Frideswide Rowland

     Back in October 1918, the United States had been participating in World War I for more than a year, but there was a deadly killer working at home as well.
     Cities were gripped with fear, school classes was canceled, places of worship, theaters and other places of public amusement were shut down. In October alone 195,000 Americans died, making it the deadliest month in American history. The killer was influenza. 
     The 1918 Influenza Pandemic, perhaps the second deadliest disease outbreak in human history lasted just 15 months, but 500 million people worldwide fell sick and it killed between 3-5 percent of the world’s population.
     By chance, today I stumbled across an interesting article in Navy Times about how historical disease detectives are solving the mysteries of the World War I flu epidemic. Read more… 
     One of the flu’s victims was Frideswide Fanny Rowland who died at at her home in Wicklow, Ireland on February 25, 1919, when the flu pandemic was at its height. She was said to be 75, but depending on the source, she was born anywhere from 1843 to 1851. The year 1843 seem the most likely. 
      Frideswide Fanny (nee Beechey) Rowland was born in Galway, Ireland. Her father Richard Beechey (1808-1895) was landed gentry in County Westmeath. The landed gentry were a British social class consisting of land owners who could live entirely from rental income. They were distinct from, and socially below, the aristocracy, but often just as rich. 
     She got seriously interested in chess at a late age, sometime in her thirties. In addition to chess, Mrs. Rowland wrote poetry and won prizes for pictures of flowers and she made artificial roses. At the 1881 Plymouth Art and Industrial Exhibition, she won a bronze medal for her artificial roses. In the 1883 Cork Exhibition her artificial roses earned a certificate of merit. 
     Most famous for her problem composing, problem books and newspaper chess columns, Mrs. Rowland also engaged in correspondence chess which she played into her old age until failing eyesight made it too difficult. 
     At the age of 40 she married Thomas Benjamin Rowland, a gentleman, of Mountain View, Clontarf. Rowland was also a chess promoter and so a number of chess editors and prominent players presented the couple a Staunton pattern ivory set with a congratulatory letter. The couple also received a silver salver from James Crake, a noted chess journalist of the day. 
     The two of them ran chess columns in various newspapers and magazines. They also ran a chess club in their home and even though they were landed gentry, the club was noted for its social inclusiveness. 
     Depending on the source, in 1881 or 1882 she was the first women to win a prize in a problem composing competition and around that same time she began editing chess columns for various newspapers. 

     In 1883 her book Chess Blossoms was published. The title was reminiscent of the name of the ship, Blossom, on which her father and uncle had sailed together. The book contained 46 of her problems and all but one were mate in two. A notable subscriber was J.H. Zukertort. 

     That same year she either ran or won (the British Chess Magazine entry was not clear) the First International Problem Tourney for Ladies. 
     In 1884 Mr. and Mrs. Rowland co-authored Chess Fruits: A Selection Of Direct Mate, Self-mate, Picture And Letter Problems, Poems And Humourous Sketches, From The Compositions Of Thomas B. Rowland; A Few Of Frideswide F. Rowland's Latest Productions, Popular Games By Leading Players. 

     The book, published in Dublin, had a red cloth with black lettering and decorative border. It contained 51 two-move problems, 16 three-move problems and one self-mate as well as anecdotes and poetry. Solutions were in the back.
     They sent a complimentary copy to Queen Victoria and got a perfunctory form letter back thanking them for the gift. In 1885, the British Chess Magazine, which was selling the book, gave it an unfavorable review. Mr. Rowland was upset about the review and as a result there were some acrimonious letters exchanged between the editor of the BCM and Rowland. 
     In 1899, Mrs. Rowland edited Pollock Memories: A collection of Chess Games, Problems, etc., etc., in which she added material from her own reminiscences of W.H.K. Pollock. 

     Starting in 1905, Mrs. Rowland published the four-paged The Four-Leaved Shamrock, Ireland’s only chess magazine. When the magazine ceased publication in 1914 due to Mrs. Rowland’s failing eyesight, it was holding a midsummer problem tourney in which the solvers were the judges. About thirty problems were sent in and after the Shamrock ceased publication all of the problems were published and commented on in the chess column of the Cork Weekly News. 

     In 2009, T.D. Harding published his thesis, Battle at long range-correspondence chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1914, a social and cultural history. You can download the 714 page thesis in pdf format HERE. It’s chocked full of interesting stuff! 
     Mrs. Rowland’s opponent in this game was Eliza Foot, President of the Women's Chess Association in New York. The game was a tough battle that was marred by a recording error by Mrs. Rowland and possibly one by Mrs. Foote.  Other than that, the game was generally played at a high level; the first 12 moves were repeated over the board over 100 years later by a couple of players rated 2500-2600.

Play Online Chess

[Event "Women's Team Postal Match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1895.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frideswide Rowland (Ireland)"]
[Black "Eliza Campbell Foot (USA)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {The Berlin Defnese
has long had a reputation as solid and drawish. It was a long time favorite
of Arthur Bisguier before it became popular in recent years.} 4. d3 {This
quiet alternative to the more common 4.0-0, 4.d4, or 4.Nc3 (This last would
transpose into the Four Knights Game) was no doubt played because at the time
this game was played Steinitz's often played 4.d3 and scored many spectacular
successes with it.} 4... Ne7 {This odd move is he Mortimer Defense. Black
intends to reroute the knight to g6. The move loses a lot of time in the
opening and so can be considered inferior to either 4...d6 or 4...Bc5.
However, it does set a trap. If white now plays 5.Nxe5?? c6! wins a piece
because if the B retreats black picks up the N with 6...Qa5+ So, white would
have to meet 5... c6 with 6.Nxf7 and settle for getting two Ps for the piece.
Note that after 5. Nxe5 c6 white can try 6.Nc4 preventing ...Qa5+ and
threatening a smothered mate by Nd6. Black's best line is then 6...Ng6 and if
the B retreats to a4 black has the P-fork 7...b5. White's best shot would be
to tray and complicate things with 7.e5 but after 7...Nd5 he is worse off than
if he just sacs the N on f7.} 5. Nc3 Ng6 6. h4 {This is probably the best as
black can't very well allow the P to advance to h5.} 6... h5 {Not as bad as
it's made out to be by Stockfish which prefers something more prosaic like
7.d7 or 7.Bc4 or 7.Bg5.} 7. Ng5 {Instead of her next move Mrs. Foot should
have played either 7...Bb4 or 7...Bc5 so as to be able to meet Bc4 with
...O-O.} 7... c6 8. Bc4 d5 {Forced.} 9. exd5 {After her next move black is
left with a greatly inferior position. After the correct 9...b5 10.Bb3 cxd5
the complications guarantee a difficult fight.} 9... cxd5 10. Nxd5 Nxd5 11.
Qf3 {White's attack on f7 is decisive.} 11... Be6 12. Nxe6 {These same moves
were played 110 years later in the game Efimenko,Z (2601)-Cherniaev,A (2509),
Coventry 2005. In that game black continued with the somewhat better
12...fxe6 but he lost anyway. Thsi is impressive...in this game both players
have been playing at the 2500-2600 level.} 12... Nxh4 {At this point Mrs
Rowland made what was the bane of postal players ever since that form of play
was invented...a recording error. She intended to write 13. QxN but instead
wrote 13.NxQ. Indeed, 13.Qxd5 Qxd5 14.Nc7+ secures the win. White could also
secure the win with 13.Rxh4 and if 13...fxe6 14.Bb5+ Ke7 15. Bg5+ Either way
black just gets slaughtered.} 13. Nxd8 Nxf3+ 14. gxf3 Rxd8 { Black is right
back in the game now.} 15. Bd2 Bc5 {White would probably be better advised to
play Kf1-g2 bringing the K nearer to the black K-side Ps and at the same time
connecting her Rs.} 16. Rh2 Ne7 17. Be3 Bxe3 {This move straightening out
white's Ps isn't to black's liking, but there isn't much choice.} 18. fxe3
Nf5 {Black prepares the advance h4. White should now play 19.e4! and meet
19...Nd4 (Thsi looks awkward for white, but she will get sufficient
counterplay after...) 20.Kf2 Nxc2 21.Rg1 and Rg5} 19. Bb5+ Ke7 20. Kf2 h4 21.
e4 {This is now ineffective because 21...Nd4 gains time by attacking the B.
Probably she should have played 21.Bc4.} 21... Nd4 22. Ba4 b5 23. Bb3 {Here
black should adapt a plan that slowly limits white's options: moves like
...g5, ...f6 ...a5 etc.} 23... Nxb3 {This wrong because it results in a double
R ending which, as they say, are always drawn.} 24. axb3 {A double R endgame
occurred} 24... Ra8 25. Ra5 a6 26. c4 {Black would have meaningful advantage
after 26...g5.} 26... Rab8 27. c5 {Taking on a6 is no better or worse. After
27.Rxa6 bxc4 the position is about even.} 27... Ra8 28. b4 {White has a
protected passed P on c5 and a backward P on d3. Black has a backward P on a6
and a protected passed P on h4. Who is better?! Stockfish favors black by a
little less that a P.} 28... g5 {Black has a new protected passed pawn: h4}
29. Rh3 {This is a really nasty mistake that leave the R badly misplaced.
29.Ke2 defending the d-Pawn was much, much better. More importantly, after the
black R invades on d4 white can play Kd2-c3 and use the K to defend the P on
b4. For her part, black could now have won the game with 29...Rhd8 and after
...Rd4 white could not have prevented a decisive breakthough on the Q side as
her K is too far away and the other R has to watch the h-Pawn.} 29... Ke6
{This doesn't throw away the win but now her advantage is not nearly as
great.} 30. Ke3 {Black should now keep up the pressure with 30...Rhd8 and
...Rd4.} 30... f5 {After this white can establish equality with 31.exf5+ or
even by retreating he Rs to h1 and/or a1.} 31. d4 { But this loses.} 31...
exd4+ 32. Kxd4 {Now 32...Rad8+ would have been decisive.} 32... fxe4 33. Kxe4
Rhf8 34. Kd3 {Black has a number of ways to win here: 34...Rf4, 34... Kf5 or
even 34...Rfd8+} 34... Rxf3+ {How do you explain this gross blunder that
immediately transforms a win into a loss? Did Mrs. Foot make a recording
mistake or did she simply miscalculate the strength of her connected g- and
h-Pawns? Nobody knows. Years later in 1909 Mrs. Rowland reported that Mrs.
Foot won a second game that was never published. Why was the second game
played and was it official? Nobody knows that either.} 35. Rxf3 1-0