Barnett – Whitmarsh, Imperial v Lensbury Match 1925

Sir Richard Whieldon Barnett, 1929

by Lafayette (Lafayette Ltd), whole-plate film negative, 18 October 1929
By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40802266

Richard Whieldon Barnett, 1863-1930, the 1886 Irish champion, was described by Gerald Abrahams in Not Only Chess (London, 1974) as follows:

“[T]he late Sir Richard Barnett, who had an external appearance that could have been used by any caricaturist as a specimen of the huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ species—he was indeed a great Bisley marksman—played a polished and clever game of chess, when at his best.”

(via A Chessplaying Statesman, Edward Winter, Chess Notes, 2002, with additions).

He does not seem to have played much in Ireland after his win in the 1886 championship; he appears to have moved to London sometime in the 1880’s, and played only in the first Ulster championship in 1892, where he did badly. However, he remained active in London in the House of Commons and elsewhere. One of his later games, played almost forty years after his victory on the Irish championship, appeared in the December 1925 issue of BCM:

Barnett - Whitmarsh, Imperial C.C. v Lensbury match 1925

Barnett – Whitmarsh
Imperial C.C. v Lensbury match 1925 (1)
32. ?

White has an overwhelming advantage. Barnett pointed out after the game that he could have won here via 32. Ng6+ hxg6 33. fxg6 Rff8 34. Nf5 Bxf5 35. gxf5. Indeed, he went on to miss several more chances, and the game was eventually adjudicated as a draw by Amos Burn.

[Click to replay the full game (which is not available in the ICU games archive as of the date of this post).]

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