Of the event one contemporary newspaper reported “one of the most enjoyable meetings in the year is that held annually in the first week of January at the Craigside Hydro, Llandudno”. That’s a hotel in a coastal town in northern Wales.
One reason for this event being enjoyable was that the weather conditions at the seaside resort at that time of the year offered a nice change from the gloom weather that prevailed in most parts of the country.
Previous tournaments had been divided into two classes, but for this event a new format consisting of three classes was used. The Cup tournament was for previous winners of the Craigside Cup or of an open event. The First Class event was for for recognized first-class amateurs and the Second Class event was for players ineligible for the first two classes.
The First Class event was won by Anthony Dod ahead of 2) Charles Sherrard. Newman Clissild, Henry Cran, Arthur Mackenzie and Bernard Wilmot all tied for places 3-6.
This section used a rather curious scoring system known as the Lasker System. Drawn games were scored as ¼ point for each player and a second game had to be played. The winner got ½ point and if the second game was drawn bothe players got another ¼ point. Fortunately, or oddly, there were no drawn games in this section!
The Second Class section was won by Thomas Billington (7-1) ahead of Mrs. Lousia Fagan (6-2). There was also a Handicap event and Burn, Atkins and Gunston taking the three prizes.
William Gunston–George Bellingham1–0C14Craigside Cup Tourney2Llandudno01.01.1901Stockfish 16
C14: French Defense 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 4.g5 e7 5.e5 fd7 6.xe7 xe7 7.b5 d8 8.c3 a6 9.a3 c5 10.f3 c6 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 c6 12.e2 a5+ 13.d2 xd2+ 14.xd2 b6 15.hc1 b7 Draw agreed. Petrov,S
(2129)-Dimitrovski,J (2208) Struga MKD 2014 11.c2 c4 So far the opening
had bee known book moves, but this move is not especially good because it's
too slow. Black should counter in the cente. 11...0-0= 12.d3 f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.0-0 b6 15.d2 b7 16.g5 ae8 equals. Molina,J-Gershman,J
Argentina 1938 0-1 11...b6 12.b3 cxd4 13.cxd4 f6 14.exf6 xf6 Equals.
Wielecki,Z (2350)-Raszka,J (2215) Bielsko Biala 1991 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 f6 13.exf6 xf6 14.d3 0-0 Equals. Pilnik,H-Gershman,J Argentina 1938 12.g3 0-0 13.h3 e7 14.h4 Somewhat better was 14.O-O as the B is out of place
here because it no lonfer defends e5. Black's next move takes immediate
advantage of that fact. f6 Completely equalizing. 15.f4 A tactical
mistake...his B on h3 is undefended. 15.exf6 xf6 16.g2 e5 17.0-0
keeps the chances equal. 15...fxe5 16.dxe5 Black could now have obtained
a decisive advantage. dxe5 Good, but 16...Rxf4 was much better. 16...xf4 17.f3 17.gxf4 xh4+ 18.e2 xh3 17...e4+ 18.f1 c5
Black has a winning advantage. 17.fxe5 xe5 18.f1 d3+ 19.e2 Even
though he is a piece down black is clearly better here, but his next move lets
white offf the hook because it's not aggressive enough. d7 19...e5
is harder for white to meet. After 20.f5 c7 21.d2 h8 22.g5 g6 23.ce3 e6 Black is slightly better. 23...gxf5 is also acceptable. 24.xf5 xf5 25.xf5 g7 26.xg7+ xg7 27.b3 But here white has equalized. 20.d2 e5 21.xd7 The undefended B has disappeared...a plus for white. xd7 22.e3
This prevents ...Qg4+, but the cure is worse than the disease! 22.g5 keeps black's advantage to a minimum after d4 23.cxd4 exd4 24.f5 22...h3 Black now has what should be a decisive advantage, but he is going
to let it slip. 23.hf5 ad8 Well played! 23...xh2+
looks inviting, but after 24.d1 xb2+ 25.c2 xd2+ 26.xd2 f7 27.c2 d3 28.xd5 af8 29.g4 with complications that, theoretically at least should
favor white. 24.d1 d4 To quote one commentator of the day...White is
being smashed off the board and deservedly so. But he now gets lucky. 25.g2 Now black tries to win in a flasjy fashion by making what he thought was a
temporary Q sacrifice. dxe3 A gross blunder. 25...xg2 leads to a
mundane win. 26.xg2 g6 27.e7+ g7 28.d2 fe8 29.f5+ gxf5 30.xf5 f8 with a decisive advantage. 26.e7+ The refutation of black's last move. 26.xh3 This is probably what black expected, but even so, his advantage
would be minimal after f4+ 27.e1 xh3 28.xe3 xf1+ 29.xf1 Prevents ...
Rd2. Black is only slightly better here. 26...h8 27.g6+ Very
nice! g8 27...hxg6 28.xh3+ 28.d5+ This is even nicer than
his last move and black resigned. To quote a contemporary commentator...
White's triple whammy is very attractive, but I feel we have to label it a
cheapo because of the poor play that preceded it. 28.d5+ e6 28...xd5 29.xf8# 29.xe6+ f7 30.xf7# 1–0
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