McArthur Cup final preview

125 years ago Lewes defeated Horsham in the first ever McArthur Cup final. The competition, which began in the 1888-89 season, was named after Sgt. Major William McArthur of the Royal Sussex Regiment. He had been a founder member of the Chichester CC in 1877 and was a keen composer of chess problems as well as a prominent correspondence player. He had been a secretary of the Sussex Chess Association and following his death in 1888 a halt was called to competitive chess in the county for about a month as a mark of respect. Next Saturday, 10th May, Brighton play Hastings at Hove to decide who will win the trophy. In the early years of the competition Brighton and Hastings clubs were not allowed to field players of county strength and this led to a number of the smaller clubs lifting the trophy. It was not until 1965 that the competition was opened to all players and from that time the winners have usually been Brighton or Hastings. Teams from Brighton and Hastings first started playing each other in 1882 and few years have passed without such a match taking place. In the first World War difficulties in travel meant that Brighton and Hastings players were forced into playing each other by correspondence. In World War II Brighton and Hastings managed to play several friendly matches despite the fact that the Hastings CC suffered war damage. We welcome our visitors from Hastings next Saturday and the usual close match is expected. The teams are well-matched and it would be very difficult to predict the result.