Kate Belinda Finn

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Catherine "Kate" Belinda Finn (born December 16, 1864 in Cork , † March 8, 1932 in London ) was a British chess player . She won the first ever British women's chess championship in 1904 and defended that title the following year.

Life

She was the only daughter of the doctor Eugene Finn and his wife Belinda, nee McCarthy. After the death of her father she lived with her mother in well-off circumstances in the London borough of Kensington until her death in 1906 . She later lived with a younger woman, Eileen Florence Hodson Moriarty (1880–1945). Finn died at the age of 67 years at a pneumonia . She left a fortune of £ 6,000 .

Chess career

She learned to play chess from her mother, who often accompanied her to tournaments. Kate Finn was a founding member of the Ladies' Chess Club , which was founded in London in January 1895. The club developed a brisk activity and played several comparative matches against other clubs in the following months. Four members took part in a women's tournament organized during the 1895 Hastings International Chess Tournament . Lady Edith Thomas won, Finn took fourth place. In the summer of 1897 Finn took part in the first international women's tournament, which was held in London and won by Mary Rudge . There were 32 registrations for the tournament, from which 20 participants were selected. After eight rounds in which she had scored 3.5 points, Finn stopped playing because the warm weather and the tight schedule of the tournament (19 rounds in eleven days) were too much for her. In June 1900 Finn won the B tournament at the Annual Congress of the Kent Chess Association , in which four men and two women took part, with 4 points from 5 games. In March 1901 she won the championship of the Ladies' Chess Club . In a simultaneous performance on 25 boards by Isidor Gunsberg in December 1902, Finn was the only participant to win her game.

At the British Championship in Hastings, which was held for the first time in 1904 and was organized by the newly founded British Chess Federation , she only lost half a point in 11 games and won with 3 points ahead of the runner-up. She received a cash prize of £ 10 and a gold medal. An illustrated article about her then appeared in British Chess Magazine (1904, pp. 399-400). This was the most extensive report on a chess player in this magazine to date. A year later Finn was able to defend the title of national champion in Southport . This time she scored 9.5 points and was again without defeat. At the championship in 1906 she did not take part because of a serious illness of her mother.

At the women's tournament as part of the international chess tournament in Ostend in 1907, she came tied for first place with Grace Curling and won a later playoff with one win and two draws. In 1911 Finn won another international women’s tournament organized by Theodor von Scheve in San Remo . The first price was 1,000 francs . The tournament table and games are not recorded.

In later years, her eyesight deteriorated and her health deteriorated. Until 1931, however, she still played team competitions for the Imperial Chess Club in the London League .

skill level

Kate Finn's skill level is difficult to assess because only a few of her games have survived. According to retrospective calculations, it had its best historical Elo rating of 2095 in 1905 .

The 1903 Wiener Schachzeitung published a game from a tournament in Plymouth, which she lost to Wilfred Charles Palmer (1873–1914) in only 10 moves, which led the editor to the following remark:

“This rapid defeat should lead some psychologists to view the game as a valuable contribution to the popular chapter“ Inferiority of female intelligence ”. On the other hand, it must be noted that Miss Finn is well acquainted with the intricacies of the game of chess and has excelled herself on numerous previous occasions. "

- WSZ 1903, p. 290

The male chess players she was able to defeat in tournament games include Rudolf Loman (1903), Georg Schories (1905) and George Alan Thomas (1906).

One of her winning games from the 1905 British Championship was reprinted in the Manchester Guardian on August 25, 1905 . The name of her opponent is not known because it was abbreviated as NN by the editorial team .

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. e3 Bb4 7. Bd3 Qa5 8. Dc2 Nbd7 9. Nf3 0-0 10. 0-0 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Ne4 12. Be7 Re8 13.Bb4 Qc7 14.c4 Qd8 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Rac1 f5 17. Qc7 Ndf6 18. Ne5 Bd7 19. Qxd8 Texd8 20. Rc7 Tab8 21. Be7 Re8 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 23.Nxd7 Nxd7 24.Rxd7 „ and won ".

Footnotes

  1. This date is based on research by John Saunders in the Ancestry genealogy database. Other sources also give 1870 as the year of birth.
  2. The Ladies' Chess Club: The First Year , Chess.com, April 3, 2011
  3. Joost van Winsen: The Ladies Made an International Move , Chess Archeology, June 2016
  4. ^ The Ladies' Chess Club: Middle Years , Chess.com, April 11, 2011
  5. BritBase Chess: 1st British Championship 1904, Hastings , October 10, 2017
  6. ^ Robert B. Tanner: Vera Menchik. McFarland, Jefferson 2016. p. 8
  7. ^ John Saunders: Grace Moore Curling (née Ellis) (1875-1958), 1908 British Ladies' Chess Champion , March 6, 2018
  8. Edward Winter : San Remo, 1911 , Chess Notes 6627
  9. Edo Ratings, Finn, Ms. KB , September 22, 2017
  10. WSZ 1903, p. 290
  11. Nun allo sbaraglio! , SoloScacchi, November 1, 2011

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