If you have any information / photos related to chess history in Southland please contact us.
Early days
The earliest mention of an Invercargill based chess club can be found in Issue 1291 of the Otago Witness, published on the 2nd September, 1876. At the time the club was only a few weeks old and had 42 members.
In September of 1887, Invercargill played the Dunedin Chess and Drafts club in a Telegraphic chess match. The final score for Invercargill was 3 wins, 3 losses, and 3 draws, making the match a draw.
Major Events in Invercargill
In 1992 the South Island Chess Championship was held in Invercargill. The event was held at the Ascott Hotel and was well attended with 33 players taking part. Click here to see full write up.
Following a successful South Island Champs, Invercargill hosted the 101st New Zealand Chess Congress in 1993/1994, the first time holding the event in Invercargill. There is a full write up of this event available in the NZ Chess Magazine. If you check out the names in the Rapid event you might see a familiar one! Our club president, Gary McLean took part in the event, he looks forward to hopefully competing in this event in Invercargill again some day!
Jack Erskine (John Angus Erskine) 1873-1960
“Born in Invercargill, he was a son of Robert Erskine, who migrated from Scotland to Southland, New Zealand, at the age of 16. Jack was educated at South School, and became the first Southland youth to win a Junior Scholarship to the University of New Zealand in 1890. The next year, he chose to enroll at Canterbury College. He passed his final B.A. exams in 1893. With the start of the new term in April 1894, Ernest Rutherford and J.A. Erskine applied to use a basement room in which to carry out electrical experiments. It was here that Erskine investigated the magnetic screening of high-frequency oscillations by various metals, an offshoot of Rutherford’s pioneering work. Results of his research appeared in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute in 1895.”
“He took 11th place in the London 1899 chess tournament (second section won by Frank James Marshall). Erskine returned to New Zealand, to shortly work as a boiler stoker, and then began working in industry, in the United States (1903–1904), and Australia (1905–1920). After 1920 he worked as a private consultant in Melbourne. He twice won New Zealand Chess Championship at Wellington 1928/29 (with a 100% score: 8/8) and Christchurch 1934/35.”
Erskine left a bequest to Cantebury University that still funds fellowships today.
Joeseph Edwards
J. Edwards was based in Invercargill and played in the club here for four years from 1886-1890. He represented the club at Congress in Wellington but did not place. He later won the championship in 1894. Edwards also served on the NZ Chess Association Executive in 1902. Edwards died in 1922.
Ref: paper’s past, obituaries, NZCA
Former Prime Minister Joseph Ward was patron of the Southland Chess Club when he died on 8th of July 1930. He donated a “trophy” chess cabinet to the club which went on display in a store window on Tay Street before being awarded to the winner of a local championship. We wonder what ever happened to that?
Special thanks to Ross Jackson for providing much of the information on this page.