American Chess and Problem Association, 1878

R:
single set 3x#2-5 (5 pr. + sp. pr. for best problem)
 
Open to the world. No entry fee, although a voluntary membership subscription was suggested. Only one set per composer was allowed.
 
Additional prizes were announced, often by cooperating chess editors. They are documented in American Chess and Problem Association, 1878: Additional Awards
 
J:
Examination was performed by cooperating chess editors (presumably members of the General Committe of the A.C.P.A), and their readers.
 
Committee of Award: J. Elson, B. M. Neill, G. Reichhelm
 
Problems were rated on: Beauty of Idea, Neatness of Position, Merit of Construction, and Difficulty of Solution (0-6 point for each).
 
C:
1878-03-30
 
A:
1 pr. S. Loyd (Motto: A Fair Field and No Favor)
2 pr. W. A. Shinkman (Fair Play)
3 pr. C. C. Moore (Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Afternoon)
4 pr. W. Coates (Che Sara, Sara)
5 pr. X. Hawkins (Fellows, Stand Fast)
 
sp. pr. S. Loyd (A Fair Field and No Favor, prb. 3)
 
S:
p. 7: (Mar. 1878): late announcement, but with additional details
p. 127-128: (Aug. 1878): authorship of "Che Sara, Sara" set clarified; discovered faults in other problems
p. 239-240: (Jan. 1879): names and mottos of participants, reprinted from Cleveland Sunday Morning Voice
 
N:

The earliest announcement found so far is from Chicago Tribune, 1877-10-28. Competitors were recommended to send each problem to different chess columns to allow competition to start quickly, and presumably also to avoid popular columns to become bottlenecks.

21 problemists participated, but one set was incomplete and so was disqualified. Of the remaining, seven sets were found to be faulty. All names of problemists who sent in complete sets were published (except for the incomplete set).


There was some controversy after the publication of the awards in that S. Loyd was claimed (in Turf, Field and Farm? not verified) to have entered multiple sets for competition. The publication of the full list of participants may be in response to such claims.


As problems were published in multiple sources, and because columns occasionally reprinted contributed problems from other sources, there is no complete source information available. The source information for the diagrams is based on the information published in American Chess Journal. However, A.C.J. is not an impeccable source, so verification seemed desirable.

If a problem could be located, the source details include full date; if it could not be found with available sources, a '?' has been placed before the source details. In some cases, early reprints provide a terminus ante quem for when the original was printed.

In other cases, a '?' has been placed after a source date. This usually indicates a problem found in a cutting book, with date added in longhand, or with dates in the column head that probably reflect when the editor finished the column, but not necessarily when it was actually published.)

Prizes

Prize: 1 pr. S. Loyd

1

#2

2

#3

3

#4

Prize: 2 pr. W. A. Shinkman

1

#3

2

#3

3

#4

Prize: 3 pr. C. C. Moore

1

#4

2

#3

3

#4

Prize: 4 pr. W. Coates

1

#2

2

#3

3

#4

[*] = Faulty: Multiple key moves

Prize: 5 pr. X. Hawkins

1

#3

2

#3

3

#4

[*] = Faulty: Multiple key moves

Prize: Best problem S. Loyd

3

#4