Bird, H.E. – Wisker, J. 1873 (2)




Results
 
Name   Edo    Dev.   Score  /  Games 
Bird, Henry    2497 (33) 7.5/13 
Wisker, John    2500 (35) 5.5/13 
 
Status: formal

Event table notes

Event data
Place: London, England
Start date: Apr. 1873
End date: 10 May 1873
 
Notes:
Sergeant, Feenstra Kuiper, Sunnucks, Golombek and Di Felice give result +6-4=2; the Era of 8 June 1873 (p.14) gives a result of +7-4=3, as do Zavatarelli, and Hooper and Whyld; La Grande Storia degli Scacchi gives 7.5-5.5. The June 1873 issue of the Chess Player's Chronicle (unnumbered page), the 2 June 1873 issue of the Westminster Papers (p.25), and the English Mechanic of 6 Jun. 1873 give +6-4=2 and say that Wisker has given up the match as a result of ill health. The Illustrated London News of 14 June 1873 says the score was +7-4=3 for Bird, but one of Bird's wins was 'resigned', i.e., forfeited by Wisker, giving as result of actual games played +6-4=3, consistent with the score given by La Grande Storia degli Scacchi and by Tim Harding (pp.118,365). Bell's Life in London of 31 May 1873 (p.12) and the Field (24 May 1873) also give +6-4=3. I take this latter result as correct. The sequence of games given in the Westminster Papers of 1 May 1873 (p.9) date the last game of the previous match to 5 Apr. 1873, and the second game of this match to 9 Apr. 1873, so the first game must have occurred between those two dates. The Westminster Papers of 1 July 1873 (p.55) dates the last game to 10 May 1873.
 
References
Books
   Di Felice, Chess Results, 1747-1900, page 58
   Elo, Rating of Chessplayers, page 90
   Feenstra Kuiper, 100 Jahre Schachzweikämpfe, page 20
   Golombek, Golombek's Encyclopedia, page 344
   Harding, Eminent Victorian Chess Players, page 118, 365
   Hooper and Whyld, Oxford Companion (1st ed.), page 379
   Sergeant, Century of British Chess, page 162
   Sunnucks, Encyclopaedia of Chess, page 569
   Zavatarelli, Ignatz Kolisch, page 285
Periodicals
   [BLL], no. 2761, 31 May 1873, page 12
   [CPC], vol. 3, no. 9, June 1873
   [EM], 6 June 1873
   [Era], vol. 35, no. 1802, 6 Apr. 1873, page 3
   [Era], vol. 35, no. 1811, 8 June 1873, page 14
   [Fld], 12 Apr. 1873
   [Fld], 24 May 1873
   [Fld], 13 June 1873
   [HCM], vol. 1, no. 8, May 1873, page 156
   [HCM], vol. 1, no. 9, June 1873, page 176
   [HCM], vol. 1, no. 10, July 1873, page 205
   [ILN], vol. 62, no. 1756, 26 Apr. 1873, page 403
   [ILN], vol. 62, no. 1762, 7 June 1873, page 547
   [ILN], vol. 62, no. 1763, 14 June 1873, page 571
   [WP], vol. 6, no. 1, 1 May 1873, page 1, 9
   [WP], vol. 6, no. 2, 2 June 1873, page 25
   [WP], vol. 6, no. 3, 1 July 1873, page 55
Web
   Mann, Steve.  [Yorkshire Chess History - John Wisker]
   Sericano, C.  [I matches 1865/79]

Match information updated: 6 Mar. 2021