Living Chess in Vancouver
May 20, 1905
"Considerable interest is being taken in living chess games that are to be played in the Drillhall next Saturday evening. There will be two games played, and in connection with each the orchestra will play an overture, entrance march and exit march. The entertainment is under the auspices of the Vancouver Chess and Checker Club, and the games will be between Mr. J. McA. Cameron and Mr. P. Dunne, and Mr. A. C. Brydone-Jack and Mr. W. Francis.
The pieces will be represented as follows: Kings, Master H. Minchin and Master Harold Hall; queens, Miss Connie Lucas and Miss Zella Hawe; bishops, Miss Lyndall de la Capilaine, Miss Violet Gardiner, Miss K. Trendall and Miss Maude Ferguson; knights, Miss Ida Gardiner, Miss E. Burns, Miss M. Burns and Miss C. Trendall; Castles, Miss L. Hawe, Miss Alodia Heffing and the Misses Mawdsley; pawns, boys of Christ Church Boys' Brigade.
The master of ceremonies will be Mr. J. Schmerl, and the costumes are being prepared by Miss Hicks."
[Daily Province, Thursday, May 18, 1905]
"A fair attendance greeted the interesting and elaborately prepared human chess match played in the Drillhall on Saturday evening.
The board was laid out on the floor of the large hall, white cardboard squares alternating with thedark of the natural floor. On these squares were stationed the living chessmen. The players were Messrs. J. McA. Cameron and P. Dunne for the red, and Messrs. A. C. Brydone-Jack and W. Francis for the white. The players occupied stations on the galleries at each end of the hall and as one moved on a small chessboard the other called the play and it was duplicated on the gigantic board on the floor below. Mr. Jacob Schmerl acted as master of ceremonies.
In forty-six moves the first game went to the whites, and after fifty moves the second game was won by the reds. To save time both games had been previously played out on small boards. It took the players in the original instance four hours to play the first and six hours to play the second game.
The band of the Sixth Duke's Own Regiment was in attendence, and its music greatly enlivened the proceddings. The kings, queens, bishops, knights and castles were becomingly attired in robes of crimson and white. With the exception of the two kings, the figures were represented by young girls. The pawns were boys who wore sashes of red and white."
[Daily Province, Monday, May 22, 1905]