor turnout considering the number of members of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Ladies' Clubs: Mrs F.F. Thomson, the title holder; Mrs J. Brockett and Mrs A. Sunter.
They contested a double-round event, which resulted in a tie between Mrs Thomson and Mrs Brockett, with the former winning the play-off.
The Scottish Boys' Championship - also a double-round event - was contested by A.A. Thomson (son of the above Mrs Thomson), A.G. Burnett, Roy Grist and R. Brown. It also resulted in a tie, between Thomson and Burnett, with the latter winning a deciding play-off game. Burnett was boy champion in 1931, Thomson in 1932, and they shared the title in 1933.
Sources
Glasgow Herald chess columns: 30 December 1933; 6 January 1934
Falkirk Herald columns: 3 January 1934
Alan McGowan
Historian/archivist, Chess ScotlandUpdated 09/2/2022