James A. Watt
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Winner of the Hastings & St Leonards Club Championship in 1912
http://www.chessarch.com/excavations/0007_napier/napier.shtml
There's a brief mention of him in the Book of the Hastings International Masters' Chess Tournament, 1922, On p.9 of the book we learn that 'Mr. J. A. Watt, of the Waverley Hotel', accommodated some of the players. This may possibly be J. A. Watt's only appearance in formal chess literature, but he is mentioned a good few times in Sussex chess records and in the chess column of the Hastings & St. Leonards Observer . |
| "Watt played for Sussex as early as November 1901 (possibly earlier - there are some gaps in the record around the turn of the century). From much the same date he was a regular in the Hastings Club's first team, and while never one of its strongest players gained something of a reputation as a giant-killer. In September of 1912 he had the honour of encountering the great Frank Marshall when playing board 1 for Hastings in a friendly match against Tunbridge Wells (unsurprisingly, he lost). He played (with F. D. Yates, G. A. Thomas and others) in the First Class Tournament at the Kent & Sussex Congress of 1913, defeating Thomas in their individual game. And in March 1920 he defeated Kostich in a simul held at the Hastings Club. Watts remained active through the 1920s, taking part in the Hastings Club's tour of Belgium and Holland in the summer of 1923. The last time I find his name mentioned is in 1929, when he played on board 14 for Sussex in a match against Surrey. |
| "Watt was a keen correspondence player, and represented the South (on board 40) in the North v South correspondence match of 1900-1901. In 1925 he won the Sussex Correspondence Championship. |
| "Of J. A. Watt as a person I know almost nothing, but in E. J. Ackroyd's chess column in the Hastings & St. Leonards Observer in 1922 there's a satirical reference to Watt 'with a long Corona-Corona cigar, ... busy putting up a smoke barrage in the hopes of obscuring his own game', and subsequently 'exchang[ing] his Corona for a Calabash and eventually succeed[ing] in asphyxiating his opponent', from which we may deduce that he was a heavy smoker (maybe it went with the profession of hotelier!)." |
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Here are a couple of Mr J. A. Watt's games.
Watt,JA - Tillard,Col GH - Hastings v Tunbridge Wells board 2, 30.11.1899
Paley Hughes,WA - Watt, JA - Chapman Cup, 1908
The Chapman Cup was a popular tournament in the Hastings CC and the trophy was presented by Horace Chapman, a very successful club president, in 1900. It is not known what happened to the solid silver cup, which seems to have disappeared by the end of World War I (and probably earlier).
Mr J. A. Watt also won the East Sussex Queen in 1898.
Please see medal below purchased via ebay from a dealer in Canada.
J. A. Watt East Sussex Queen 1898 - Front
J. A. Watt East Sussex Queen 1898 - Back
