1927

WILLIAMSON SHIELD 1927

The chess column of the Belfast News-Letter for 11 August 1927 had the following report:

By drawing his adjourned game with W.J. Allen, P.J. McMahon has made sure of retaining the Williamson Shield and Belfast Championship for another year. The following table gives the complete score except for an adjourned game between A. Orr and P.J. McMahon, which is still pending:-

RANK PLAYER          PJM WJA JOH AO  TK  TOTAL 
1.   P. J. McMAHON   XX  1=  =1  =.  1-   4.5 
2.   W. J. ALLEN     0=  XX  01  11  1-   4.5 
3.   J. O'HAGAN      =0  10  XX  1=  1-   4.0 
4.   A. ORR          =.  00  0=  XX  1-   2.0 
5.   T. KIRKPATRICK  0*  0   0*  0   XX   0.0 
* Kirkpatrick retired from the contest after playing two games, and [those marked with an asterisk] went by default.

The report does not make clear why McMahon, with his total score the same as Allen, could be declared the winner (and no contemporary report on the result of the adjourned Orr-McMahon game has been found). The most likely explanation is that, even if McMahon lost the adjourned game to Orr, the tie-break would place McMahon first.